Abhanga 3373
Worldly attachments seduce you with warmth and flattery while quietly taking what matters, but heartfelt devotional service is the one bond that does not disappear when you look away.
The verse
लावुनियां गोठी । चुकवूं आदरिली दिठी । देउनियां मिठी । पळे महिमा थुलिया ॥१॥
पुढें तो चि करी आड । तिचा लोभ तिसी नाड । लावुनि चरफड । हात गोऊनि पळावें ॥ध्रु.॥
आधीं काकुलती । मोहो घालावा पुढती । तोंडीं पडे माती । फिरतां मागें कैचा तो ॥२॥
तुका म्हणे देवा । यासी रडवी याचा हेवा । भावें कां हे सेवा । सुखें तुम्हां नार्पिती ॥३॥
Literal translation
Lāvuniyām gōṭhī — chukavūm ādarilī diṭhī — deuniyām miṭhī — paḷe mahimā thuliyā — striking-up conversation — to avoid the respectful look — giving an embrace — flees the mahimā by trick. Puḍhē to-chi karī āḍa — tichā lobha tisī nāḍa — lāvuni charapaḍa — hāta goūni paḷāve — then he puts himself in your way — her own lobha is her snare — applying caress — hand stuck, must flee. Ādhīm kākulatī — moho ghālāvā puḍhatī — tomḍīm paḍe mātī — phiratām māge kaichā to — first pleading, then mōha — mouth fills with dust — turning back, where is he? Tukā mhaṇe devā — yāsī raḍavī yāchā hevā — bhāve kām he sevā — sukhe tumhām nārpitī — Tukā says: O Deva — his hevā makes him weep — why don't (they) with bhāva offer service, give you sukha?
What it means
A 3-verse text personifying māyā (and worldly relationships) as a seductress whose intimacies are stratagems. The pattern: conversation-to-avoid-real-gaze, embrace-then-flight, pleading-then-mōha, mouth-with-dust-when-you-turn-around. Only bhāva-sevā (devotional service with true emotion) is unfeigned.
For someone today
The intimacies that the world offers come with stratagems attached — taking your mahimā (substance) while seeming to give. Genuine service is the only relation that doesn't dissolve when you turn your head.
Where this applies
- When a relationship or opportunity flatters you just enough to distract you from what you are actually losing
- When you realize something that seemed like generosity was really taking something valuable from you
- When you chase a worldly pleasure that vanishes the moment you try to hold onto it
- When you notice devotional practice or heartfelt service stays steady even as everything else keeps slipping away