Abhanga 3691
When words run out and you feel unwelcomed despite reaching out with real intimacy, a quiet gesture of surrender can speak what language no longer can.
The verse
काय उरली ते करूं विनवणी । वेचलों वचनीं पांडुरंगा ॥१॥
अव्हेरलों आतां कैचें नामरूप । आदर निरोप तरि तो नाहीं ॥ध्रु.॥
माझा मायबाप ये गेलों सलगी । तों हें तुम्हां जगीं सोयइरिका ॥२॥
तुका म्हणे आतां जोडोनियां हात । करी दंडवत ठायिंचाठायीं ॥३॥
Literal translation
What's-left-to-vinavaṇī — spent-in-vachana-Pāṇḍurangā. Avhērala-now — no-ādara-no-nirōpa. Came-salagī-with-māyabāpa — but-you-have-sōya-irikā-in-jaga. Tukā: folding-hands — daṇḍa-vata-in-place.
What it means
A 3-verse petition. What's left to ask? — I've used up all my words; I've been rejected — no welcome, no farewell; I came intimately to my mother-father, but you have your-knack with the world. Now I just fold my hands and make daṇḍa-vata in-place.
For someone today
Tukaram admits he has run out of things to ask for, having already spent every word he had pleading with Panduranga. He feels rejected now, with neither a warm welcome nor even a proper goodbye given to him. He came to God with the same intimacy a child has with a mother and father, but feels that God treated it as just another ordinary custom of the world, not something personal. With nothing left to say, he simply folds his hands and bows right where he stands, letting the gesture speak when words have failed.
मराठी: तुकाराम कबूल करतात की आता विनवणी करण्यासाठी काहीच उरलेले नाही, कारण पांडुरंगाकडे याचना करताना त्यांचे सगळे शब्द आधीच संपले आहेत. आता त्यांना नाकारल्यासारखे वाटते, ना नीट स्वागत मिळाले ना निरोप. ते आई-वडिलांशी जितक्या जवळीकीने वागावे तितक्या जवळीकीने देवाकडे आले, पण त्यांना वाटते की देवाने त्याला केवळ जगातली एक रीत म्हणून घेतले, वैयक्तिक भावना म्हणून नाही. काहीच बोलण्यासारखे उरले नसताना, ते फक्त हात जोडून जिथे उभे आहेत तिथेच नमस्कार करतात, शब्द थकल्यावर कृतीच बोलू देतात.
Where this applies
- When you feel you've said everything you can say and words no longer help
- When you approach someone with real intimacy and instead feel treated like a stranger
- When you feel unwelcomed even after reaching out with your whole heart
- When silence and a simple gesture become the only honest response left to you