Abhanga 3982
Even the warmest human image of love, a mother's care, falls short of describing divine compassion, whose authority reaches beyond this world to time and death itself.
The verse
माउलीसी सांगे कोण । प्रेम वाढवी ताहानें ॥१॥
अंतरींचा कळवळा । करीतसे प्रतिपाळा ॥ध्रु.॥
मायबापाची उपमा। तुज देऊं मेघश्यामा ॥२॥
ते ही साजेना पाहातां । जीवलगा पंढरिनाथा ॥३॥
माय पाळी संसारीं । परलोक राहे दुरी ॥४॥
तैसा नव्हेसी अनंता । काळावरी तुझी सत्ता ॥५॥
तुका म्हणे नारायणा । तुम्हां बहुत करुणा ॥६॥
Literal translation
Māulīsī sānge kōṇa — prema vāḍhavī tāhānēm — who tells the mother — love grows by thirst. Amtarīñcā kaḷavaḷā — karītasē pratipāḷā — the interior stir does the protection. Māybāpāñcī upamā — tuja deūm meghaśyāmā — the māy-bāpa upamā I give to you, Meghaśyāma. Te hī sājenā pāhātām — jīvalagā paṇḍharināthā — even that doesn't fit, looking — jīvalagā Paṇḍharīnātha. Māya pāḷī samsārīm — paralōka rāhe durī — mother nurtures in samsāra — paraloka stays far. Taisā navhesī anantā — kāḷāvarī tujhī sattā — you aren't like that, Ananta — your authority is over Time. Tukā mhaṇe nārāyaṇā — tumhām bahuta karuṇā — Tukā says: Nārāyaṇa — you have much karuṇā.
What it means
A 6-verse mother-but-more meditation. Mother's-thirst-grows-love; the-inner-stir-protects; the-mother-father-simile fits you-Meghaśyāma but-even-that-fails; mother-nurtures-only-in-samsāra, paraloka stays-far; but-your-sattā extends-over-kāḷa; Nārāyaṇa-has-much-karuṇā. Refines the canonical mother-Deva image (2597).
For someone today
Tukaram reaches for the best comparison he can think of, calling God like a mother, since no one teaches a mother that love grows through longing, it just wells up from inside her and protects the child. But even that comparison, he admits, does not quite fit when he really looks at Panduranga, dear as his own life. A mother can only care for you within this ordinary world, while the world beyond stays out of her reach. God's care, though, is not limited that way; his authority reaches even over time and death itself. Tukaram's conclusion is that even our warmest human images of love fall short of describing real compassion, and that is itself something to be grateful for.
मराठी: तुकाराम आपल्याला सुचणारी सर्वात चांगली उपमा शोधतात, ते देवाला आईसारखे म्हणतात, कारण आईला कोणी शिकवत नाही की प्रेम ओढीने वाढते, ते तिच्या मनातून आपोआप उमलते आणि मुलाचे रक्षण करते. पण ही उपमासुद्धा, ते कबूल करतात, पांडुरंगाकडे, जो त्यांच्या जिवाभावाचा आहे, खरोखर पाहिले तर पुरेशी वाटत नाही. आई फक्त या संसारापुरतीच काळजी घेऊ शकते, पलीकडचे जग तिच्या आवाक्याबाहेर राहते. पण देवाची काळजी अशी मर्यादित नाही, त्याची सत्ता काळावर आणि मृत्यूवरही चालते. तुकारामांचा निष्कर्ष असा की प्रेमाच्या आपल्या सर्वात उत्कट मानवी प्रतिमासुद्धा खऱ्या करुणेच्या तुलनेत अपुऱ्या पडतात, आणि हीच गोष्ट कृतज्ञतेचे कारण आहे.
Where this applies
- Tukārām's mother-but-more refinement of canonical mother-Deva (2597)
- Companion to kāḷa-as-subordinate (2884, 2975)