Abhanga 3671
God's love for his devoted ones is as instinctive and unbreakable as a mother's love, whose every step is pulled by her child.
The verse
माउलीची चाली लेंकराचे ओढी । तयालागीं काढी प्राणें प्रीती ॥१॥
ऐसी बळिवंत आवडी जी देवा । संतमहानुभावा विनवितों ॥ध्रु.॥
मोहें मोहियेलें सर्वकाळ चित्त । विसरु तो घेत नाहीं क्षणें ॥२॥
तुका म्हणे दिला प्रेमाचा वोरस । सांभाळिलें दास आपुलें तें ॥३॥
Literal translation
Māuli's-gait-by-lēnkara's-pull — draws-prīti-from-prāṇa. Such-bālivanta-āvaḍī-Deva — petition-santa-mahānubhāva. By-mōha-chitta-mohiyēlē-sarva-kāḷa — no-visara-a-kṣaṇa. Tukā: gave-prēma's-vōrasa — sāmbhāḷa-dāsa.
What it means
A 3-verse mother-child-pull text. The mother's gait is determined by the child's pull — for him she draws prīti from her very prāṇa. Such is the mighty love; my chitta is caught in mōha, never lets-forgetting-in even a moment; he has given the rush of prēma, preserved his dāsa. The māulīchī chālī lēnkarāchē ōḍhī — the-mother's-walking-pace is set by-the-child's-tugging — is a tender ethnographic-observation.
For someone today
A mother's walking pace is set by her child's tug on her hand, and for that child she pours out love from the very depth of her being. Tukaram says God's love for those devoted to him works the same way, fierce and instinctive, never forgetting for even a moment. His own mind stays wrapped up in that love at all times. He tells us that God has given him this rush of love and has taken care of him as his own servant, the way a mother never lets go of her child's pull. Let that mother-and-child image be your model for what devotion actually feels like: not dutiful, but pulled.
मराठी: आईची चालण्याची गती तिच्या मुलाच्या ओढीने ठरते, आणि त्या मुलासाठी ती आपल्या अंतःकरणाच्या तळापासून प्रेम ओतते. तुकाराम म्हणतात की देवाचे आपल्या भक्तांवरील प्रेमही असेच असते, तीव्र आणि सहज, एक क्षणभरही विसर न पडणारे. त्यांचे स्वतःचे मन सतत त्या प्रेमात गुंतलेले राहते. ते सांगतात की देवाने त्यांना प्रेमाचा असा भर दिला आहे आणि आपल्या दासाला जपले आहे, जसे आई आपल्या मुलाची ओढ कधीच सोडत नाही.
Where this applies
- Tukārām's mother's-gait-by-child's-pull; sāmbhāḷa-dāsa canonical-image
- Companion to 3609, 3629 (mother-doctrine cluster)