Abhanga 3567
Once you truly take refuge in someone greater than yourself, your well-being becomes their responsibility too, so you can ask for help boldly rather than timidly.
The verse
समर्थाचें बाळ पांघरे वाकळ । हसती सकळ लोक कोणा ॥१॥
समर्थासी लाज आपुल्या नांवाची । शरण आल्याची लागे चिंता ॥२॥
जरी तुज कांहीं होईंल उचित । तरी हा पतित तारीं तुका ॥३॥
Literal translation
Samarthāche bāḷa pāmgharē vākaḷa — the samartha's child wraps in rag-blanket; hasatī sakaḷa lōka kōṇā — at whom do all-people laugh. Samarthāsī lāja āpulyā nāmvāchī — the samartha has the shame of his own nāma; śaraṇa ālyāchī lāge chintā — concern-of-the-refugee attaches. Jarī tuja kāmhīm hōīmla uchita — if anything (be) fitting in your-power; tarī hā patita tārīm Tukā — then save this patita Tukā.
What it means
A 3-verse legal-honour claim. If the samartha's child walks-around in rags, who-is-being-laughed-at? — the-samartha-himself. His-own-name is on the line. The refugee's distress is the samartha's concern. So-if-anything-is-fitting-for-you to do — save-this-patita-Tukā. The argument: your-honour-depends-on-rescuing-me.
For someone today
Tukaram makes a bold, almost cheeky claim to God: if the child of a great man walks around in rags, people don't laugh at the child, they laugh at the great man for neglecting him. So when Tukaram calls himself a fallen refugee at God's door, he is saying the shame of that neglect would fall on God, not on him. This is not arrogance so much as a deep trust that once you truly take refuge in someone greater, your dignity becomes bound up with theirs. It gives you permission to ask boldly for help, because the one you trust has their own reputation staked on not abandoning you.
मराठी: तुकाराम महाराज देवाला एक धाडसी पण मार्मिक युक्तिवाद करतात, जर एखाद्या मोठ्या माणसाचं मूल फाटक्या वस्त्रात फिरताना दिसलं, तर लोक त्या मुलाला नाही तर त्या मोठ्या माणसालाच हसतात, कारण त्याने आपल्या मुलाची काळजी घेतली नाही. त्याचप्रमाणे तुकाराम स्वतःला देवाच्या दारी आलेला एक पतित शरणागत म्हणवतात, आणि सांगतात की माझी उपेक्षा झाली तर ती लाज माझी नाही तुझी आहे. यातून शिकायला मिळतं की जेव्हा तुम्ही खरोखर कोणावर तरी पूर्ण विश्वासाने अवलंबून राहता, तेव्हा तुमची प्रतिष्ठा त्यांच्याही प्रतिष्ठेशी जोडली जाते, आणि हा विश्वासच तुम्हाला धाडसाने मदत मागण्याचं बळ देतो.
Where this applies
- When you feel too ashamed or unworthy to ask for help from someone you deeply trust
- When you have thrown yourself fully on someone's mercy and wonder if you have any right to expect their care
- When you need courage to pray boldly instead of timidly, trusting that the relationship itself carries weight
- When you are the one being depended on and realize that someone else's dignity is now tied to how you treat them