Abhanga 3903
The verse
बाळेंविण माय क्षणभरि न राहे । न देखतां होये कासाविस ॥१॥
आणिक उदंड बुझाविती जरी । छंद त्या अंतरीं माउलीचा ॥ध्रु.॥
नावडती तया बोल आणिकाचे । देखोनियां नाचे माय दृष्टी ॥२॥
तुका म्हणे माझी विठ्ठल माउली । आणिकांचे बोलीं चाड नाहीं ॥३॥
Literal translation
Without-bāḷa-māya-can't-stay-kṣaṇabhari-becomes-kāsāvis. Others-bujhāvitī-much — antara-on-māulī. Don't-like-others'-words — sees-baby-and-dances. Tukā: my-Viṭṭhal-māulī — no-chāḍa-for-others'-words.
What it means
★ A 3-verse mother-baby-yearning text. Without the baby, the mother cannot stay even a moment — not seeing it she becomes restless. Even if many try to console her, her heart's longing is only on the baby. Other people's words don't appeal — but seeing the baby's gaze, the mother dances. (Says Tukā:) my Viṭṭhal is the mother — I have no concern for others' words. The mother-baby-yearning is one of the most-evocative Marathi devotional images. Note the gender-reversal: here the baby is the focus of mother's yearning — but the analogy applies to Viṭṭhal as māulī and Tukā as the child (the mother yearns for the baby as much as the baby yearns for the mother — reciprocal-yearning). Compare 2811 (bhēṭīlāgī-yearning Dīvāḷī-daughter-watching-path), 3884 (Pāvalōm-Paṇḍharī-māhera).
For someone today
Tukārām: the-mother-can't-stay-a-moment-without-baby — even-so-Viṭṭhal-the-mother-and-I-the-baby.
Where this applies
- ★ Tukārām's mother-baby-yearning-reciprocal canonical
- Pair with 2811 (bhēṭīlāgī-yearning), 3884 (Pāvalōm-Paṇḍharī-māhera)