Abhanga 3286
Even someone utterly lost, ashamed, and burdened by real faults can be reached, rescued, and held by grace at their lowest point.
The verse
मार्ग चुकले विदेशीं एकले । तयावरि जाले दिशाभुली ॥१॥
हातीं धरूनियां पावविलें घरा । त्याच्या उपकारा काय द्यावें ॥२॥
तैसा मी कुडकुडा होतों केशीराजा । सेवा न घडे लाजा म्हणऊनि ॥ध्रु.॥
सांडियेला गर्भ उबगोनि माउली । नाहीं सांभाळिली भूमि शुद्ध ॥३॥
उष्ण तान भूक एवढिये अकांतीं । वोसंगा लाविती काय म्हणिजे ॥४॥
खांद्यावरी शूळ मरणाचे वाटे । अन्याय हि मोटे साच केले ॥५॥
हातींचें हिरोनि घातला पाठीसी । तुका म्हणे ऐसी परी जाली ॥६॥
Literal translation
Path-lost foreign-land alone, diśābhulī. Took-hand brought-home; what-to-give for-his-upakāra? Like-that-I-was-kuḍakuḍa, Keśīrāja; sevā-not-by-shame. Mother-cast-out-garbha not-on-clean-bhūmi. Hot-thirst-hunger akāmta; lap-not-placed; śūḷa-on-shoulder, death-vāṭa; anyāyas-many-true. Took-from-hand, put-behind. Tukā: such-happened.
What it means
A striking 6-verse rescue-parable. I-was-lost-and-cold; the-Lord-took-my-hand and-brought-me-home; what-can-I-give for-the-upakāra?. The mother-casting-out-garbha image is a vivid abandonment-distress image.
For someone today
Tukaram tells a vivid, painful parable of rescue. He describes being utterly lost in a strange place, alone, without any sense of direction, like an abandoned newborn cast out onto unclean ground by its own mother, left to suffer heat, thirst, and hunger in the worst kind of distress, with no one to hold or comfort him. He admits his own real faults were many, and he pictures himself walking death's road with a spike already resting on his shoulder. Yet in the middle of that helplessness, God took him by the hand, snatched him back, and placed him under safekeeping. Tukaram is left wondering what he could possibly give in return for such an act of kindness, confessing that he was too ashamed and broken even to offer proper devotion.
मराठी: तुकाराम एक हृदयस्पर्शी, वेदनादायक बचावाची कथा सांगतात. ते सांगतात की परक्या ठिकाणी एकटे, पूर्णपणे दिशाहीन होऊन ते हरवले होते, जणू एखाद्या नवजात बाळाला त्याच्याच आईने अशुद्ध जागी सोडून दिले असावे, उष्णता, तहान आणि भूक अशा भीषण संकटात, कोणीही कवेत घेणारे नाही. त्यांचे स्वतःचे अनेक खरे दोष होते, हे ते कबूल करतात, आणि मृत्यूच्या वाटेवर खांद्यावर आधीच शूळ टेकलेला असल्यासारखे ते स्वतःचे चित्रण करतात. पण त्या असहायतेच्या मध्यभागी देवाने त्यांचा हात धरला, त्यांना ओढून बाहेर काढले आणि सुरक्षित आश्रयाला ठेवले. अशा उपकाराची परतफेड म्हणून काय द्यावे, हेच तुकारामांना कळत नाही, आणि लाजेने व खचलेपणामुळे नीट सेवाही करता आली नाही, अशी कबुली ते देतात.
Where this applies
- When you feel utterly lost, alone, and directionless in a difficult situation with no one to turn to.
- When shame about your own past mistakes keeps you from reaching out for the help you desperately need.
- When you experience unexpected rescue or support right when you felt most abandoned.
- When you struggle to find a way to properly thank someone whose kindness saved you at your lowest point.