Abhanga 4159
Tukaram says what draws God near is not rank or ritual but sincere feeling in the heart. He points to Janabai, a beloved saint from a low-caste household, whose devotion was so pure that God himself came to fetch water for her, showing that heartfelt love matters more than social status. Wherever that pure feeling lives, he says, God comes to dwell there too, and Tukaram simply asks for a place at those same feet.
The verse
मनीं भाव असे कांहीं । तेथें देव येती पाहीं ॥१॥
पाहा जनाई सुंदरी । तेथें देव पाणी भरी ॥ध्रु.॥
शुद्ध पाहोनियां भाव । त्याचे हृदयीं वसे देव ॥२॥
तुका म्हणे विठोबासी । ठाव देई चरणापासीं ॥३॥
Literal translation
Manīm bhāva ase kāhīm — tethe deva yētī pāhī — if in the manas there is bhāva — there Deva comes — see. Pāhā Janāī sundarī — tethe deva pāṇī bharī — see Janāī-sundarī — there Deva carries (her) water. Śuddha pāhōniyām bhāva — tyāche hrdayīm vase deva — seeing pure bhāva — Deva dwells in his hrdaya. Tukā mhaṇe Viṭhōbāsī — ṭhāva dēī charaṇāpāsīm — Tukā says: Viṭhōbā — give (me) place at (your) charaṇa.
What it means
A 3-verse bhāva-attracts-Deva text. Bhāva-in-mana attracts-Deva; Janābāī-precedent — Lord-carried-her-water; pure-bhāva → Deva-dwells-in-hrdaya; Viṭhōbā give-place-at-feet. The Janābāī reference: 13th-c. low-caste Vārkarī sant whose chores Viṭhōbā is said to have shared.
For someone today
Tukaram says what draws God near is not rank or ritual but sincere feeling in the heart. He points to Janabai, a beloved saint from a low-caste household, whose devotion was so pure that God himself came to fetch water for her, showing that heartfelt love matters more than social status. Wherever that pure feeling lives, he says, God comes to dwell there too, and Tukaram simply asks for a place at those same feet.
मराठी: तुकाराम म्हणतात की देवाला जवळ आणणारे हे पद किंवा विधी नसून मनातील निखळ भाव आहे. ते जनाबाईंचा दाखला देतात, ज्यांची भक्ती इतकी शुद्ध होती की देवाने स्वतः त्यांच्यासाठी पाणी भरले, म्हणजे भाव सामाजिक स्थानापेक्षा मोठा असतो. जिथे असा शुद्ध भाव असतो, तिथे देव स्वतः वास करतो असे ते सांगतात, आणि तुकाराम फक्त त्याच चरणांशी स्थान मागतात.
Where this applies
- Tukārām's bhāva-summons-Deva; Janābāī-precedent canonical
- Companion to 2817 (bhāva-chi-kāraṇa) and 2810 (saints-list including Janī)