Abhanga 4150
Real devotion can be bold and demanding: if you truly hold onto a promise, the one who made it becomes accountable to you.
The verse
आम्ही नरका जातां काय येइल तुझ्या हाता । ऐसा तूं अनंता विचारीं पां ॥१॥
तुज शरण आलियाचें काय हें चि फळ । विचारा दयाळ कृपानिधी ॥ध्रु.॥
तुझें पावनपण न चले आम्हांसीं । ऐसें हृषीकेशी कळों आलें ॥२॥
आम्ही दुःख पावों जन्ममरण वेथा । काय तुझ्या हाता येत असे ॥३॥
तुका म्हणे तुम्ही खादली हो रडी । आम्ही धरली सेंडी नाम तुझें ॥४॥
Literal translation
Āmhī narakā jātām kāya yēīla tujhyā hātā — aisā tūm Ananta vichārī pām — if we go to naraka what will come to your hand — think this, Ananta. Tuja śaraṇa āliyāche kāya hē chi phaḷa — vichārā dayāḷa krpānidhī — what is this fruit of having-come-for-refuge — consider, merciful one. Tujhe pāvanapaṇa na chale āmhāsīm — aisem Hrṣīkeśī kaḷōm āle — your purifier-status does-not-apply-to-us — thus it-has-become-known, Hrṣīkeśī. Āmhī duḥkha pāvōm janma-maraṇa vyathā — kāya tujhyā hātā yēta ase — we suffer janma-maraṇa-pain — what comes to your hand?. Tukā mhaṇe tumhī khādalī ho raḍī — āmhī dharalī seṇḍī nāma tujhem — Tukā says: you have eaten defeat — we have grabbed (your) tuft — the Name (is) yours.
What it means
A 5-verse bold protest-prayer. If-I-go-to-naraka, what-do-you-gain, Ananta? What's-the-fruit-of-refuge? Your-purifier-status-doesn't-apply-to-us; we-still-suffer-janma-maraṇa; you've-eaten-defeat — we've-grabbed-your-tuft, the-Name-is-yours. The dragging-of-tuft (seṇḍī) image is a wrestling/wrestling-loss image — bhakta has the Lord by the lock of hair, the Lord cannot escape.
For someone today
Tukaram boldly argues with God instead of meekly pleading: if he still suffers through the pain of birth and death after taking refuge, what good does that do for God's reputation as a savior? He says the claim of being a purifier means nothing unless it actually delivers, and having taken hold of God's own Name, he has, in effect, grabbed God the way a wrestler grabs an opponent's topknot, so there is no slipping away from the promise. It is a reminder that devotion can be fierce and honest, even confrontational, not just quiet submission, because a real bond makes both sides accountable.
मराठी: तुकाराम इथे नम्रपणे विनवण्याऐवजी देवाशी थेट वाद घालतात: शरण आल्यावरही जन्ममृत्यूचे दुःख भोगावे लागत असेल, तर देवाच्या हाती काय राहते? तारणहार असल्याचा दावा प्रत्यक्षात फळाला आल्याशिवाय निरर्थक आहे, असे ते म्हणतात. देवाचे नाम धरून त्यांनी जणू कुस्तीत प्रतिस्पर्ध्याची शेंडी पकडावी तसे देवाला घट्ट धरले आहे, त्यामुळे दिलेल्या वचनातून सुटका नाही. यातून कळते की भक्ती कधी कधी शांत नम्रतेऐवजी ठाम आणि थेट असू शकते, कारण खरे नाते दोन्ही बाजूंना जबाबदार बनवते.
Where this applies
- Tukārām's bhakta-grabs-Lord's-tuft-by-Name canonical-protest
- Pairs with 4151 (continues this argument)