Abhanga 4296
Devotion is like a loan you've extended in good faith, with God's promise as the collateral and love as the interest, so keep investing your daily practice and expect the account to be settled.
The verse
भक्तिॠण घेतलें माझें । चरण गाहाण आहेत तुझे ॥१॥
प्रेम व्याज देई हरी । माझा हिशेब लवकरी करीं ॥ध्रु.॥
माझें मी न सोडीं धन । नित्य करितों कीर्तन ॥२॥
तुझें नाम आहे खत । सुखें करी पंचाईंत ॥३॥
तुका म्हणे गरुडध्वजा । यासी साक्ष श्रीगुरुराजा ॥४॥
Literal translation
Bhakti-rṇa-taken — charaṇa-gāhāṇa. Give-prema-vyāja-Hari — hisāba-quickly. Don't-let-go-dhana — nitya-kīrtana. Your-Name-khata — make-pañcāyita. Tukā: Garuḍa-dhvaja — Śrī-Guru-rāja-sākṣī.
What it means
THE canonical 4-verse rare bhakti-rṇa-accounting text. I have taken my bhakti-debt (loan) — your feet are the collateral. Give prema as interest, Hari; calculate my account quickly. I won't let go my capital — I do kīrtana daily. Your Name is the signed-contract; happily make the arbitration-committee. Tukā says: Garuḍa-dhvaja — for this, the witness is Śrī-Guru-rāja. The financial-bhakti-conceit explicitly mapped: | Financial term | Bhakti-equivalent | |---|---| | Loan-rṇa | Bhakti | | Collateral-gāhāṇa | Lord's feet | | Interest-vyāja | Prema | | Capital-dhana | Daily kīrtana | | Signed-contract-khata | Lord's Name | | Arbitration-committee-pañcāyita | (Settle the matter) | | Witness-sākṣī | Śrī-Guru-rāja |
Among the most-explicitly-contractual bhakti-framings in the Gathā. Pair with 4181 (Deva-made-rṇī-by-bhakti).
For someone today
Tukaram plays with the language of a business loan to describe his relationship with God: he has taken out a loan of devotion, and God's own feet are the collateral securing it. He asks Hari to pay him back in love as the interest, and to settle the account quickly, not slowly. He refuses to let go of his one real asset, daily singing God's praises, treating it as capital he keeps investing rather than spending away. God's own name is the signed contract between them, with the Guru standing as the witness who can vouch that the deal is real.
मराठी: तुकाराम कर्जाच्या भाषेत देवाशी असलेल्या नात्याचे वर्णन करतात: त्यांनी भक्तीचे कर्ज घेतले आहे, आणि देवाचेच चरण त्याची तारण आहेत. ते हरीला विनंती करतात की व्याज म्हणून प्रेम द्या, आणि माझा हिशेब लवकर करा. आपले खरे भांडवल, म्हणजे रोजचे कीर्तन, ते सोडायला तयार नाहीत — ते सतत वाढवत ठेवतात, खर्च करत नाहीत. देवाचे नावच त्यांच्यातला लिखित करार आहे, आणि गुरुराज या कराराचा साक्षीदार आहे.
Where this applies
- Tukārām's THE bhakti-rṇa-accounting canonical rare-financial-bhakti