Abhanga 3883
The verse
अनाथ परदेशी हीन दीन भोळें । उगलें चि लोळे तुझे रंगीं ॥१॥
आपुलें म्हणावें मज नुपेक्षावें । प्रेमसुख द्यावें मायबापा ॥ध्रु.॥
कासवीचे परि दृष्टी पाहें मज । विज्ञानीं उमज दावुनियां ॥२॥
तुका म्हणे तुझा जालों शरणागत । काया वाचा चित्त दुजें नाहीं ॥३॥
Literal translation
Anātha-paradēśī-hīna-dīna-bhōḷē — rolling-in-your-rangī. Call-me-yours-don't-upekṣa — prema-sukha-māyabāpa. Like-kāsavī-gaze-show-vijñāna-spark. Tukā: kāyā-vāchā-chitta-śaraṇāgata-no-other.
What it means
A 3-verse anātha-prayer. I am an orphan, a foreigner, low, helpless, simple — just rolling aimlessly in your assembly. Call me your own, don't neglect me — give me love-joy, mother-father. Gaze upon me like the turtle-mother — show me the awakening-spark of wisdom. I have become your refugee — by body, speech, mind — no other. The image of kāsavī-drṣṭi (the turtle-mother's gaze) is a tender Marathi devotional-image: it is said that the kāsavī (turtle/tortoise mother) nourishes her young by mere gaze from a distance — she doesn't physically suckle them. So the prayer asks: just gaze upon me, and that will suffice.
For someone today
Tukārām: I'm-orphan-foreigner-low-just-rolling-in-your-assembly — gaze-on-me-like-the-turtle-mother.
Where this applies
- Tukārām's anātha-paradēśī śaraṇāgati canonical
- kāsavī-drṣṭi (turtle-mother-gaze) image — nourishment-by-gaze-alone