Abhanga 3839
Even sincere devotion can include honest anger and doubt, questioning why help is delayed and why suffering is allowed to continue.
The verse
काय तुझी ऐसी वेचते गांठोळी । मांहे टाळाटाळी करीतसां ॥१॥
चतुराच्या राया आहो पांडुरंगा । ऐसें तरि सांगा निवडूनि ॥ध्रु.॥
कोण तुम्हां सुख असे या कवतुकें । भोगितां अनेकें दुःखें आम्ही ॥२॥
तुका म्हणे काय जालासी निर्गुण । आम्हां येथें कोण सोडवील ॥३॥
Literal translation
Kāya tujhī aisī vechate gāṇṭhōḷī — what does your such gāṇṭhōḷī spend; māmhe tāḷāṭāḷī karītsām — you keep doing tāḷāṭāḷī. Chaturāñcyā rāyā āhō Pāṇḍurangā — O chatura-rāya, Pāṇḍurangā; aise tari sāngā nivaḍūnī — tell (me) by nivaḍūnī. Kōṇa tumhām sukha ase yā kavatuke — what sukha you have in this kautuka; bhōgitām aneke duḥkhe āmhī — we bhōga many duḥkhas. Tukā mhaṇe kāya jālāsī nirguṇa — Tukā says: have you become nirguṇa; āmhām yethe kōṇa sōḍavīla — who will save us here.
What it means
A 3-verse protest by Tukārām.
The argument: What-does-your-gāṇṭhōḷī-spend in-saving-us? You're-doing-delay. O-king-of-chaturas, Pāṇḍurangā — tell-precisely. What-sukha-do-you-get from-this-sport while-we-bhōga-many-duḥkhas? Have-you-become-nirguṇa? — who-will-save-us-here?
The closing-rhetorical-question have-you-become-nirguṇa? is striking — the bhakta-suggests the-Lord-has-abandoned-his-saguṇa-rescue-role.
For someone today
Tukārām's protest. What does your such purse spend (in helping us)? — (you) keep doing delay. O king of the wise — Pāṇḍurangā — tell (me) by selecting precisely. What sukha do you have in this sport? — we undergo many sufferings. Have (you) become nirguṇa? — who will release us here? The verse permits this bhakti protest voiced against the Lord's delay in coming to help.
मराठी: तुकारामांची ही तक्रार. तुझी अशी काय गाठोडी खर्च होते आम्हांला मदत करताना? — तू टाळाटाळ करतच राहतोस. हे चतुरांच्या राया पांडुरंगा, स्पष्ट सांगून तरी टाक. या खेळात तुला काय सुख मिळते? — आम्ही मात्र अनेक दुःखे भोगतो. तू निर्गुण झालास का? — मग आम्हाला इथे कोण सोडवील? या ओवीत भक्तीची ही तक्रार आहे — देवाच्या मदतीला होणाऱ्या उशिराबद्दलची.
Where this applies
- When you feel angry at a delay in help you desperately need
- When someone questions why suffering continues despite their sincere prayers
- When you want permission to express doubt and frustration honestly instead of pretending calm
- When you wonder if the people or forces you rely on have simply stopped caring