Abhanga 3964
Tukaram bluntly complains that God takes life without mercy yet withholds generosity, even while demanding full devotion in return.
The verse
घेतां आणिकांचा जीव । तेव्हां कींव कराना ॥१॥
आपलें तें वरदळ नेदा । हें गोविंदा कृपणता ॥ध्रु.॥
सेवा तरी इच्छा सांग । चोरिलें अंग साहेना ॥२॥
तुका म्हणे अरे धन्या । निसंतान्या विठोबा ॥३॥
Literal translation
Ghetām āṇikāñcā jīva — tevhām kīmva karānā — taking others' jīva — then you don't show pity. Āpalēm tem varadaḷa nedā — hem Govindā krpaṇatā — your own overflow you don't give — this is stinginess, Govinda. Sevā tarī icchā sānga — chōrilēm anga sāhenā — for service you tell wish — but can't bear stolen limb. Tukā mhaṇe are dhanyā — niḥsantānyā Viṭhōbā — Tukā says: O lord — niḥsantāna Viṭhōbā.
What it means
A 3-verse sharp-complaint. You-take-others'-lives-without-pity; don't-give-of-your-own-overflow — that's-stinginess, Govinda; for-service-you-tell-your-desire-but-can't-bear-withheld-limb; O-lord, niḥsantāna-Viṭhōbā. Niḥsantāna (without progeny) is the same epithet later used in 2909 for the Lord's strict accounting.
For someone today
Tukaram voices a bold, almost bristling complaint to God: when God takes someone's life away, there is no mercy shown in that moment, yet God does not freely give from his own abundance either, and Tukaram calls that stinginess plainly. He points out the contradiction of asking devotees for full service and devotion while withholding what feels like basic generosity in return. He ends with a cutting title for God, essentially calling him a lord who leaves no lineage of his own, showing how raw and unfiltered this complaint really is.
मराठी: तुकाराम देवाकडे एक धाडसी, जवळपास संतापलेली तक्रार मांडतात, देव जेव्हा एखाद्याचा जीव घेतो तेव्हा त्या क्षणी कसलीही दया दाखवली जात नाही, तरीही देव स्वतःच्या समृद्धीतून उदारपणे देत नाही, आणि तुकाराम याला स्पष्टपणे कंजूषपणा म्हणतात. भक्तांकडून पूर्ण सेवा आणि निष्ठा मागताना बदल्यात साधी उदारताही न दाखवण्याचा विरोधाभास ते निदर्शनास आणतात. शेवटी ते देवाला एक तिखट उपाधी देतात, जणू निःसंतान विठोबा असे म्हणत, यातून ही तक्रार किती कच्ची आणि थेट आहे हे दिसून येते.
Where this applies
- Tukārām's sharp-complaint corpus
- Companion to niḥsantāna term in 2909