Abhanga 4098
The name Vithoba itself tells a story of devotion so total it turns support into service, showing that real praise can transform the devotee into something the divine can rest on.
The verse
विचा केला ठोबा । म्हणोनि नांव तो विठोबा ॥१॥
कां रे नेणां त्याचें नांव । काय वेदासि नाहीं ठाव ॥ध्रु.॥
शेष स्तुती प्रवर्तला । जिव्हा चिरूनि पलंग जाला ॥२॥
तुका म्हणे सत्ता । ज्याची काळाचिये माथा ॥३॥
Literal translation
Vichā-kēlā-ṭhōbā — Name-Viṭhōbā. Why-don't-you-know — does-Veda-not-have-ṭhāva. Śeṣa-stuti-pravrita — tongue-cut-became-palanga. Tukā: sattā — on-Kāḷa's-head.
What it means
A 3-verse Viṭhōbā-etymology text. He made a back-rest for (the bhakta / for vichā) — therefore his Name is Viṭhōbā. Why don't you know his Name? — does the Veda have no place for it? Śeṣa (the cosmic-serpent) set forth into his praise — cutting his (own) tongue, he became (the Lord's) couch. The sovereignty of that one is upon Kāḷa's head. Two motifs: (a) the folk-etymology Viṭhōbā = vichā-kēlā-ṭhōbā (he-made-the-back); (b) Śeṣa, the cosmic-serpent who is Viṣṇu's couch, cuts his own tongue (from too much praise?) and becomes the couch — a cosmic-bhakti image.
For someone today
Tukaram plays with the name Vithoba, saying it comes from the Lord making himself a support or a rest for his devotee, and he asks why anyone would doubt this name when even the Vedas hold a place for it. He offers the image of Shesha, the great serpent, so lost in praising the Lord that he cut his own tongue and turned himself into the couch the Lord rests on. The point is that true devotion is not just words, it can turn your whole being into something useful and close to the divine, and that this Lord's power reaches even over death itself.
मराठी: तुकाराम विठोबा या नावाचा अर्थ उलगडतात, म्हणतात की देवाने भक्तासाठी आधार म्हणजे पाठ केली, म्हणून त्याचे नाव विठोबा पडले, आणि वेदातही या नावाला स्थान आहे तर मग कोणी त्यावर शंका का घ्यावी असे विचारतात. शेष नागाचे उदाहरण देतात, जो देवाच्या स्तुतीत इतका तल्लीन झाला की स्वतःची जीभ चिरून त्याने स्वतःलाच देवाची शय्या बनवले. यातून हा बोध मिळतो की खरी भक्ती केवळ शब्दांत नसते, ती संपूर्ण अस्तित्वाला देवाच्या सेवेसाठी उपयोगी आणि जवळचे बनवू शकते, आणि या देवाची सत्ता मृत्यूवरही चालते.
Where this applies
- Tukārām's Viṭhōbā-etymology + Śeṣa-stuti canonical