Abhanga 3177
What truly belongs to you cannot be torn from you. The bhakti-relation is not one-sided yearning — the other side yearns equally. Hunger exists because food was made for it. Trust the pull.
The verse
करितां तडातोडी । वत्सा माते सोईं ओढी ॥१॥
करित्याचा आग्रह उरे । एक एकासाटीं झुरे ॥ध्रु.॥
भुके इच्छी अन्न । तें ही त्यासाटीं निर्माण ॥२॥
तुका म्हणे जाती । एक एकाचिये चित्तीं ॥३॥
Literal translation
Karitām taḍātōḍī — vatsā mātē sōīm ōḍhī — (even when one) does the tearing-apart — the mother pulls the calf toward (herself). Karityāchā āgraha urē — ēka ēkāsāṭīm jhurē — the doer's āgraha remains — each yearns for the other. Bhukē ichchhī anna — tem hī tyāsāṭīm nirmāṇa — the hungry desires anna — that too is created for his sake. Tukā mhaṇe jātī — ēka ēkāchiyē chittīm — Tukā says: (these) jātīs (live) in the chitta of the other.
What it means
A 4-verse mutual-attraction text. Three images establish the principle of pre-arranged reciprocity: the calf is pulled back by the mother no matter how one tries to separate them; the doer's insistence keeps a thing in motion; hunger and food are mutually created. The teaching is bi-directional bhakti: the jīva yearns for Deva, and Deva yearns for the jīva — the same string at both ends (cf. 3176).
For someone today
What truly belongs to you cannot be torn from you. The bhakti-relation is not one-sided yearning — the other side yearns equally. Hunger exists because food was made for it. Trust the pull.
Where this applies
- Tukārām's bhakta-Deva mutual-yearning; calf-mother-anna-bhukha canonical
- Companion to 3176 (chitta's-chāḷaka, magnet-iron) and 2891 (reciprocal family-relation)