Abhanga 3928
Even when it feels like God is angry or absent, that relationship remains the only one that can truly meet your deepest need, Tukaram says.
The verse
तुझा म्हणोनियां दिसतों गा दीन । हा चि अभिमान सरे तुझा ॥१॥
अज्ञान बाळका कोपली जननी । तयासी निर्वाणीं कोण पावे ॥ध्रु.॥
तैसा विठो तुजविण परदेशी । नको या दुःखासीं गोऊं मज ॥२॥
तुका म्हणे मज सर्व तुझी आशा । अगा जगदीशा पांडुरंगा ॥३॥
Literal translation
Calling-myself-yours — look-dīna. Mother-angry-at-bāḷaka — who-fulfills-niravāṇa. Without-you-Viṭhō-paradēśī — don't-tangle-in-duḥkha. Tukā: all-āśā-on-you-Jagadīśa-Pāṇḍurangā.
What it means
A 3-verse mother-angry-with-baby prayer. Calling myself yours, I look helpless — this very claim comes from you. When the mother is angry with the ignorant baby — who else fulfills the baby's extremity? So, without you, Viṭhō, I'm an outsider — don't tangle me in this suffering. All my hope is on you, Jagadīśa Pāṇḍuranga. The image mother-angry-with-baby-who-else-fulfills-baby's-need is the bhakta's most-helpless-cry-image.
For someone today
Tukaram compares himself to a helpless baby and God to a mother who might be angry with her ignorant child. He asks a tender question: even when the mother is upset, who else is there to meet the baby's need in its moment of extremity? Nobody else. So, Tukaram says, without God he is like a stranger with nowhere to belong, and he asks not to be left tangled in suffering. All his hope rests on this one relationship. It's a lesson in trusting that even when you feel God's absence or anger, that bond remains your only real source of help.
मराठी: तुकाराम स्वतःला असहाय बाळासारखे आणि देवाला अशा आईसारखे मानतात जी आपल्या अजाण मुलावर कधी रागावूही शकते. ते एक हळवा प्रश्न विचारतात: आई रागावली तरी, बाळाच्या अत्यंत गरजेच्या क्षणी त्याची काळजी अजून कोण घेणार? कोणीच नाही. म्हणून तुकाराम म्हणतात, देवाशिवाय ते जणू परक्या ठिकाणी हरवलेले परदेशी आहेत, आणि ते दुःखात अडकून राहू नये अशी विनंती करतात. त्यांची सगळी आशा याच एका नात्यावर आहे. यातून हा धडा मिळतो की देवाची अनुपस्थिती किंवा राग जाणवला तरी तेच नाते शेवटी आधाराचे खरे स्थान राहते.
Where this applies
- When you feel abandoned or scolded by someone you deeply depend on
- When you're in genuine distress and unsure who will actually help you
- When you feel like an outsider without your core source of support
- When your hope has narrowed down to a single relationship you can't do without