Abhanga 4076
Even when you feel careless about your own protection, trust that a loving presence quietly carries your burdens and follows wherever you go.
The verse
लाडें भाकितों करुणा । तूं रे उदाराचा राणा ॥१॥
करिसी आमुचा सांभाळ । तूं रे माउली स्नेहाळ ॥ध्रु.॥
नाहीं चिंता रे आम्हांसी । तूं चि भार चालविसी ॥२॥
आम्ही जालों उदासीन । तूं चि करिसी जतन ॥३॥
आम्हां नाहीं जीवनास । तूं चि पुरविसी घास ॥४॥
तुका म्हणे भलते सवें । जातां मागें मागें धांवे ॥५॥
Literal translation
Lāḍē-bhāki-karuṇā — you-udāra-king. Our-sāmbhāḷa — you-snēhāḷa-mā'ulī. No-chinta — you-carry-bhāra. We-udāsīna — you-jatana. No-jīvana — you-fulfill-grāsa. Tukā: with-whatever — you-run-behind.
What it means
A 5-verse mother-Lord-runs-behind text. With sweet-childish words, I ask your compassion — you are the king of the generous. You do our caring — you are our loving mother. We have no worry — you yourself carry the burden. We have become passive — you preserve us. We have no means — you fulfill our daily morsel. Wherever we go, you run behind (us). The image māgēm-māgēm-dhāmvē (you-run-behind) — the Lord as the mother who follows the child — protective, attentive, never lost. Pair with 2597 (canonical Viṭṭhal-as-māulī).
For someone today
Tukaram pictures God as a loving mother who quietly carries every worry so he doesn't have to. He has become almost careless about his own protection, and yet he trusts that someone is still watching over him and making sure he is fed. Wherever he wanders, that care follows behind him, unseen but constant. The comfort here is not that nothing goes wrong, but that you are never truly walking alone, even when you feel like you've stopped taking care of yourself.
मराठी: तुकाराम देवाला एका प्रेमळ आईसारखे बघतात, जी आपली प्रत्येक काळजी शांतपणे स्वतःवर घेते जेणेकरून आपल्याला ती वाहायची गरज उरत नाही. ते स्वतःच्या काळजीबाबत जवळजवळ बेफिकीर झाले आहेत, तरीही त्यांना विश्वास आहे की कोणीतरी त्यांच्यावर लक्ष ठेवून आहे आणि त्यांचे पोट भरले जाईल. ते कुठेही भटकले तरी ती काळजी त्यांच्यामागे अदृश्यपणे, पण सतत चालत राहते. यातून दिलासा हा नाही की काहीच वाईट घडणार नाही, तर हा आहे की तुम्ही खरोखर कधीच एकटे चालत नसता, स्वतःची काळजी घेणे विसरलात तरीही.
Where this applies
- When you feel exhausted and unable to keep caring for yourself the way you should
- When you are anxious about how you will manage and need to trust that support is coming
- When you feel abandoned or forgotten and long for a presence that follows and protects you
- When you notice unexpected help or provision arriving just when you needed it