Abhanga 4208
The soul's longing for God is like a child's need for its mother, and God's care in response is just as instinctive and complete, ready to swallow any danger to protect those who depend on it.
The verse
माझिया तो जीवें घेतला हा सोस । पाहें तुझी वास भेटावया ॥१॥
मातेविण बाळ न मनी आणिका । सर्वकाळ धोका स्तनपाना ॥ध्रु.॥
वोसंगा निघाल्या वांचूनि न राहे । त्याचें आर्त माय पुरवीते ॥२॥
तुका म्हणे माते भक्तां तूं कृपाळ । गिळियेले जाळ वनांतरीं ॥३॥
Literal translation
My-jīva-took-sōsa — wait-for-darśana. Child-without-mother-no-other-mind — sarva-kāḷa-thirst-for-breast. From-lap-removed-can't-stay — mother-fulfils-thirst. Tukā: mother — to-bhaktas-krpāḷ — swallowed-jāḷa-in-vanāntarī.
What it means
Opening of the 10-abhang dāvānala-grasana (forest-fire-swallowing) cluster (4208-4217). My soul has taken this yearning: I wait for your meeting. A child without his mother thinks of no other; all the time the longing is for the breast. If lifted from her lap, he can't stay without (her); the mother fulfils his cry. Tukā says: Mother — you are gracious to bhaktas — you (once) swallowed the engulfing-net (of flames) in the forest! The closing line (giḷiyēlē jāḷa vanāntarīm) introduces the upcoming narrative — Lord-as-mother-who-swallows-the-forest-fire-jaal to save her gopāḷa-children. Sets up the cluster.
For someone today
Tukaram describes his longing for God the way a small child longs for its mother: with no thought for anyone else, wanting nothing but her, unable to bear even a moment away from her lap, crying until she comes and meets that need. He calls God Mother, recalling the old story of how she once swallowed a raging forest fire whole to protect her children from harm. The image says that God's care is as instinctive and total as a mother's, and the devotee's yearning is as pure and single minded as a hungry infant's.
मराठी: तुकाराम आपली देवाची ओढ एखाद्या लहान मुलाला आईची असते तशी वर्णन करतात — दुसऱ्या कशाचाही विचार न करता, फक्त तिलाच हवं असणं, तिच्या कुशीतून क्षणभरही दूर राहवत नाही, आणि ती येऊन गरज भागवेपर्यंत रडत राहणं. ते देवाला "आई" म्हणतात आणि त्या जुन्या कथेची आठवण करून देतात — कशी तिने आपल्या मुलांना वाचवण्यासाठी एकदा प्रचंड वणवा गिळून टाकला होता. या प्रतिमेतून हेच सांगितलं आहे की देवाची काळजी आईसारखी सहज आणि परिपूर्ण असते, आणि भक्ताची ओढ भुकेल्या बाळासारखी निर्मळ आणि एकाग्र असते.
Where this applies
- Opening of dāvānala-grasana 10-abhang narrative cluster (4208-4217)