Abhanga 3687
When someone who truly loves you seems to withdraw or test you, it is often a gentle trick to draw out your voice, not a real abandonment.
The verse
आरुषा वचनीं मातेची आवडी । म्हणऊनि तांतडी घेती नाहीं ॥१॥
काय होइल माझें मांडिलें कवतुक । आदराची भूक रडारोवी ॥ध्रु.॥
लपोनियां करी चुकुर माऊली । नाहीं होती केली निष्ठासांडी ॥२॥
तुका म्हणे करी पारखीं वचनें । भेवउनि तान्हें आळवावें ॥३॥
Literal translation
Toddler's-rude-words — mother's-āvaḍī — no-tāntaḍī. What-kavatuka-I-set-up — ādara-hunger-raḍā-rōvī. Mother-hides-chukura — not-niṣṭha-sāṇḍī. Tukā: pārakhī-by-vachanē — frightening-tānhē-one-calls.
What it means
A 3-verse mother-doctrine continuation. Mother's love is in (responding-to) the toddler's rude-words — so no quick-action. My set-up game won't fulfill; hunger-for-respect makes me cry-out. The mother hides, making a fright-trick — she hasn't truly-abandoned. Tukā: she tests by words, frightens the toddler to call him back. Compare 3609 (5-verse mother-rearing, bhēḍasāvī-tānhē-bogey).
For someone today
Tukaram continues his mother-and-child image here, saying a mother's love shows even in how she responds to a toddler's rude, fumbling words, never reacting hastily or harshly. He wonders what will become of the little game he has set up, since his hunger for real attention makes him cry out loudly. He explains that when the mother hides from her child, it is only a playful trick, not a real abandonment, she has not truly let go of him. In the same way, God sometimes tests devotees with silence or distance, not out of neglect but to draw out their voice, frightening the child a little only so the child will call for her and come running back.
मराठी: तुकाराम इथे आई-मुलाचे प्रतीक पुढे नेतात, सांगतात की आईचे प्रेम तिच्या मुलाच्या अस्ताव्यस्त, उर्मट बोलण्यालाही ती कशी प्रतिसाद देते यातून दिसते, कधीच घाईघाईने किंवा कठोरपणे नाही. त्यांना प्रश्न पडतो, मी उभा केलेला हा खेळ कसा पार पडेल, कारण खऱ्या आदराच्या भुकेने ते मोठ्याने रडतात-ओरडतात. ते समजावतात की जेव्हा आई मुलापासून लपते, तेव्हा तो केवळ खेळकर खोडसाळपणा असतो, खरा त्याग नाही, तिने त्याला खरोखर सोडलेले नाही. त्याचप्रमाणे देवही कधी कधी भक्तांची शांततेने किंवा अंतराने परीक्षा घेतो, दुर्लक्षामुळे नव्हे, तर त्यांचा आवाज बाहेर काढण्यासाठी, थोडेसे घाबरवून जेणेकरून मूल हाक मारून पुन्हा धावत यावे.
Where this applies
- Tukārām's mother-hides-fright-game; pārakhī-by-vachanē canonical-mother-doctrine
- Companion to 3609, 3629, 3671 (mother-doctrine cluster)