संत साहित्य
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संत साहित्य · Tukārām · Abhanga 3549 of 4582

Abhanga 3549

A meeting or an offering without real affection behind it brings no joy, and after exhausting your own effort, you can only ask honestly whether something so small can reach someone so much greater.

When silence has settled into a relationship you once felt close in, and you don't know how to break it
When you sense someone's warmth toward you was only polite cover, not genuine care
When you've used up your own effort and skill and are left wondering if your small offering matters at all

The verse

लाजोनियां काळें राहिलें लिखित । नेदितां ही चित्त समाधान ॥१॥ कैसें सुख वाटे वचनाचे तुटी । प्रीतिविण भेटी रुचि नेदी ॥ध्रु.॥ एकाचिये भेटी एकाचा कोंपर । मावेचा पदर कळों येतो ॥२॥ होत्या आपल्या त्या वेचूनियां शक्ती । पुढें जालों युक्तिकळाहीन ॥३॥ तुका म्हणे तुम्ही समर्थ जी देवा । दुर्बळाची सेवा कोठें पावे ॥४॥

Literal translation

Lājōnīyām kāḷe rāhile likhita — in lāja, writing has stayed darkened; neditām hī chitta samādhāna — even (when I) stop, chitta no samādhāna. Kaise sukha vāṭe vachanāñce tuṭī — what sukha in severance-of-vachana; prītiviṇa bhēṭī ruchi nedī — bhēṭī without prīti gives no ruchi. Ekāñciye bhēṭī ekāñcā kōmpara — one's meeting — one's elbow (turned); māveñcā padara kaḷōm yetō — māva's padar comes-to-knowing. Hōtyā āpalyā tyā vechūnīyām śaktī — spent my own śaktis; puḍhe jālōm yukti-kaḷā-hīna — now become yukti-kaḷā-hīna. Tukā mhaṇe tumhī samartha jī Devā — Tukā says: you are samartha, Deva; durbaḷāñcī sevā kōṭhe pāve — where does durbaḷa's sevā reach.

What it means

A 5-verse protest. Letters-stay-unread-in-shame; chitta has-no-peace; severed-speech gives-no-sukha; meeting-without-prīti is-tasteless; the-other's-elbow-turned-away reveals-the-cloak-of-deceit; I-have-spent-my-strengths and-become-skill-less. You-are-samartha; where-does-a-weak-one's-sevā-reach?

For someone today

Tukaram describes the ache of a relationship gone quiet, letters left unread out of embarrassment, and a mind that finds no peace even after giving up on writing them. He says there is no joy in silence between two people who care for each other, and a meeting without real affection tastes empty, no matter how polite it looks. He notices the small telltale sign, an elbow turned away, that reveals when someone's warmth was only a cover for indifference. Having used up all his own effort and cleverness, he turns to God plainly and asks how the small, humble offering of someone weak can ever reach someone so much greater.

मराठी: तुकाराम एका शांत पडलेल्या नात्याचे दुःख मांडतात, लाजेपोटी न वाचलेली पत्रे, आणि ती लिहिणे सोडून दिल्यावरही न मिळणारी मनःशांती. एकमेकांची काळजी असणाऱ्या दोघांमधल्या मौनात कसलाही आनंद नसतो, आणि खऱ्या प्रेमाशिवाय झालेली भेट कितीही सभ्य दिसली तरी निरस वाटते, असे ते सांगतात. वळलेली कोपर, हे छोटेसे पण बोलके चिन्ह, समोरच्याची ऊब खरी नसून केवळ बेपर्वाईवरचे आवरण होती हे दाखवून देते. आपली सगळी शक्ती आणि चातुर्य वापरून थकल्यावर, तुकाराम साध्या शब्दांत देवाला विचारतात की एका दुर्बळाची छोटीशी सेवा इतक्या मोठ्या देवापर्यंत कशी पोहोचेल.

Where this applies