Abhanga 3681
Real love pulls in both directions, so a devotion this total and self-forgetting deserves to be met with equal love in return.
The verse
तुमच्या पाळणा ओढतसे मन । गेलों विसरोन आपणासी ॥१॥
लागेल पालटें फेडावें उसणें । येणें चि प्रमाणें पांडुरंगा ॥ध्रु.॥
तुमचे आवडी संबंधाचा त्याग । घेतला ये लाग जगनिंदेचा ॥२॥
तुका म्हणे जैसा माझा जीव ओढे । तैसें च तिकडे पाहिजेल ॥३॥
Literal translation
Mana-pulls-toward-your-pāḷaṇā — forgot-self. Usaṇē-must-be-fēḍāvē-by-pālaṭa — same-pramāṇa-Pāṇḍurangā. By-your-āvaḍī-tyāga-of-sambandha — took-on-jaga-nindā. Tukā: as-jīva-pulls — so-must-be-there.
What it means
A beautiful 3-verse mutual-pull text. My mana pulls toward your rocking-cradle — I've forgotten myself. The loan must be repaid by exchange — by-this-same-proportion. For your love, I abandoned worldly-bonds and took on the world's slander. As my jīva pulls — so it must be at your side too. The pāḷaṇā (rocking-cradle) image is tender — the Lord rocks the bhakta's mana like a baby in a cradle.
For someone today
Tukaram says his mind is pulled toward God the way a baby is rocked and soothed in a cradle, so completely that he has forgotten himself entirely. He insists that a debt like this must be repaid in equal measure, the pull has to run both ways for it to be real. For the sake of that love, he gave up his ordinary worldly ties and accepted the mockery and criticism of people around him without flinching. He closes by demanding that the same intensity he feels pulling toward God must also exist pulling back toward him, love this real cannot be one sided.
मराठी: तुकाराम म्हणतात की त्यांचे मन देवाकडे असे ओढले जाते जसे पाळण्यात झुलणाऱ्या बाळाला झोका दिला जातो, इतके पूर्णपणे की त्यांना स्वतःचाच विसर पडतो. ते ठामपणे सांगतात की असे ऋण समान प्रमाणातच फेडले गेले पाहिजे, ओढ दोन्ही बाजूंनी असली तरच ती खरी असते. त्या प्रेमासाठी त्यांनी आपले सामान्य जगातील नातेसंबंध सोडले आणि लोकांची निंदा-नालस्ती न डगमगता स्वीकारली. शेवटी ते मागणी करतात की जितक्या तीव्रतेने त्यांचे मन देवाकडे ओढले जाते, तितकीच ओढ देवाकडूनही त्यांच्याकडे असली पाहिजे, कारण इतके खरे प्रेम एकतर्फी असू शकत नाही.
Where this applies
- When you love someone so completely that you momentarily forget your own needs
- When you feel a relationship should be mutual and are honest enough to say so
- When you give up comfortable ties or accept criticism because of something you deeply believe in
- When you find yourself demanding the same devotion back that you are giving so freely