Abhanga 4264
God has never abandoned those who hold on with sincerity; when grace feels absent, it is worth honestly considering that your own past actions, not God's fairness, may be the obstacle.
The verse
जिहीं तुझी कास भावें धरियेली । त्यांची नाहीं केली सांड देवा ॥१॥
काय माझा भोग आहे तो न कळे । सुखें तुम्ही डोळे झांकियेले ॥ध्रु.॥
राव रंक तुज सारिके चि जन । नाहीं थोर लहान तुजपाशीं ॥२॥
तुका म्हणे मागें आपंगिलें भक्तां । माझिया संचिता कृपा नये ॥३॥
Literal translation
Held-kāsa-bhāvēm — not-abandoned. What-my-bhōga — I-don't-know — eyes-closed-comfortably. Rava-ranka-alike — no-thōra-lahāna-near-you. Tukā: past-protected — my-sañchita-doesn't-let-krpā-come.
What it means
A 3-verse sañchita-blocking petition. Those who held your waist-cloth with feeling — you have not abandoned them, Deva. What my bhōga is, I don't know — you've comfortably closed your eyes. King and pauper are alike to you; no great-or-small near you. Tukā says: you've protected bhaktas in the past — but my sañchita doesn't (let) the grace come. The poignant diagnosis: the obstacle isn't from your side — it's my sañchita (past-karmic-debt) that blocks the grace. Pair with 4262 (mistaken-child-mother-father-bhrida).
For someone today
Tukaram notes that everyone who has ever held on to God with real sincerity has never actually been abandoned by him. He admits he does not fully understand his own suffering, and even says it seems like God has comfortably looked away from it. Still, he holds onto the truth that God treats a king and a beggar exactly alike, with no one counted as greater or lesser. In the end Tukaram places the blame honestly on himself, not on God, saying that it is his own past actions weighing on him that seem to be blocking the grace he knows has reached devotees before.
मराठी: तुकाराम सांगतात की जे कोणी खऱ्या मनाने देवाला धरून राहिले, त्यांना देवाने कधीच सोडलेलं नाही. ते कबूल करतात की आपलं स्वतःचं दुःख त्यांना पूर्णपणे समजत नाही, आणि असंही वाटतं की देवाने त्याकडे सोयीस्करपणे डोळे मिटले आहेत. तरीही ते या सत्यावर विश्वास ठेवतात की देव राजा आणि भिकारी दोघांना सारखंच वागवतो, कुणीही मोठा किंवा लहान त्याच्याजवळ नाही. शेवटी तुकाराम प्रामाणिकपणे दोष स्वतःवर घेतात, देवावर नाही, आणि म्हणतात की त्यांच्या स्वतःच्या पूर्वसंचिताचं ओझं आहे जे आधीच्या भक्तांपर्यंत पोहोचलेल्या कृपेला त्यांच्यापर्यंत येण्यापासून रोखत असावं.
Where this applies
- Tukārām's sañchita-blocks-krpā canonical petition