Abhanga 4160
When you are utterly worn out, look for what shelters, rests, and nourishes you, because real comfort can dissolve even lifetimes of exhaustion.
The verse
भागल्याचें तारूं शिणल्याची साउली । भुकेलिया घाली प्रेमपान्हा ॥१॥
ऐसी हे कृपाळू अनाथांची वेशी । सुखाची च राशी पांडुरंग ॥ध्रु.॥
सकळां सन्मुख कृपेचिया दृष्टी । पाहे बहु भेटी उतावीळां ॥२॥
तुका म्हणे येथें आतां उरला कैंचा । अनंता जन्मींचा शीण भाग ॥३॥
Literal translation
Bhāgalyāche tārūm śiṇalyāchī sāulī — bhukeliyā ghālī premapānhā — boat for the exhausted, shade for the tired — pours milk-of-prema for the hungry. Aisī he krpāḷu anāthāñchī veśī — sukhāchī cha rāśī Pāṇḍuranga — such (is) the merciful gate of the orphans — the very heap of sukha, Pāṇḍuranga. Sakaḷām sanmukha krpechiyā drṣṭī — pāhe bahu bheṭī utāvīḷām — facing-all with gaze-of-krpā — sees the many eager for meeting. Tukā mhaṇe yethe ātām uralā kaiñchā — ananta janmīñchā śīṇa bhāga — Tukā says: here now what fatigue-share of ananta janmas remains.
What it means
A 3-verse triple-image of Pāṇḍuranga. Boat-for-the-tired; shade-for-the-exhausted; milk-of-prema-for-the-hungry; gate-of-the-anātha; heap-of-sukha; with-gaze-of-krpā-sees-the-eager; fatigue-of-many-births-now-gone. The premapānhā image is the mother's-milk: spontaneously-released-flow at-sight-of-the-baby.
For someone today
Tukaram paints Panduranga as everything a weary traveler could need: a boat for those worn out, shade for those exhausted, and a mother's milk of love for those who are hungry. He is the merciful gate for anyone without a home or protector, an overflowing source of comfort, and he looks on the eager crowd gathered before him with kindness in his eyes. In that meeting, Tukaram says, the tiredness built up over countless lifetimes simply falls away.
मराठी: तुकाराम पांडुरंगाला थकलेल्या प्रवाशाला हवे असणारे सर्व काही म्हणून चितारतात: दमलेल्यांसाठी नाव, थकलेल्यांसाठी सावली, आणि भुकेल्यांसाठी प्रेमाचा पान्हा. तो अनाथांचा दयाळू आश्रय आहे, सुखाची अखंड रास आहे, आणि समोर जमलेल्या उत्सुक जीवांकडे तो कृपेच्या नजरेने पाहतो. अशा भेटीत अनेक जन्मांचा साचलेला शीण क्षणात नाहीसा होतो, असे तुकाराम सांगतात.
Where this applies
- Tukārām's boat-shade-milk; anāthāñchī-veśī canonical
- Companion to 2540 (Kurukṣetra-sparrows anāthāñchyā-Nātha)