Abhanga 3027
Real devotion can feel like a consuming, restless ache, and admitting that desperation honestly is itself part of the path toward reaching God.
The verse
तुजलागीं माझा जीव जाला पिसा । अवलोकितों दिशा पांडुरंगा ॥१॥
सांडिला वेव्हार माया लोकाचार । छंद निरंतर हा चि मनीं ॥ध्रु.॥
आइकिलें कानीं तें रूप लोचन । देखावया सीण करिताति ॥२॥
प्राण हा विकळ होय कासावीस । जीवनाविण मत्स्य तयापरी ॥३॥
तुका म्हणे आतां कोण तो उपाव । करूं तुझे पाव आतुडे तो ॥४॥
Literal translation
Tujalāgīm mājhā jīva jālā pisā — for you — my jīva has become pisā (mad); avalōkitōm diśā Pāṇḍurangā — (I) look in (every) direction, Pāṇḍurangā. Sāṇḍilā vevahāra māyā lōkāchāra — (I have) abandoned vevahāra, māyā, lōkāchāra; chamda nirantara hā chi manīm — this chanda (longing) is continuous in (my) mind. Āikilē kānīm te rūpa lōchana — the rūpa (I) heard with (my) ears — (my) eyes; dekhāvayā sīṇa karitāti — make sīṇa (toil) to see. Prāṇa hā vikaḷa hōya kāsāvīsa — (my) prāṇa has become vikaḷa, kāsāvīsa; jīvanāviṇa matsya tayāparī — like a matsya without jīvana (water). Tukā mhaṇe ātām kōṇa tō upāva — Tukā says: now what is the upāva; karūm tujhe pāva ātuḍe tō — what (can I) do — so that your pāva (feet) may be ātuḍe (obtained).
What it means
A canonical Tukārām yearning-prayer — the corpus returns to Tukārām after the long Kānhōbā lament-cluster (2977-3014) and follow-up sub-cluster (3018-3026, closing ॥१२॥).
The verse-is-a-classic bhakti-yearning-prayer: jīva-mad-for-Pāṇḍuranga; look-in-every-direction; abandoned-vyavahāra-māyā-lōkāchāra; heard-rūpa-with-ears-eyes-yearn-to-see; prāṇa-faint-like-fish-without-water; what-upāya-to-obtain-your-feet?.
Compare-Tukārām's-own 2811 (bhēṭīlāgī jīvā-lāgalīse-āsa — the jīva longs for the meeting; chakora-and-moon, hungry-baby-for-mother). The jīva-pisā (mad-jīva) image is a signature-Tukārām-pose.
The poem uses the same imagery that Kānhōbā uses-in-praising-Tukārām: I-am-mad-for-you, look-in-every-direction. The poetic-resonance suggests-perhaps Kānhōbā learned-from-Tukārām's-own-style of-yearning-prayer.
For someone today
Here Tukārām himself speaks again, after the long cluster of his brother's laments, and his own yearning is just as raw. He says his soul has gone mad for the Lord, and he scans every direction just to catch sight of Pāṇḍuranga. He has set aside ordinary dealings and worldly customs entirely, because this one longing fills his mind without pause. He has heard about the Lord's beautiful form with his ears, and now his eyes strain and tire just wanting to actually see it. His very breath grows faint and restless, like a fish gasping out of water. He ends by asking plainly: what can I possibly do now to reach your feet? It shows how real devotion can feel like a consuming, restless ache, and admitting that desperation honestly is itself part of the path toward reaching God.
मराठी: येथे तुकाराम स्वतः पुन्हा बोलतात, भावाच्या दीर्घ विलापमालिकेनंतर, आणि त्यांचीही आर्तता तितकीच तीव्र आहे. आपला जीव परमेश्वरासाठी वेडा झाला आहे, असे ते सांगतात, आणि पांडुरंगाला पाहण्यासाठी ते सगळ्या दिशांना डोळे लावून बसतात. सांसारिक व्यवहार आणि लोकाचार त्यांनी पूर्णपणे सोडून दिले आहेत, कारण हीच एक आस त्यांच्या मनात सतत असते. त्या रूपाबद्दल त्यांनी कानांनी ऐकले आहे, आणि आता ते प्रत्यक्ष पाहण्यासाठी डोळे झिजवत आहेत. पाण्याविना तडफडणाऱ्या माशासारखे त्यांचे प्राणही व्याकुळ, अस्वस्थ झाले आहेत. शेवटी ते साधेपणाने विचारतात — आता तुझे चरण मिळवण्यासाठी काय उपाय करू? खरी भक्ती एखाद्या सतत जाळणाऱ्या, अस्वस्थ आर्ततेसारखी वाटू शकते, आणि ती व्याकुळता प्रामाणिकपणे मान्य करणे हाच परमेश्वरापर्यंत पोहोचण्याच्या मार्गाचा एक भाग असतो, हेच हा अभंग सांगतो.
Where this applies
- TUKĀRĀM-AUTHORED — corpus returns to Tukārām after Kānhōbā cluster
- Canonical Tukārām jīva-pisā yearning-prayer
- Companion-text to Tukārām's 2811 (bhēṭīlāgī jīvā-lāgalīse-āsa)
- Prāṇa-like-fish-without-water canonical-image