Abhanga 3562
Honest devotion allows real protest, questioning why help or warning didn't come before disaster struck, instead of only offering polite, unquestioning praise.
The verse
काय तुज मागें नाहीं जाणवलें । माझें नाहीं केलें हित कांहीं ॥१॥
डोळे झांकुनियां होसी अबोलणा । तेव्हां नारायणा आतां कैसा ॥ध्रु.॥
न कळे उचित न संगतां स्पष्ट । ऐसा क्रियानष्ट काय जाणे ॥२॥
तुका म्हणे माझा घात तुम्हां ठावा । तरि कां आधीं देवा वारूं नये ॥३॥
Literal translation
Kāya tuja māge nāhīm jāṇavale — wasn't it already known to you behind; māze nāhīm kele hita kāmhī — my hita has been done by no-one. Ḍōḷe jhāmkunīyām hōsī abōlaṇā — eyes-closed, you become silent; tevhām Nārāyaṇā ātām kaisā — then, O Nārāyaṇa, how now. Na kaḷe uchita na sangatām spaṣṭa — doesn't know what's fitting, doesn't say clearly; aisā kriyā-naṣṭa kāya jāṇe — such a kriyā-naṣṭa, what knows. Tukā mhaṇe mājhā ghāta tumhām ṭhāvā — Tukā says: my destruction is known to you; tari kām ādhīm devā vārūm naye — then why, O Deva, not prevent beforehand.
What it means
A 3-verse complaint: you-knew-already that-no-one-was-doing-my-hita; you-closed-eyes-and-became-silent — how-now-O-Nārāyaṇa; I'm-kriyā-naṣṭa-don't-know-what's-fitting; you-knew-my-ghāta-coming — why-didn't-you-prevent-it-beforehand? The poet rebukes the Lord's-silence as a kind of complicity.
For someone today
Tukaram voices a raw, honest complaint to God: didn't you already know that no one was looking out for my welfare? He accuses God of closing his eyes and going silent exactly when help was needed, and asks how that silence makes sense now. He admits he himself is lost and confused, unsure of what's right, unable to speak clearly about it. But his sharpest question is this: if you already knew disaster was coming for me, why didn't you stop it before it happened? This is devotion that allows real anger and honest protest, not just polite praise.
मराठी: तुकाराम देवाकडे एक थेट, प्रामाणिक तक्रार मांडतात, माझी काळजी कोणीच घेत नव्हती हे तुला आधीच माहीत नव्हते का? गरज असतानाच देवाने डोळे मिटून मौन धारण केले, असा आरोप ते करतात, आणि हे मौन आता कसे समजून घ्यावे असा प्रश्न विचारतात. आपणच गोंधळलेले आणि हरवलेले आहोत, काय योग्य आहे हेच कळत नाही, स्पष्ट बोलताही येत नाही, हे ते कबूल करतात. पण त्यांचा सर्वात तीक्ष्ण प्रश्न हा आहे, माझ्यावर संकट येणार आहे हे तुला आधीच माहीत होते, तर ते घडण्याआधीच तू का थांबवले नाहीस? ही अशी भक्ती आहे जी खरा राग आणि प्रामाणिक निषेध व्यक्त करू देते, केवळ नम्र स्तुती नव्हे.
Where this applies
- When you feel let down by silence at the exact moment you needed help most
- When you're angry at God or fate and need permission to say so honestly instead of pretending everything is fine
- When you look back at a disaster and wonder why no one warned you or stepped in beforehand
- When you feel lost and unsure what's right, and admit that confusion out loud instead of hiding it