Abhanga 4140
It is honest, not faithless, to openly question why closeness or compassion feels withheld, even while acknowledging your own past may be part of the distance.
The verse
बोध्यअवतार माझिया अदृष्टा । मौन्य मुखें निष्ठा धरियेली ॥१॥
लोकांचियेसाटीं शाम चतुर्भुज । संतांसवें गुज बोलतसां ॥ध्रु.॥
आलें कलियुग माझिया संचिता । डोळां हाकलितां न पडेसी ॥२॥
म्यां च तुझें काय केलें नारायणा । कां नये करुणा तुका म्हणे ॥३॥
Literal translation
Bōdhya-avatāra mājhiyā adrṣṭā — Buddha-avatāra in my sight; mauna mukhe niṣṭhā dhariyelī — mauna has held niṣṭhā at mouth. Lōkāñciyesāṭīm śyāma chaturbhuja — for people, shyāma-chaturbhuja; samtāmsavē guja bōlatasām — with sants, (you) speak secret. Āle kaliyuga mājhiyā samchitā — Kaliyuga came by my samchita; ḍōḷām hākalitām na paḍesī — even staring with eyes, (you) don't fall (to sight). Myām cha tujhe kāya kele Nārāyaṇā — what have I done to you, Nārāyaṇa; kām naye karuṇā Tukā mhaṇe — Tukā says: why doesn't karuṇā come.
What it means
Tukārām treats the Buddha-avatāra (10th) as mauna-vowed — speaks only-secretly-with-sants, shows-shyāma-chaturbhuja-form to-the-world. The bhakta complains: Kaliyuga is from his samchita; the Lord doesn't appear even-to-staring-eyes.
For someone today
Tukaram voices real frustration here, describing an incarnation of the divine who has taken a vow of silence, speaking secretly only with true saints while showing the world just a distant, formal image. He admits that this current difficult age has come about through his own accumulated past, and that even when he stares hard, searching with his own eyes, nothing appears to him. He ends by openly asking what he has done wrong, wondering aloud why compassion doesn't seem to come his way, an honest expression of spiritual longing and doubt rather than easy certainty.
मराठी: तुकाराम इथे खरी निराशा व्यक्त करतात, एका अवताराचे वर्णन करतात ज्याने मौन्य व्रत घेतले आहे, जो फक्त खऱ्या संतांशीच गुप्तपणे बोलतो आणि जगाला मात्र फक्त दुरून एक औपचारिक रूप दाखवतो. ते कबूल करतात की हा कठीण काळ त्यांच्या स्वतःच्या संचितामुळे आला आहे, आणि डोळे ताणून पाहूनही त्यांना काहीच दिसत नाही. शेवटी ते उघडपणे विचारतात मी काय चूक केली, आणि करुणा माझ्याकडे का येत नाही असा प्रश्न ते मोठ्याने विचारतात, ही सोपी खात्री नसून आध्यात्मिक तळमळ आणि शंकेची प्रामाणिक अभिव्यक्ती आहे.
Where this applies
- When you feel spiritually distant despite genuinely searching and reaching out
- When you wonder whether your own past choices are the reason things feel closed off now
- When you're honest enough to voice doubt or frustration rather than pretending everything feels resolved
- When someone you long to connect with seems to speak openly with others but stays silent with you