संत साहित्य · Tukārām · Abhanga 3858 of 4582

Abhanga 3858

When your longing for someone pulls you so strongly that you forget yourself, it is natural to expect their attention to be pulled just as strongly back toward you.

When you become so absorbed in love or devotion that you forget your own body and worries.

When you sense a relationship shifting, like an old debt finally being repaid both ways.

When you hope the person or thing you long for will be drawn back toward you just as strongly.

The verse

तुझिया पाळणा ओढे माझें मन । गेलों विसरोन देहभाव ॥१॥ लागला पालट फेडणें उसणें । येणें चि प्रमाणें पांडुरंगा ॥२॥ तुका म्हणे माझा जीव जैसा ओढे । तैसा चि तिकडे पाहिजेल ॥३॥

Literal translation

Pulled-to-your-pāḷaṇā — forgot-deha-bhāva. Exchange-pālaṭa — paying-the-owed — Pāṇḍuranga. Tukā: my-jīva-pulled — must-be-attended-thus.

What it means

A 3-verse attraction-prayer. My mind is drawn to your cradle — I went on, forgetting body-consciousness. The exchange has begun: I am paying back what I owed — on this very basis, Pāṇḍuranga. Just as my soul is pulled (toward you), so must (your attention) be (pulled toward me). The reciprocity-claim as-my-jīva-is-pulled-so-must-yours-be is gentle bhakta-leverage.

For someone today

Tukaram says his mind is pulled toward Vitthal's cradle so strongly that he forgets he even has a body. He feels something has shifted between them, like a debt finally being repaid, an exchange that flows both ways. He then makes a gentle but bold claim: since his own soul is being pulled so strongly toward Vitthal, Vitthal's attention must be pulled back toward him too, in equal measure. It is love expecting love in return, not as a demand, but as a natural consequence of how strongly he is drawn.

मराठी: तुकाराम म्हणतात की त्यांचे मन विठ्ठलाच्या पाळण्याकडे इतके ओढले जाते की त्यांना स्वतःच्या देहाचेही भान राहत नाही. त्यांना वाटते की त्यांच्यात काहीतरी बदल घडतो आहे, जणू एखादे उसने फेडले जाते आहे, एक देवाणघेवाण दोन्ही बाजूंनी वाहते आहे. मग ते हळुवारपणे पण ठामपणे सांगतात की जसा त्यांचा जीव विठ्ठलाकडे ओढला जातो आहे, तसेच विठ्ठलाचेही लक्ष तितक्याच ओढीने त्यांच्याकडे वळले पाहिजे. ही मागणी नसून, इतक्या तीव्र ओढीचा तो नैसर्गिक परिणाम आहे असे प्रेम अपेक्षा ठेवते.

Where this applies

When you are so absorbed in loving someone or something that you forget yourself entirely
When you feel that a relationship has shifted and something owed is finally being returned
When you long for the person or thing you love to feel the same pull toward you
When you trust that deep, genuine longing naturally invites a response in kind

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