संत साहित्य · Tukārām · Abhanga 3574 of 4582

Abhanga 3574

When you are truly worn out, you can trust that God, like genuine love, welcomes the exhausted and never treats caring for them as a burden.

When you feel exhausted in a deep, ongoing way rather than from just one hard day.

When you feel guilty for needing help and fear you are a burden on the people who love you.

When you need to believe that someone's care for you comes without resentment, no matter how much it costs them.

The verse

भागल्यांचा तूं विसांवा । करीं नांवा निंबलोण ॥१॥ परमानंदा पुरुषोत्तमा । हरीं या श्रमापासूनि ॥ध्रु.॥ अनाथांचा अंगीकार । करितां भार न मनिसी ॥२॥ तुका म्हणे इच्छा पुरे । ऐसें धुरेगे विठ्ठल ॥३॥

Literal translation

Bhāgalyāmchā tūm visāmvā — you are the rest of the exhausted; karīm nāmvā nimbalōṇa — do nimbalōṇa to the Name. Paramānamdā puruṣōttamā — O Paramānanda, Puruṣōttama; harīm yā śramāpāsūnī — remove (me) from this śrama. Anāthāmchā amgīkāra — taking-up of anāthas; karitām bhāra na manisī — while doing, you don't mind the burden. Tukā mhaṇe ichchhā pure — Tukā says: wish is fulfilled; aise dhurege Viṭhṭhala — be such, take-the-lead, Viṭhṭhal.

What it means

A 3-verse fatigue-prayer. You-are-the-rest-of-the-exhausted; wave-nazar-removal over-(my)-Name; remove-this-fatigue, O-Paramānanda; you-take-up-orphans without-minding-the-burden — my-wish-is-fulfilled, take-the-lead, Viṭhṭhal. Nimbalōṇa is the household-ritual of warding-off the-evil-eye — applied here to-protect-the-Name itself.

For someone today

Tukārām offers this as a prayer from sheer exhaustion. He calls God the resting place of the weary, performing a small protective ritual over the Name itself, and asks Paramānanda to lift this fatigue from him. Just as God takes in orphans without ever treating the care as a burden, Tukārām trusts he'll be received the same way — so his wish is simple: let Viṭhṭhal go ahead and take the lead, and carry him the rest of the way.

मराठी: तुकाराम इथे थकलेल्या भक्ताची प्रार्थना मांडतात. देवाला ते थकलेल्यांचा खरा विसावा म्हणतात, नामावर जणू निंबलोण उतरवतात, आणि परमानंद पुरुषोत्तमाला विनवतात की हा श्रम दूर कर. जसा देव अनाथांचा अंगीकार करताना भार मानत नाही, तसाच आपल्यालाही स्वीकारेल असा तुकारामांना विश्वास आहे — म्हणून त्यांची इच्छा साधी आहे: विठ्ठला, तूच पुढाकार घे आणि मला पुढे घेऊन जा.

Where this applies

Tukārām's exhausted-bhakta prayer
Companion to 3655 (helpless in courtyard)