Abhanga 3031
Āvaḍīnē dharilīm nāve — with āvaḍī (fondness), (he has) taken up the nāmas; priya-bhāve chintana — chintana with priya-bhāva.
The verse
आवडीनें धरिलीं नांवें । प्रियभावें चिंतन ॥१॥
वेडा जाला वेडा जाला । लांचावला भक्तीसी ॥ध्रु.॥
निचाड्या चाड धरी । तुळसी करीं दळ मागे ॥२॥
धरिला मग न करी बळ । तुका म्हणे कळ पायीं ॥३॥
Literal translation
Āvaḍīnē dharilīm nāve — with āvaḍī (fondness), (he has) taken up the nāmas; priya-bhāve chintana — chintana with priya-bhāva. Vēḍā jālā vēḍā jālā — (he) has become mad, has become mad; lāmchāvalā bhaktīsī — lāmchāvalā (covetous) for bhakti. Nichāḍyā chāḍa dharī — to the nichāḍyā (one-without-want), (he) takes chāḍa (yearning); tuḷasī karīm daḷa māge — for a daḷa (leaf) of tuḷasī, (he) holds-out (his) kara (hand). Dharilā maga na karī baḷa — once grasped, (he) does not use baḷa (strength to leave); Tukā mhaṇe kaḷa pāyīm — Tukā says: kaḷa (cunning, trick) is in (his) pāya (feet).
What it means
A 3-verse canonical Lord-mad-for-bhakti image by Tukārām.
The persona is striking: the Lord-has-become-mad (vēḍā-jālā); is-covetous-for-bhakti (lāmchāvalā-bhaktīsī); to-one-who-has-no-want, he-takes-the-want; he-holds-out-his-hand for-just-a-tuḷasī-leaf; once-grasped, doesn't-use-strength-to-leave; the-cunning is-in-his-feet.
★ The image inverts the usual bhakta-position: normally the bhakta is mad-for-the-Lord; here, the Lord is mad-for-the-bhakta. This is the bhakti-non-dualism at its-most-explicit — reciprocal-madness, reciprocal-craving.
The closing-line — kaḷa-pāyīm (cunning-in-his-feet) — is masterful Tukārām: the-Lord-himself-uses-the-trick-of-binding-with-his-own-feet. The bhakta grasps-the-Lord, but the Lord-has-already-set-the-trick-of-attachment-into-his-feet so-that-grasping-him is-being-held.
Compare-Kānhōbā's 3023 (king-of-chaturas-became-mad-by-bhāva) — both texts share the Lord-becomes-mad claim.
For someone today
Tukārām's canonical Lord-mad-for-bhakti image. With fondness, (he has) taken up the names; remembrance — with priya-bhāva. He has become mad, has become mad — covetous for bhakti. To the one-without-want, he takes yearning — for a tuḷasī-leaf, (he) holds-out (his) hand. Once grasped, (he) does not use strength (to leave); the cunning is in (his) feet. The verse permits the bhakti-non-dual-claim that the Lord-himself is-mad-for-the-bhakta.
Where this applies
- Tukārām's canonical Lord-mad-for-bhakti image
- Reciprocal-madness — bhakti-non-dualism
- Kaḷa-in-his-feet — the Lord's-own-trick-of-attachment
- Companion to 3023 (Kānhōbā's king-of-chaturas-became-mad-by-bhāva)