Abhanga 3822
Human parents love with some self-interest and sometimes punish, but God's compassionate nature is unconditional, without self-interest or punishment.
The verse
मायबापें सांभाळिती । लोभाकारणें पाळिती ॥१॥
तैसा नव्हे देवराव । याचा कृपाळु स्वभाव ॥ध्रु.॥
मनासारिखें न होतां । बाळकासी मारी माता ॥२॥
तुका म्हणे सांगूं किती । बाप लेंकासी मारिती ॥३॥
Literal translation
Māyabāpas-protect — by-lōbha-they-pāḷitī. Not-so-Devarāya — krpāḷu-svabhāva. Not-as-mind — mātā-beats-bāḷaka. Tukā: how-many — bāpa-strikes-lēnka.
What it means
A 3-verse Devarāya-better-than-mother text. Mother-fathers protect — but they rear out of self-interest. Not so the Devarāya — his very nature is compassionate. When the child does not behave as the mother wishes, the mother strikes him. How many cases shall I tell — fathers strike their sons. A clear-eyed view of human parenting: love mixed with self-interest, with frequent corporal punishment — contrasted with Devarāya's unconditional krpāḷu-svabhāva. Compare 2597 (tūm-mājhī-māulī) where Tukārām calls Viṭhṭhal mother — here he sharpens the contrast: even human mothers beat children; Deva does not.
For someone today
Tukaram takes an honest look at human parents: they protect their children, but there's self-interest mixed in, and mothers and fathers strike their children when they don't behave as expected. He contrasts this with God, whose compassionate nature has no such mixture and no such punishment. The lesson is that divine love is more unconditional than even the most devoted human love, which still carries expectation and correction.
मराठी: तुकाराम मानवी आईवडिलांकडे स्पष्ट नजरेने पाहतात: ते मुलांचे रक्षण करतात, पण त्यात स्वार्थही मिसळलेला असतो, आणि मूल मनासारखे वागले नाही की आई-वडील त्याला मारतातही. याच्या उलट देवाचा स्वभाव कृपाळू आहे, त्यात असा स्वार्थ किंवा शिक्षा नसते. याचा अर्थ असा की देवाचे प्रेम माणसाच्या सर्वात प्रामाणिक प्रेमापेक्षाही जास्त निरपेक्ष असते, कारण माणसाच्या प्रेमात अपेक्षा आणि शिक्षा दोन्ही असतात.
Where this applies
- When a parent realizes their love for a child is tangled up with their own expectations
- When someone was punished as a child and wonders if love always comes with conditions
- When you compare human affection to something more unconditional and feel comforted
- When you are trying to understand why divine compassion feels different from human love