Abhanga 3154
Tukaram teaches that once your heart has truly settled on something you love, you should ask for closeness rather than distance, and a life without active service to it is nothing to be proud of.
The verse
जये ठायीं आवडी ठेली । मज ते बोली न संडे ॥१॥
पुरवावें जीवींचें कोड । भेटी गोड तुज मज ॥ध्रु.॥
आणिलें तें येथवरी । रूप दुरी न करावें ॥२॥
तुका म्हणे नारायणा । सेवाहीना धिग वृत्ति ॥३॥
Literal translation
Jaye ṭhāyīm āvaḍī ṭhelī — wherever āvaḍī has stayed; maja te bōlī na samḍe — that bōlī doesn't leave me. Puravāve jīvīmñce kōḍa — fulfill jīva's kōḍa; bhēṭī gōḍa tuja maja — bhēṭī sweet to you-and-me. Āṇilē te yethavarī — brought (it) here; rūpa duri na karāve — don't keep rūpa far. Tukā mhaṇe Nārāyaṇā — Tukā says: Nārāyaṇa; sevāhīnā dhiga vrtti — sevā-less, shame on vrtti.
What it means
A 3-verse petition. Where-āvaḍī-stays-speech-stays; mutual-sweetness-of-meeting; don't-keep-rūpa-far; sevā-less-life-is-shame-on-vrtti.
For someone today
This is a small, tender petition Tukaram makes to God. He says that wherever his fondness has settled, his words of longing will not leave that place. He asks God to fulfill the deep desire of his soul, because the meeting between them is sweet to both, not just to him. He asks that the closeness already given not be pulled far away again. And he ends with a warning to himself: a life without active service to what you love is nothing to be proud of.
मराठी: ही तुकारामांची देवाकडे केलेली एक हळुवार विनवणी आहे. जिथे त्यांची ओढ स्थिरावली आहे, तिथून त्यांची आर्त बोली सुटत नाही, असे ते सांगतात. आपल्या जिवाची आस पूर्ण करावी अशी ते विनंती करतात, कारण ही भेट दोघांनाही गोड आहे, फक्त त्यांनाच नाही. जे रूप आधीच जवळ आणले आहे ते पुन्हा दूर करू नये अशी ते मागणी करतात. आणि शेवटी स्वतःलाच बजावतात की जे आवडते त्याची सेवा न करता जगणे ही लाजिरवाणी गोष्ट आहे.
Where this applies
- When you have opened your heart to someone or something and fear they will pull away
- When you long for closeness with the divine and wonder whether that longing is even welcomed back
- When you feel a gap opening between you and what you love and want to close it
- When you realize you have been going through the motions without actually serving what you claim to love