Abhanga 4365
Simple, unguarded play and laughter are themselves a form of closeness with the divine, not only solemn ritual or grand wonder.
The verse
एकमेकीं घेती थडका । पाडी धडका देऊनि ॥१॥
एकमेका पाठीवरि । बैसोनि करिती ढवाळी ॥ध्रु.॥
हाता हात हाणे लाही । पळतां घाईं चुकविती ॥२॥
तुका म्हणे लपणी चपणी । एका हाणी पाठीवरी ॥३॥
Literal translation
Head-on-clash — paḍī-dhaḍakā-given. Pāṭhi-sit — ḍhavāḷī-piggyback. Palm-strikes-lāhī — flee-evade-blow. Tukā: hide-and-seek — one-strikes-back.
What it means
Verse-4 of 5-abhang Krṣṇa-pastoral cluster. They take head-on-clashes with each other; give clash-and-fall. Sitting on each other's backs, they do piggyback-rides. Hand strikes hand like popping-grain; when one flees, the other evades the return-blow. Tukā says: hide-and-seek — one strikes (the other) on the back. Charming details of 17th-c Marathi village-children's-games — head-clashes, piggyback, palm-slap-games, hide-and-seek with-back-strikes. The cluster moves from cosmic-significance (devas-amazed) to delightful-childhood-detail.
For someone today
After the meal, Tukaram shows Krishna and his friends simply romping around like any group of village children, bumping into each other, giving each other piggyback rides, slapping palms in quick little games, and playing hide and seek where one child sneaks up to tap another on the back. There is nothing solemn or formal about this scene at all, it is pure, ordinary fun. Tukaram is showing that the divine is fully present in this kind of unguarded playfulness, not only in serious ritual or grand cosmic wonder. Joy this simple and unselfconscious is itself a form of closeness with God.
मराठी: जेवण झाल्यावर, तुकाराम कृष्ण आणि त्याच्या मित्रांना गावातल्या सामान्य मुलांसारखे उंडारताना दाखवतात, एकमेकांना धडका देत, पाठीवर बसून खेळत, हातावर हात मारत छोटे छोटे खेळ खेळत, आणि लपाछपी खेळताना एक मूल हळूच येऊन दुसऱ्याच्या पाठीवर टपली मारतं. या दृश्यात कसलंही गांभीर्य किंवा औपचारिकता नाही, हा निव्वळ साधा, निरागस आनंद आहे. तुकाराम दाखवतात की परमेश्वर अशा निर्भेळ खेळकरपणातही पूर्णपणे उपस्थित असतो, फक्त गंभीर विधी किंवा भव्य विश्वचमत्कारातच नाही. इतका साधा आणि निर्भर आनंद हाही परमेश्वराशी जवळीक साधण्याचाच एक प्रकार आहे.
Where this applies
- Verse-4 of 5-abhang Krṣṇa-pastoral cluster (4362-4366)