Abhanga 3192
When your own effort to reach the sacred fails because of old habits and inner turmoil, you can still appeal to the Divine's own promise to redeem the fallen.
The verse
जन्मांतरीं शुद्ध नाहीं आचरण । यालागीं चरण अंतरले ॥१॥
वोडवलें संचित येणें जन्में पाहतां । आतां पंढरिनाथा कृपा करीं ॥ध्रु.॥
पतितपावन ब्रिद साच करीं देवा । यालागी कुढावा करीं माझा ॥२॥
अपराधी पातकी दृष्ट दुराचारी । अहाळलों भारी संवसारें ॥३॥
कामक्रोध आदि कल्पनेच्या त्रासें । तुज न पवें ऐसें जालें देवा ॥४॥
हा ना तोसा ठाव जाला पांडुरंगा । नये चि उपेगा काय करूं ॥५॥
आपुलिया नांवा धांवणिया धांवें । लवकरी यावें तुका म्हणे ॥६॥
Literal translation
Janmāntarīm śuddha nāhīm āchāraṇa — yālāgīm charaṇa antaralē — across janmas no śuddha ācharaṇa — for this (the) feet have been distanced. Vōḍavalēm samchita yēṇēm janmēm pāhatām — ātām Paṇḍharīnāthā krpā karīm — seeing the samchita-burden of this birth — now, Paṇḍharīnātha, do krpā. Patita-pāvana brida sācha karīm Devā — yālāgī kuḍhāvā karīm mājhā — make true the patita-pāvana epithet, O Deva — make me your kuḍhāva. Aparādhi pātakī drṣṭa durāchārī — ahāḷalōm bhārī samvasārēm — aparādhi, pātakī, drṣṭa, durāchārī — scorched grievously by samsāra. Kāma-krōdha ādi kalpanēchyā trāsēm — tuja na pavēm aisēm jālēm Devā — by kāma-krōdha-and-kalpanā trāsa — I have become unable to reach you. Hā nā tōsā ṭhāva jālā Pāṇḍurangā — nayē chi upēgā kāya karūm — neither here nor there has become my place, Pāṇḍurangā — (it) is of no use, what shall I do. Āpuliyā nāmvā dhāmvaṇiyā dhāmvēm — lavakarī yāvem Tukā mhaṇe — run to your own Name's call — come quickly, Tukā says.
What it means
An unusually long 6-verse extended patita-pāvana petition. The whole rhetorical strategy: (1) confess the cross-janma defect; (2) name the present birth's samchita-load; (3) call the birda (epithet) — patita-pāvana — as a vow Deva must honour; (4) pile up self-accusatory adjectives; (5) state the operational reason — kāma-krōdha and the trāsa of kalpanā — I cannot reach you; (6) declare the in-between ṭhāva; (7) close with the rare and potent move: run to (the call of) your own Name — i.e., the Lord must respond not for the bhakta's sake but for his own Name's honour.
For someone today
When you cannot reach the higher because cravings and judgments have multiplied — stop trying to reach. Call the divine by its own promise. The most powerful petition is not "save me" but "honour your own name." Make the savior accountable to the savior's own claim.
Where this applies
- When you feel weighed down by old patterns of behavior that you cannot seem to break on your own
- When desire, anger, or restless thoughts keep you feeling distant from something sacred or important to you
- When your own effort feels completely used up and you need to ask for help beyond what you can do yourself
- When you appeal to someone's known character or promise, asking them to act consistently with who they say they are