Abhanga 4421
When you honestly ask who can truly help you, the answer that holds is the one source of compassion that can carry you across life's struggles.
The verse
तुजवांचून कोणा शरण । जाऊं आतां कर जोडून ॥१॥
कोण करील माझें साहे । चित्ति विचारूनि पाहें ॥ध्रु.॥
तूं तंव कृपेचा सागर । दीनबंधु जगदोद्धार ॥२॥
तुका म्हणे निका । भवसिंधु तारक नौका ॥३॥
Literal translation
To-whom-else-śaraṇa — folded-hands. Who-will-saha — chitti-pāhē. You-krpā-sāgara — dīna-bandhu-jagad-uddhāra. Tukā: nikā — bhava-sindhu-tāraka-nauka.
What it means
A 3-verse exclusive-resort text. Apart from you, before whom shall I go for refuge with folded hands? Who will be my helper — consider in your mind, look. You are the ocean of compassion — friend-of-the-poor, redeemer-of-the-universe. Tukā says: the worthy-one — the crossing-boat of the samsāra-ocean. Standard exclusive-resort titles with the closing-image bhava-sindhu-tāraka-naukā (boat-that-takes-across-the-samsāra-ocean).
For someone today
Tukaram simply asks: apart from you, who else would I fold my hands and turn to? He looks honestly at his own situation and asks who could really help him, and comes back to the same answer every time, God alone, the ocean of compassion, the friend of the poor, the one who redeems the whole world. He ends with a simple image: God is the one worthy boat that can carry a person safely across the ocean of worldly struggle.
मराठी: तुकाराम साधेपणाने विचारतात - तुझ्याशिवाय आणखी कोणापुढे हात जोडून जावे? ते स्वतःच्या परिस्थितीकडे प्रामाणिकपणे पाहतात आणि कोण खरोखर मदत करू शकेल असे विचारतात, आणि प्रत्येक वेळी तेच उत्तर येते - फक्त देव, कृपेचा सागर, दीनांचा बंधू, संपूर्ण जगाचा उद्धारकर्ता. ते शेवटी एका साध्या प्रतिमेने संपवतात - देवच तो एकमेव योग्य नाव आहे जी माणसाला भवसागरातून सुखरूप पैलतीरी नेते.
Where this applies
- When you have run out of people or resources to turn to and need to name your real refuge
- When you feel poor, small, or overlooked and want to be reminded someone still befriends you
- When your life feels like an overwhelming ocean and you need something solid to hold onto
- When you want a simple prayer that names exactly who you trust, without hedging