Abhanga 3345
Mājhe hātīm āhe karāve chintana — in my hand is the doing of chintana; tumhī krpā-dāna prema dyāve — you should give prema by krpā-dāna.
The verse
माझे हातीं आहे करावें चिंतन । तुम्ही कृपादान प्रेम द्यावें ॥१॥
मागति यां भांडवल आळवण । नामाची जतन दातियासी ॥ध्रु.॥
बाळक धांवोनि आड निघे स्तनीं । घालावा जननी कृपे पान्हां ॥२॥
तुका म्हणे करीं कासवाचे परी । आहे सूत्रदोरी तुझे हातीं ॥३॥
Literal translation
Mājhe hātīm āhe karāve chintana — in my hand is the doing of chintana; tumhī krpā-dāna prema dyāve — you should give prema by krpā-dāna. Māgati yām bhāṇḍavala āḷavaṇa — I ask, holding bhāṇḍavala and āḷavaṇa; nāmāñcī jatana dātiyāsī — keep the Name in jatana, o dātiyā. Bāḷaka dhāvōnī āḍa nighe stanīm — the child, running, presses to the breast; ghālāvā jananī krpe pānhām — the mother places pānhā by krpā. Tukā mhaṇe karīm kāsavāñce parī — Tukā says: do (it) like the kāsava; āhe sūtra-dōrī tujhe hātīm — the sūtra-dōrī is in your hand.
What it means
A 3-verse petition-with-mother-baby and kāsava (tortoise) images by Tukārām.
The division-of-labor: In my hand — doing-chintana. In your hand — giving-prema by krpā-dāna. The baby-mother image: child-presses-to-stana; mother-places-pānhā-by-krpā. The closing-kāsava-image: the tortoise (cares-for-its-young by-glance-alone, sustaining them at-a-distance); do-likewise; the-sūtra (string-of-fate) is-in-your-hand.
★ The kāsava-image is canonical Vārkarī — tortoise-mother sustains-its-babies just-by-looking; doesn't-need-physical-contact; mere-glance-is-feeding.
For someone today
Tukārām's division-of-labor. In my hand is the doing of remembrance; you should give love by compassion-gift. I ask, holding (this) capital and petition; keep the Name in safe-keeping, o giver. The child, running, presses to the breast; the mother places the milk-flow by compassion. Do (it) like the tortoise — the string is in your hand. The verse permits the bhakti-division: my-chintana-your-krpā; tortoise-glance-sustains-bhakta.
Where this applies
- Tukārām's in-my-hand-chintana, your-krpā-prema division-of-labor
- Like-kāsava canonical-tortoise-image
- Sūtra-dōrī-in-your-hand — fate-string-in-Lord's-hand