Abhanga 4249
Devotion uproots the craving that causes wrongdoing and fills you with a steady love, so that wherever you are, you belong there and are sheltered like a child under its mother's shade.
The verse
भाग्यवंत आम्ही विष्णुदास जगीं । अभंग प्रसंगीं धैर्यवंत ॥१॥
नाही तें पुरवीत आणुनि जवळी । गाउनी माउली गीत सुखें ॥ध्रु.॥
प्रीति अंगीं असे सदा सर्वकाळ । वोळली सकळ सुखें ठायीं ॥२॥
आपुल्या स्वभावें जैसे जेथें असों । तैसे तेथें दिसों साजिरे चि ॥३॥
वासनेचा कंद उपडिलें मूळ । दुरितें सकळ निवारिलीं ॥४॥
तुका म्हणे क्तजनाची माउली । करील साउली विठ्ठल आम्हां ॥५॥
Literal translation
Bhāgyavanta-Vishnu-dāsas — abhanga-prasanga-dhairyavanta. Māulī-brings-and-fulfils — sings-gīta. Prīti-angī-sarva-kāḷa. Wherever-we-are-in-svabhāva — fitting-there. Vāsanā-kanda-root-uprooted — durita-removed. Tukā: bhakta-jana-māulī — Viṭhṭhal-sāulī-over-us.
What it means
A 5-verse fortunate-Viṣṇu-dāsa text. We are fortunate — Viṣṇu-servants — in the world; in any occasion, courageous. The māulī brings what isn't and fulfils; sings the gīta with joy. Love is in our body always; all joys are saturated in one place. In our nature, wherever we are, we look fitting there. The vine of craving — its root is uprooted; all sin is removed. Tukā says: the mother of the bhakta-folk — Viṭhṭhal — will make a shade over us. The closing image: Viṭhṭhal-as-māulī-makes-sāulī (shade)-over-bhakta. Pair with 2597 (canonical tūm-mājhī-māulī), 4250 (sant-feet-superior-to-tīrtha).
For someone today
Tukaram calls himself and other devotees of Vishnu truly fortunate, because no matter what happens they stay steady and unbroken. He says the divine mother brings them what they lack and fulfills it, singing to them with joy, and that love fills them at every moment so that wherever they go, they belong there. The root of craving itself has been pulled out, and with it all the wrongdoing that used to follow from it. In the end, Tukaram says, Vitthal is the mother of all devotees and will stand over them like shade, sheltering them from the heat of the world.
मराठी: तुकाराम स्वतःला आणि इतर विष्णुभक्तांना खरोखर भाग्यवान म्हणतात, कारण काहीही झालं तरी ते स्थिर आणि अभंग राहतात. ते म्हणतात, ती माउली आपल्याला जे कमी आहे ते आणून पुरवते, आनंदाने गीत गाते आणि प्रेम सतत आपल्या अंगात भरलेलं असतं, त्यामुळे आपण जिथे असू तिथे शोभून दिसतो. वासनेचा मूळ कंदच उपटून टाकला गेला आहे, आणि त्यासोबत त्यातून येणारं सगळं पातकही दूर झालं आहे. शेवटी तुकाराम म्हणतात, विठ्ठल हा सर्व भक्तांची माउली आहे आणि तो आपल्यावर सावलीसारखा उभा राहून जगाच्या उन्हापासून आपलं रक्षण करेल.
Where this applies
- Tukārām's bhāgyavanta-Viṣṇu-dāsa Viṭhṭhal-sāulī canonical