Abhanga 3959
Tukaram says God's love for the devotee is like a mother's love for her baby, unconditional and constant even when the baby gives nothing back.
The verse
बाळ माते निष्ठ होये । परि तें स्नेह करीत आहे ॥१॥
तैसा तूं गा पुरुषोत्तमा । घडी न विसंबसी आम्हां ॥ध्रु.॥
नेणती भागली । कडे घेतां अंग घाली ॥२॥
भूक साहे ताहान । त्याचें राखे समाधान ॥३॥
त्याच्या दुःखें धाये । आपला जीव देऊं पाहे ॥४॥
नांवें घाली उडी । तुका म्हणे प्राण काढी ॥५॥
Literal translation
Bāḷa mātē niṣṭha hōye — pari tem sneha karīta āhe — baby (is) faithless to mother — but she does affection. Taisā tūm gā puruṣōttamā — ghaḍī na visambasī āmhām — so you, Puruṣōttama, don't leave-us for a moment. Neṇatī bhāgalī — kaḍē ghetām anga ghālī — unknowing, tired — (mother) takes (it) on lap, puts body. Bhūka sāhe tāhāna — tyāñcē rākhe samādhāna — bears (its) hunger-thirst — keeps its contentment. Tyāñcyā duḥkhē dhāye — āpalā jīva deūm pāhe — at its sorrow runs — wants to give own life. Nāmve ghālī uḍī — Tukā mhaṇe prāṇa kāḍhī — at (its) name jumps — Tukā says: takes out (her) prāṇa.
What it means
A 5-verse extended mother-Lord analogy. Baby-may-be-careless — mother-still-loves; so-too you-Puruṣōttama don't-leave-us-a-moment; mother-takes-on-lap, bears-hunger-thirst, runs-at-pain, gives-life, jumps-at-name; the-Lord's-love-for-bhakta is mother's-love-for-baby — unconditional, ceaseless, body-and-life-given.
For someone today
Tukaram compares God to a mother who keeps loving her baby even when the baby is careless or shows no faithfulness in return. In the same way, he asks Purushottama never to be absent from him even for a moment, describing how a mother takes her tired, unaware child onto her lap, bears its hunger and thirst herself just to keep it content, and runs toward it the instant it cries in pain. He pushes the image to its furthest point, saying she would give her own life for the child, and that just hearing its name makes her leap up, ready to give her very breath.
मराठी: तुकाराम देवाची तुलना अशा आईशी करतात जी आपल्या बाळाला प्रेम देत राहते, जरी बाळ तिच्याशी बेपर्वा वागले आणि बदल्यात कोणतीच निष्ठा दाखवली नाही तरी. त्याचप्रमाणे ते पुरुषोत्तमाला विनंती करतात की एका क्षणासाठीही माझ्यापासून दूर जाऊ नकोस, आणि आई आपल्या थकलेल्या, अजाण बाळाला मांडीवर कशी घेते, त्याची भूक-तहान स्वतः सोसून त्याला कसे समाधानी ठेवते, आणि ते रडताच त्याच्याकडे कशी धावते, याचे वर्णन करतात. हा भाव ते अगदी टोकापर्यंत नेतात, ती बाळासाठी स्वतःचा जीवही देईल असे सांगतात, आणि नुसते नाव ऐकताच ती उठून धावते, आपला प्राणही द्यायला तयार असते.
Where this applies
- Tukārām's mother-bhakti analogy expanded across 5 verses
- Companion to tūm-mājhī-māulī (2597) and mother-Deva imagery