Abhanga 4364
Even the greatest beings must set pride completely aside to receive boundless joy, taking the humblest form to share in what is freely offered.
The verse
आले सुरवर नानापक्षी जाले । सकळ अवतरले श्वापदवेषें ॥१॥
श्वानखररूपी होऊनियां आले । उच्छष्टि कवळ वेचिताति ॥ध्रु.॥
होऊनियां दीन हात पसरिती । मागोनियां घेती उष्टावळी ॥२॥
अभिमान आड घालोनि बाहेरि । तयां म्हणे घ्या रे धणी ॥३॥
तुका म्हणे धणी लाधली अपार । तया सुखा पार काय सांगों ॥४॥
Literal translation
Suras-became-birds — all-avatāra-as-śvāpadas. Śvāna-khara-rūpa — uchchhiṣṭa-kavaḷa-pick-up. Became-dīna-stretching-hand — uṣṭa-vaḷī. Hari-says-take-as-much — abhimāna-cast-out. Tukā: apāra-dhaṇī-found — sukha-no-pār.
What it means
Verse-3 of 5-abhang Krṣṇa-pastoral-meal cluster. The best-of-devas came, having become birds of various kinds — all descended in the guise of wild-animals. Becoming in the form of dogs and donkeys, they came — and picked up the mouthful of leftover-food. Becoming lowly, they stretch out their hands — asking and taking the leftover-line. Casting pride aside outside, (Hari) says to them: take, take your fill. Tukā says: they found boundless fill — what limit of that joy can I tell? The remarkable inversion: cosmic-devas humble-themselves to animal-forms in-order-to-get-uchchhiṣṭa from-the-pastoral-meal. abhimāna-āḍa-ghālōni-bāhēri (casting-pride-aside-outside) is the precondition for receiving the gōpāḷa-uchchhiṣṭa.
For someone today
Tukaram describes the great gods coming down and willingly taking the forms of birds, dogs, and donkeys just to get a mouthful of the leftover food from Krishna's simple meal with his cowherd friends. They stretch out their hands like the humblest beggars, asking and receiving in that line of leftovers, having set their pride aside completely. Hari welcomes them warmly and tells them to take their fill, however much they want. Tukaram says the joy they found there was boundless, more than words can describe, showing that even the mightiest beings must let go of status to receive the deepest fulfillment.
मराठी: तुकाराम सांगतात, मोठमोठे देव खाली उतरून पक्षी, कुत्रे आणि गाढवांचं रूप घेतात, फक्त कृष्णाच्या गोपाळ मित्रांसोबतच्या साध्या जेवणातलं उरलेलं अन्न मिळावं म्हणून. ते सर्वात नम्र भिकाऱ्यासारखे हात पसरतात, रांगेत मागून घेतात, पूर्णपणे अभिमान बाजूला ठेवून. हरी त्यांचं प्रेमाने स्वागत करतो आणि सांगतो की हवं तितकं घ्या. तुकाराम म्हणतात, तिथे त्यांना मिळालेला आनंद अपरिमित होता, शब्दांत मांडता येणार नाही इतका, यातून हेच दिसतं की सर्वात शक्तिशाली असणाऱ्यांनाही खरं समाधान मिळवण्यासाठी आपला मान-सन्मान सोडावा लागतो.
Where this applies
- Verse-3 of 5-abhang Krṣṇa-pastoral-meal cluster (4362-4366)