Abhanga 3874
Don't let daily worry about food and money crowd out your faith, God who cared for you from the womb, and provides even for birds, will not neglect you.
The verse
नित्य उठोनियां खायाची चिंता । आपुल्या तूं हिता नाठवीसी ॥१॥
जननीचे पोटीं उपजलासी जेव्हां । चिंता तुझी तेव्हां केली तेणें ॥ध्रु.॥
चातकां लागूनि मेघ नित्य वर्षे । तो तुज उदास करील केवीं ॥२॥
पक्षी वनचरें आहेत भूमीवरि । तयांलागीं हरि उपेक्षीना ॥३॥
तुका म्हणे भाव धरुन राहें चित्तीं । तरि तो श्रीपति उपेक्षीना ॥४॥
Literal translation
Daily-chinta-eating — don't-remember-your-hita. In-womb — He-took-chinta-of-you. Chātaka-mēgha-daily — won't-be-udāsa-toward-you. Birds-vana-charas — Hari-doesn't-neglect. Tukā: hold-bhāva — Śrīpati-won't-neglect.
What it means
A 4-verse no-anxiety-about-food text. Every day you rise full of food-anxiety — but don't remember your real welfare. When you came into your mother's womb, He already took your worry. The cloud rains daily for the sake of the chātaka bird — how would He be indifferent toward you? Birds and forest-creatures on this earth — Hari doesn't neglect any. Hold faith in your chitti — Śrīpati won't neglect you. The argument is parallelism with even-smaller creatures: if the chātaka is provided-for, surely you (made-in-womb-with-care) will be too.
For someone today
Tukaram speaks to the daily worry of making ends meet, the anxious thought of what you'll eat, that so many people carry every morning without ever pausing to consider their deeper wellbeing. He reminds you that God was already looking after you before you were even born, from the moment you were forming in your mother's womb. Just as the rain falls every day to feed the chataka bird, and just as Hari provides for every bird and forest creature on earth, you too will be looked after. Hold genuine faith in your heart, Tukaram says, and Shripati will never neglect you.
मराठी: तुकाराम रोजच्या पोटाच्या चिंतेबद्दल बोलतात, जी अनेक लोक दररोज सकाळी घेऊन उठतात, आपल्या खऱ्या हिताचा विचारही न करता. ते आठवण करून देतात की तुम्ही आईच्या पोटात असतानाच देवाने तुमची काळजी घेतली होती. जसा मेघ रोज चातक पक्ष्यासाठी पाऊस पाडतो, आणि जसे हरी पृथ्वीवरील प्रत्येक पक्षी व वनचर प्राण्यालाही उपेक्षित नाही, तसेच तुमचीही काळजी घेतली जाईल. मनात खरा भाव धरा, तुकाराम म्हणतात, आणि श्रीपती कधीच तुमची उपेक्षा करणार नाहीत.
Where this applies
- When you wake up anxious about money or how you'll manage today's expenses
- When you're worried about providing for your family and can't shake the fear of scarcity
- When you see how nature quietly sustains even small creatures and wonder if you'll be cared for too
- When constant financial anxiety is crowding out any attention to your deeper spiritual wellbeing