Abhanga 3362
The one who needs nothing from you and remains unhurried and beyond pleasure and pain is precisely the one safest to depend on, since their care comes freely, not from need.
The verse
मी दास तयाचा जया चाड नाहीं । सुख दुःख दोहीविरहित जो ॥१॥
राहिलासे उभा भीमरेच्या तीरीं । कट दोहीं करीं धरोनियां ॥ध्रु.॥
नवल काईं तरी पाचारितां पावे । न श्मरित धांवे भक्तिकाजें ॥२॥
सर्व भार माझा त्यासी आहें चिंता । तों चि माझा दाता स्वहिताचा ॥३॥
तुका म्हणे त्यास गाईंन मी गीतीं । आणीक तें चित्तीं न धरीं कांहीं ॥४॥
Literal translation
Mī dāsa tayāchā jayā chāḍa nāhīm — sukha duḥkha dōhīvirahita jō — I am dāsa of him who has no longing — who is sukha-duḥkha-dōhīvirahita. Rāhilāse ubhā Bhīmarechyā tīrīm — kaṭa dōhīm karīm dharōniyām — stands on Bhīmā-bank, hands on both hips. Navala kāī tarī pāchāritām pāve — na smarita dhāve bhakti-kājē — no wonder he comes when called — he runs even when unremembered, for bhakti's sake. Sarva bhāra mājhā tyāsī āhe chimtā — to-chi mājhā dātā svahitāchā — my whole burden — his is the concern; he alone my dātā of svahita. Tukā mhaṇe tyāsa gāīna mī gītīm — āṇīka tē chittīm na dharīm kāmhī — Tukā says: him alone I will sing; nothing else hold I in chitta.
What it means
A 4-verse text of dāsa-status-by-Lord's-needlessness. The paradox: the very fact that the Lord wants nothing (sukha-duḥkha-dōhīvirahita) makes him reliable. He runs even unremembered. The Vīṭheval-stance — kaṭ-on-hips — becomes the symbol of unhurried availability.
For someone today
The being you can rely on is the being who does not need you. Reciprocity-free giving — and the freedom of being a dāsa to such a one.
Where this applies
- When you realize the person you trust most asks nothing from you in return for their care
- When someone shows up to help you even though you never consciously asked them to
- When a person feels safest relying on someone who is calm and unhurried rather than anxious or needy
- When you decide to hand your whole burden over to someone trustworthy instead of carrying it alone