Abhanga 4177
Speaking bluntly to the one you trust completely is not disrespect, it is what happens when you have placed everything at their feet and have nowhere else to turn.
The verse
यासाटीं करितों निष्ठ भाषण । आहेसी तूं जाण सर्वदाता ॥१॥
ऐसें दुःख कोण आहे निवारिता । तें मी जाऊं आतां शरण त्यासी ॥ध्रु.॥
बैसलासे केणें करुनि एक घरीं । नाहीं येथें उरी दुसर्याची ॥२॥
तुका म्हणे आलें अवघें पायांपें । आतां मायबापें नुपेक्षावें ॥३॥
Literal translation
Yāsāṭīm karitōm niṣṭhura bhāṣaṇa — āhesī tūm jāṇa sarvadātā — for this I make harsh speech — know, you are the giver-of-all. Aisem duḥkha kōṇa āhe nivāritā — te mī jāūm ātām śaraṇa tyāsī — who is the warder of such duḥkha — let me now go for refuge to that one. Baisalāse kēṇe karuni eka gharīm — nāhīm yethe urī dusaryāchī — (you) have sat as a depot in one house — no other's room remains here. Tukā mhaṇe āle avaghe pāyāñpe — ātām māyabāpe nupekṣāvem — Tukā says: everything has come at feet — now, māyabāpa, do not neglect.
What it means
A 3-verse harsh-trust-prayer. I-speak-harshly-because-you-are-sarva-dātā; who-else-can-ward-this-duḥkha; you-are-the-only-kēṇa (stock-depot)-in-this-house — no-other-room-remains; all-has-come-at-your-feet — don't-neglect-māyabāpa. Kēṇe — stockyard / wholesale-storage — Tukā's metaphor: Lord-is-the-only-stockist-of-help.
For someone today
Tukārām admits he is speaking to God in harsh, blunt words, but explains why: God is the giver of everything, so who else could possibly ward off this suffering? He says God is like the only stockist in the whole house, there is simply no other room, no other source, to turn to. Because everything he has has already been placed at those feet, he insists God cannot now neglect him. The lesson is that speaking bluntly to the one you trust most is not disrespect, it is what happens when you have put all your hope in a single place and have nowhere else left to go.
मराठी: तुकाराम कबूल करतात की ते देवाशी कठोर, स्पष्ट शब्दांत बोलत आहेत, पण त्याचे कारणही सांगतात, देव सर्वदाता आहे, मग हे दुःख दुसरे कोण दूर करणार? ते म्हणतात देव या घरातील एकमेव आधार आहे, दुसरी कुठलीच जागा उरलेली नाही. सर्व काही आधीच त्याच्या पायी अर्पण केले असल्यामुळे, आता त्याने दुर्लक्ष करू नये असा हट्ट ते धरतात. यातून हा धडा मिळतो की ज्याच्यावर आपला संपूर्ण विश्वास असतो, त्याच्याशी स्पष्टपणे बोलणे हा अनादर नसतो, तर सर्व आशा एकाच ठिकाणी ठेवल्यावर आणि दुसरा पर्याय नसल्यावर तसे घडतेच.
Where this applies
- When you find yourself speaking bluntly or even angrily to the one person or power you trust most
- When you feel there is truly no other place, person, or option left to turn to for help
- When you have already given everything you have to someone and now expect them not to abandon you
- When you worry that honest, unfiltered words toward someone you love might sound disrespectful