Abhanga 3149
Real devotion can include honest protest and confusion when calamity strikes despite faithful prayer, and voicing that doubt is itself a form of trust.
The verse
तुझें नाम मुखीं तयासी विपत्ति । आश्चर्य हें चत्तिीं वाटतसे ॥१॥
काय जाणों काय होसील निजला । नेणों जी विठ्ठला मायबापा ॥ध्रु.॥
भवबंधनाचे तुटतील फांसे । तें कां येथें असे अव्हेरिलें ॥२॥
तुका म्हणे माझें दचकलें मन । वाटे वांयांविण श्रम केला ॥३॥
Literal translation
Tujhe nāma mukhīm tayāsī vipattī — your Name on (his) mouth — (yet) vipattī; āścharya he chittīm vāṭatasē — (this) astonishment feels in chitti. Kāya jāṇōm kāya hōsīla nijalā — what have you become — asleep; neṇōm jī Viṭhṭhalā māyabāpā — I don't know, Viṭhṭhalā, māyabāpa. Bhavabandhanāñce tuṭatīla phāmse — the bhava-bandhana-nooses would break; te kām yethe ase avherilē — why is that rejected here. Tukā mhaṇe mājhe dachakalē mana — Tukā says: my mana shaken; vāṭe vāmyāmviṇa śrama kelā — feels (the) śrama was made in vain.
What it means
A 3-verse protest. Tukārām questions: Name-on-lips, but-still-vipattī — what's-the-meaning? Are-you-asleep? The-Name-should-cut-bhava-bandhana, why-rejected-here? My-mind-is-shaken — śrama-in-vain?
For someone today
This verse captures a rare moment of honest doubt and protest. Tukaram is troubled that someone can have God's Name on their lips and still be struck by calamity, calling it a genuine astonishment to his heart. He half-jokingly asks if Vitthal has fallen asleep, wondering aloud why the Name, which is supposed to cut through the bonds of worldly suffering, seems to have failed here. His mind is shaken, and he admits it feels as if all his effort might have been for nothing. The lesson is not that faith is false, but that real devotion can include honest confusion and protest when life does not match what was promised, and that voicing it is itself a form of trust.
मराठी: हा अभंग एका प्रामाणिक शंकेचा आणि निषेधाचा दुर्मिळ क्षण टिपतो. तुकारामांना त्रास होतो की कोणाच्या मुखी देवाचे नाव असूनही त्याच्यावर संकट कोसळते, याला ते मनापासून आश्चर्य म्हणतात. ते अर्धगमतीने विचारतात की विठ्ठल झोपला आहे का, आणि मोठ्याने विचारतात की भवबंधनाच्या फासा तोडणारे नाव इथे का अपयशी ठरले. त्यांचे मन हादरले आहे, आणि त्यांना वाटते की त्यांचा सगळा प्रयत्न वाया गेला असावा. यातून हे शिकायला मिळत नाही की श्रद्धा खोटी आहे, तर खरी भक्तीही आयुष्य वचनाप्रमाणे न घडल्यास प्रामाणिक गोंधळ आणि निषेध यांना सामावून घेऊ शकते, आणि तो बोलून दाखवणे हाही विश्वासाचाच एक प्रकार आहे.
Where this applies
- When you have prayed faithfully yet trouble still finds you, and you feel confused or betrayed
- When you wonder aloud whether God has forgotten you or is not paying attention
- When you feel like your years of effort and devotion have not protected you the way you expected
- When you need permission to voice honest doubt to the divine instead of suppressing it