Abhanga 4015
When you surrender in devotion, the divine takes on the whole burden the way a mother bird feeds her helpless chick, and that trust itself becomes a lasting gain.
The verse
भोगी जाला त्याग । गीती गातां पांडुरंग । इंद्रियांचा लाग । आम्हांवरूनि चुकला ॥१॥
करुनि ठेविलों निश्चळि । भय नाहीं तळमळ । घेतला सकळ । अवघा भार विठ्ठलें ॥ध्रु.॥
तळीं पिक्षणीचे परी । नखें चोंची चारा धरी । आणुनियां घरीं । मुखीं घाली बाळका ॥२॥
तुका म्हणे ये आवडी । आम्हीं पांयीं दिली बुडी । आहे तेथें जोडी । जन्मांतरींचें ठेवणें ॥३॥
Literal translation
Bhōgī-became-tyāga — singing-gītī-Pāṇḍuranga. Indriyas-lāga-missed — Viṭṭhal-took-all-bhāra. Mother-bird-nakhē-chōnchī-chārā — feeds-baby. Tukā: gave-buḍī-with-āvaḍī — janma-antara-savings.
What it means
A 3-verse mother-bird-feeds-baby + bhakti-takes-over text. The enjoyer has become a renouncer — singing of Pāṇḍuranga. The senses' clinging has missed us; he has placed us motionless — no fear, no thrashing — Viṭṭhal has taken the whole burden. As the mother-bird with her claws and beak holds the food, brings it home, and puts it in the baby's mouth — so... With this love, we have plunged at his feet; there is the gain — the savings-for-the-life-cycle. The mother-bird-feeds-baby image is sweetly-domestic and quite specific to brooding-birds (pelicans, etc., who bring back beak-fulls of fish for chicks).
For someone today
Tukaram describes what happened to him through singing about Panduranga, someone who used to chase pleasure has quietly become a person at peace with letting go. The old pull of the senses simply stopped gripping him. He describes himself as being held steady, without fear and without that restless, anxious churning, because Vitthal has taken on the whole weight for him. He compares this to a mother bird who gathers food with her claws and beak, carries it home, and places it directly into her baby's mouth, no struggle required on the baby's part. Diving into this love at the divine feet, he says, is itself the gain, something saved up that will matter beyond just this one lifetime.
मराठी: पांडुरंगाचे गाणे गात असताना आपल्याला काय झाले हे तुकाराम सांगतात, जो कधी सुखांच्या मागे धावत होता तो आता शांतपणे सगळे सोडून द्यायला तयार झाला आहे. इंद्रियांची जुनी ओढ त्यांना धरून ठेवेनाशी झाली. ते स्वतःला स्थिर, भयरहित आणि त्या अस्वस्थ तळमळीशिवाय असल्याचे वर्णन करतात, कारण विठ्ठलाने सगळा भार स्वतःवर घेतला आहे. याची तुलना ते आईपक्ष्याशी करतात, जी नखे आणि चोचीने चारा गोळा करते, घरी आणते, आणि थेट बाळाच्या तोंडात घालते, बाळाला काही झगडावे लागत नाही. या प्रेमापोटी परमेश्वराच्या चरणी बुडी घेणे हाच खरा लाभ आहे, असे ते म्हणतात, हे असे साठवण आहे जे या एका जन्मापुरते मर्यादित राहणार नाही.
Where this applies
- When you notice an old craving or habit has quietly loosened its grip on you
- When you are anxious about carrying every burden yourself and need to trust that help is being given
- When you want an image of being cared for completely, the way a parent feeds a helpless child without them having to struggle
- When you are wondering whether a moment of devotion or love really matters in the long run