Abhanga 3147
Tukārām's extreme-petition. Hear, O Deva, my entreaty — placing (my) head at (your) feet. I have come close, abandoning doubt — face-to-face, one-on-one. Wherever (my cry) reaches (your) feet — I have made a trade of this life. Place liberation in my hands — making (me) forcefully-insistent and saying so. The verse permits the bhakti-extreme-petition: uddhāra-in-hands, karakara-insistence.
The verse
ऐका जी देवा माझी विनवणी । मस्तक चरणीं ठेवीतसें ॥१॥
सन्निध पातलों सांडूनियां शंका । सन्मुख चि एकाएकीं पुढें ॥ध्रु.॥
जाणविलें कोठें पावे पायांपाशीं । केली या जिवासी साटी म्हुण ॥२॥
तुका म्हणे माझे हातीं द्या उद्धार । करीं करकर म्हणवूनि ॥३॥
Literal translation
Aikā jī Devā mājhī vinavaṇī — hear, Deva, my vinavanī; mastaka charaṇīm ṭhevītsē — placing mastaka at charaṇa. Sannidha pātalōm sāṇḍūnīyām śankā — I came close, abandoning śankā; sanmukha chi eka-ekīm puḍhe — face-to-face, one-on-one. Jāṇavile kōṭhe pāve pāyāmpāśīm — wherever (it) is known, reaches the pāya; kelī yā jivāsī sāṭī mhuṇa — (I) have made a sāṭī of this jīva. Tukā mhaṇe mājhe hātīm dyā uddhāra — Tukā says: place uddhāra in my hands; karīm karakara mhaṇavūnī — making karakara, saying so.
What it means
A 3-verse extreme-petition by Tukārām. The claim: Hear-my-vinavanī, Deva, with-head-at-feet. I-came-close, abandoning-doubt — face-to-face. Wherever-(the-cry)-reaches-pāya — I-made-sāṭī (trade) of-my-jīva. Place-uddhāra-in-my-hands — make-me-karakara (forcefully-insistent).
The closing-claim place-uddhāra-in-my-hands is striking — the bhakta-asks-for-uddhāra-as-physical-possession, not-promised-but-given-in-hand.
For someone today
Tukārām's extreme-petition. Hear, O Deva, my entreaty — placing (my) head at (your) feet. I have come close, abandoning doubt — face-to-face, one-on-one. Wherever (my cry) reaches (your) feet — I have made a trade of this life. Place liberation in my hands — making (me) forcefully-insistent and saying so. The verse permits the bhakti-extreme-petition: uddhāra-in-hands, karakara-insistence.
Where this applies
- Tukārām's uddhāra-in-my-hands-forcefully extreme-petition