संत साहित्य · Tukārām · Abhanga 3133 of 4582

Abhanga 3133

God himself draws the devotee close, planting a kind of loving madness in the heart, and once that bond is made it does not drift away.

When you feel embarrassed for being so devoted and wonder if that love is excessive or misplaced.

When you feel like you are chasing after God entirely alone and need reassurance that he is drawing you too.

When you fear that a spiritual connection you have built over time might weaken and you want a reason to trust it will last.

The verse

देवकीनंदनें । केलें आपुल्या चिंतनें ॥१॥ मज आपुलिया ऐसें । मना लावूनियां पिसें ॥ध्रु.॥ गोवळे गोपाळां । केलें लावूनियां चाळा ॥२॥ तुका म्हणे संग । केला दुरि नव्हे मग॥३॥

Literal translation

Devakīnandane — Devakī-nandana; kele āpulyā chintane — made (me) by his own chintana. Maja āpuliyā aise — (made me) like himself; manā lāvūnīyām pise — by attaching madness to mind. Gōvaḷe gōpāḷām — (he made) the cowherds; kele lāvūnīyām chāḷā — (by) attaching games (to them). Tukā mhaṇe samga — Tukā says: sanga; kelā duri navhe maga — made — does not go far later.

What it means

A short 3-verse text by Tukārām.

The claim: Devakī-nandana made-me by-his-own-chintana; made-me-like-himself by-attaching-madness-to-my-mind. (Just as he made-cowherds by-attaching-them-to-games.) The sanga he-made doesn't-go-far-later (= permanent).

The image: the cowherd-Krṣṇa attaches-the-bhakta to-himself by-his-own-chintana, like he-attaches-the-gōvaḷas to-games. The bhakta-is-the-cowherd-boy of-the-chintana-līlā.

For someone today

Tukārām's Devakī-nandana claim. Devakī-nandana made (me) by his own chintana — (made me) like himself, by attaching madness to (my) mind. (He made) the cowherds by attaching games. (He) has made sanga — (so) it does not go far later. The verse offers this bhakti claim: that the Lord draws the devotee to himself through his own loving remembrance.

मराठी: तुकाराम देवकीनंदनाच्या ओढीबद्दल सांगतात. देवकीनंदनाने स्वतःच्या चिंतनाने मला घडवले, माझ्या मनाला वेड लावून स्वतःसारखे केले. जसे त्याने गोवळ्या-गोपाळांना खेळांत गुंतवून आपलेसे केले, तसेच त्याने माझ्याशीही नाते जोडले. तुकाराम म्हणतात, एकदा जोडलेला हा संग नंतर कधी दूर होत नाही. अशा प्रकारे हा अभंग सांगतो की देवच स्वतःच्या चिंतनाने भक्ताला आपल्याकडे ओढून घेतो.

Where this applies

When you feel foolish or a little crazy for how much you love God and start doubting that love
When you feel like you are the only one reaching toward the divine and wonder if anyone is reaching back
When you worry that a spiritual bond you have built will fade or drift away over time
When you watch children lost in play and want a picture of how naturally the divine can draw someone in

Cosmology / Avatāra