Abhanga 3634
A cry for help born of real understanding deserves a real answer, and it is worth honestly checking whether your inner life still matches the big words you speak.
The verse
नेणपणें नाहीं केला हा बोभाट । आतां आली वाट कळों खरी ॥१॥
आतां बहुं शीघ्र यावें लवकरी । वाट पाहें हरी भेटी देई ॥ध्रु.॥
समर्थाच्या बाळा करुणेचें भाषण । तरी त्याची कोण नांदणूक ॥२॥
तुका म्हणे बहु बोलिले बडिवार । पडिलें अंतर लौकिकीं तें ॥३॥
Literal translation
Not-from-nēṇa-this-bōbhāṭa — now-true-vāṭa-known. Come-very-quickly — Hari-give-bhēṭī. Samartha's-bāḷa-karuṇā — whose-nāmdaṇūka. Tukā: spoken-baḍivāra — antara-fallen-laukika.
What it means
A 3-verse petition. I didn't cry from ignorance — the true path is known to me now; come quickly; if the samartha's child has-to-speak karuṇā-bhāṣaṇa, whose life-arrangement is it (that should provide)? Tukā: I've spoken much big-talk — my inner has fallen into the worldly.
For someone today
Tukaram says his cry was not born from ignorance, it comes now that he truly understands the path he is on, so he begs Hari to come to him quickly and grant him a real meeting. He raises a sharp question: if the child of a capable, wealthy parent still has to beg pitifully for basic care, then whose failure is that really, the child's or the parent's? He turns that same question on himself too, admitting that he has talked a lot of big, boastful words, while his own inner life has quietly slipped back into ordinary worldly concerns.
मराठी: तुकाराम म्हणतात की त्यांचा हा आक्रोश अज्ञानातून आलेला नाही, तर आता खरा मार्ग समजल्यानंतर आला आहे, म्हणून ते हरीला विनवतात की लवकर यावे आणि खरी भेट द्यावी. ते एक तिखट प्रश्न विचारतात, समर्थ आणि श्रीमंत आईवडिलांच्या मुलालाही जर साध्या काळजीसाठी केविलवाणे मागावे लागत असेल, तर ही कोणाची चूक आहे, मुलाची की पालकांची? हाच प्रश्न ते स्वतःलाही विचारतात, कबूल करतात की त्यांनी खूप मोठमोठ्या फुशारकीच्या गोष्टी बोलल्या आहेत, पण त्यांचे स्वतःचे अंतर्मन शांतपणे पुन्हा सामान्य ऐहिक विचारांत घसरले आहे.
Where this applies
- When you finally understand your situation clearly and your cry for help comes from that clarity, not confusion
- When you feel you should not have to beg for basic care from someone who is fully capable of providing it
- When you catch yourself talking big about your devotion while your inner life has quietly slipped back into worldly worry
- When you are honestly examining whether your words match what is actually happening inside you