संत साहित्य
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संत साहित्य · Tukārām · Abhanga 3368 of 4582

Abhanga 3368

When you have publicly become someone's — the relationship now binds them too. This is faith's leverage: the Name is pāvana-patita; my fall would not just be my own.

Tukārām's they-call-me-yours; your-reputation-at-stake; if-mosquito-was-ferried, why-not-me canonical bhakta-confidence

The verse

तुझा दास मज म्हणती अंकित । अवघे सकळिक लहान थोर ॥१॥ हें चि आतां लागे करावें जतन । तुझें थोरपण तुज देवा ॥ध्रु.॥ होउनी निर्भर राहिलों निश्चिंतें । पावनपतित नाम तुझें ॥२॥ करितां तुज होय डोंगराची राईं । न लगतां कांहीं पात्या पातें ॥३॥ तुका म्हणे तुज काय ते आशंका । तारितां मशका मज दीना ॥४॥

Literal translation

Tujhā dāsa maja mhaṇatī ankita — avaghe sakaḷika lahāna thōrathey call me your dāsa, your ankita — everyone big-and-small. Hē-chi ātām lāge karāve jatana — tujhē thōrapaṇa tuja devanow you need to take care — your greatness is for you to keep, Deva. Hounī nirbhara rāhilōm niścinte — pāvana-patita nāma tujhehaving become nirbhara (free-of-burden) I have stayed niścinta — your Name is pāvana-patita. Karitām tuja hoya dongarāchī rāīm — na lagatām kāmhī pātyā pātewhen you act, mountain becomes a mustard-seed — without so much as a leaf-fluttering. Tukā mhaṇe tuja kāya te āśankā — tāritām maśakā maja dīnāTukā says: what worry have you — you ferried a mosquito, (now) me the dīna?

What it means

A 4-verse text of Lord's-reputation-shifted-onto-Lord. The clinch: people now identify me as your ankita — so your greatness depends on saving me. The mośaka (mosquito) image (small, weightless, easily lifted) shows: if you have already done the impossible for the smallest, why hesitate for this dīna?

For someone today

When you have publicly become someone's — the relationship now binds them too. This is faith's leverage: the Name is pāvana-patita; my fall would not just be my own.

Where this applies

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