Abhanga 3403
Like a child who trusts its parents completely, you can rest your worries in God's care instead of carrying every burden yourself.
The verse
बाळ काय जाणे जीवनउपाय । मायबाप वाहे सर्व चिंता ॥१॥
आइतें भोजन खेळणें अंतरीं । अंकिताचे शिरीं भार नाहीं ॥ध्रु॥
आपुलें शरीर रिक्षतां न कळें । सांभाळूनि लळे पाळी माय ॥२॥
तुका म्हणे माझा विठ्ठल जनिता । जेथें आमची सत्ता तयावरी ॥३॥
Literal translation
Baby-doesn't-know-jīvana-upāya — mother-father-carry-all-chintā. Ready-bhojana, play-in-antar — ankita's-head no-bhāra. Baby-doesn't-know-rikṣatām own-śarīra — mother-pāḷī-fondly-sāmbhāḷūni. Tukā: my-Viṭhṭhal-is-janitā — where-our-sattā-over-him.
What it means
A striking 4-verse mother-baby image with a powerful bhakta-pride conclusion. The ankita is like the baby — no burden on its head; Viṭhṭhal is the progenitor — and so the bhakta has sattā (authority) over him. Compare 2891 (reciprocal-family-relation) and 3137 (ankita-pride).
For someone today
Tukaram compares himself to a small child who has no idea how to provide for its own life, because its parents carry all that worry for it. The child simply plays, its food ready and waiting, with no burden weighing on its head at all. It does not even know how to protect its own body, yet its mother watches over it and cares for it tenderly anyway. In the same way, Tukaram says Vitthal is his true parent, and because of that closeness, the devotee can rest in a kind of trusting authority over him, the way a child leans fully on a parent without doubt.
मराठी: तुकाराम स्वतःला एका लहान बाळासारखे मानतात, ज्याला स्वतःचे आयुष्य कसे सांभाळावे हे माहीतच नसते, कारण त्याची सगळी काळजी आई-वडील घेतात. बाळ फक्त खेळत राहते, त्याचे जेवण तयार असते, आणि त्याच्या डोक्यावर कसलाही भार नसतो. त्याला स्वतःच्या शरीराचे रक्षण कसे करावे हेही माहीत नसते, तरीही त्याची आई त्याची प्रेमाने काळजी घेते. त्याचप्रमाणे तुकाराम म्हणतात, विठ्ठल माझा खरा जनक आहे, आणि त्या जवळीकीमुळे भक्त एका विश्वासू अधिकाराने त्याच्यावर विसंबून राहू शकतो, जसे मूल कोणतीही शंका न बाळगता आई-वडिलांवर पूर्णपणे विसंबते.
Where this applies
- Tukārām's ankita-as-baby; our-sattā-over-Viṭhṭhal canonical bhakta-pride
- ankitāchē śirī bhāra nāhī line
- Companion to 2891 (reciprocal-family-relation) and 3137 (ankita-pride)