Abhanga 4495
Tukaram tells how Krishna's mother and the cowherd families, absorbed in their own practical hopes and interests, kept missing the divine miracles happening right in front of them, and says this same blindness afflicts us all.
The verse
जगाचा हा बाप दाखविलें माये । माती खातां जाये मारावया ॥१॥
मारावया तिणें उगारिली काठी । भुवनें त्या पोटीं चौदा देखे ॥२॥
देखे भयानक झांकियेले डोळे । मागुता तो खेळे तयेपुढे ॥३॥
पुढें रिघोनियां घाली गळां कव । कळों नेदी माव मायावंता ॥४॥
मायावंत विश्वरूप काय जाणे । माझें माझें म्हणे बाळ देवा ॥५॥
बाळपणीं रीठा रगडिला दाढे । मारियेले गाढे कागबग ॥६॥
गळां बांधऊनि उखळासी दावें । उन्मळी त्या भावें विमळार्जुन ॥७॥
न कळे जुनाट जगाचा जीवन । घातलें मोहन गौळियांसी ॥८॥
सिंकीं उतरूनि खाय नवनीत । न कळे बहुत होय तरी ॥९॥
तरीं दुधडेरे भरले रांजण । खाय ते भरून दावी दुणी ॥१०॥
दुणी जालें त्याचा मानिती संतोष । दुभत्याची आस धरूनियां ॥११॥
आशाबद्धा देव असोनि जवळी । नेणती ते काळीं स्वार्थामुळें ॥१२॥
मुळें याच देव न कळे तयांसी । चत्ति आशापाशीं गोवियेलें ॥१३॥
लेंकरूं आमचें म्हणे दसवंती । नंदाचिये चित्ती तो चि भाव ॥१४॥
भाव जाणावया चरित्र दाखवी। घुसळितां रवी डेरियांत ॥१५॥
डेरियांत लोणी खादलें रिघोनि । पाहे तों जननी हातीं लागे ॥१६॥
हातीं धरूनियां काढिला बाहेरी। देखोनियां करी चोज त्यासी ॥१७॥
सिकवी विचार नेणे त्याची गती । होता कोणे रीती डेरियांत ॥१८॥
यांसी पुत्रलोभें न कळे हा भाव । कळों नेदी माव देव त्यांसी ॥१९॥
त्यांसी मायामोहजाळ घाली फांस । देर आपणास कळों नेदी ॥२०॥
नेदी राहों भाव लोभिकांचे चित्ती । जाणतां चि होती अंधळीं तीं ॥२१॥
अंधळीं तीं तुका म्हणे संवसारीं । जिहीं नाहीं हरि ओळखिला ॥२२॥
Literal translation
A 22-verse yamak-bandha bāla-līlā extended-narrative — mother-tries-to-hit-eating-mud → 14-worlds-in-his-mouth → bhayānaka-closes-eyes → again-plays → throws-arms-on-her-neck → doesn't-let-her-know-māyā → mā-says-mine-mine → bāla-paṇī-Rīṭha-rubbed-tooth + Kāka-Baka-killed → tied-to-mortar — Yamala-Arjuna-uprooted-by-bhāva → mōhana-on-gauḷīs → sinkīm-eats-navanīta → doubled-milk-curd-jars → āśā-bound-Deva-near-but-blind → root-only-Deva-unknown-chitta-tied-by-āśā → Dasavantī-says-'ours' → Lord-shows-charitra: churning-mother-sees-him-in-jar-with-eaten-butter — can't-figure-out-how → he-deliberately-hides-māyā → puts-māyā-mōha-jāḷa-on-them → not-let-bhāva-stay-in-lōbhika-chitta — knowing-becomes-blind → Tukā: blind-they-in-samsāra — those-who-not-recognized-Hari.
What it means
A MAJOR 22-verse extended bāla-līlā-narrative — among Tukārām's most-developed Krṣṇa-bāla-līlā cycles. The narrative covers: (a) the famous 14-worlds-in-mouth episode (Yaśodā seeing the universe inside Krṣṇa's mouth when she's about to discipline him for eating mud — among the most-celebrated images in Bhāgavata-tradition), (b) the Yamala-Arjuna-twin-tree-uprooting (Krṣṇa tied to mortar pulls it between two trees, uprooting them — un-mūḷī-tyā-bhāvē-vimalārjuna), (c) Pūtanā/Kāka-Baka killings (compressed reference), (d) butter-stealing-doubled-supply paradox — the gauḷīs are āśā-bound (tied to commercial-hope) so even though the supply is miraculously doubled they-experience-it-as-good-business and-miss-the-Lord-himself, (e) Lord-deliberately-hides-his-māyā-from-mother — Yaśodā can't figure-out-how-he-got-into-the-jar — the māyā-mōha-jāḷa keeps lobhika-chitta-blind, (f) CLOSING TURN: blind-they-in-samsāra — those-who-have-not-recognized-Hari — the gauḷī-paradigm becomes-the-universal-paradigm: we-too-are-āśā-bound and-don't-recognize-the-Lord-right-here. Pair with 4437 (7-verse Krṣṇa-bāla-līlā summary), 4485-4486 (Krṣṇa-janma narrative), 4489 (gopīs-bind-the-Lord-Vedas-praise).
For someone today
Tukaram tells the famous childhood stories of Krishna, how his mother once caught him eating mud and, about to scold him, looked into his mouth and saw all fourteen worlds inside it, an overwhelming vision that closed her eyes in fear, and then he simply went back to playing and hugging her as if nothing happened. Later, when she finds him inside the butter jar with no way to explain how he got there, she still cannot see who he truly is. The cowherd families, glad simply because their milk supply mysteriously doubled, stay caught up in their own practical concerns and never recognize the miracle standing right in front of them. Tukaram's closing point is blunt, this same blindness is ours too, we live surrounded by the divine but stay fixated on our own small interests and hopes instead of truly seeing what is right here.
मराठी: तुकाराम कृष्णाच्या बालपणीच्या प्रसिद्ध कथा सांगतात, कशी त्याची आई त्याला माती खाताना पकडते आणि रागावणार तितक्यात त्याच्या तोंडात चौदा भुवने पाहते, एक भारावून टाकणारे दृश्य जे तिचे डोळे भीतीने मिटवते, आणि मग तो पुन्हा नेहमीसारखा खेळू आणि तिला बिलगू लागतो जणू काहीच झाले नाही. नंतर जेव्हा ती त्याला लोण्याच्या मडक्यात सापडते, त्याला तिथे तो कसा पोहोचला हे कळत नाही, तरीही तिला तो खरोखर कोण आहे हे कळत नाही. गवळी कुटुंबे, आपल्या दुधाचा साठा अनपेक्षितपणे दुप्पट झाला म्हणून आनंदी होतात, पण आपल्याच व्यावहारिक चिंतेत गुंतून समोर उभा असलेला चमत्कार कधीच ओळखत नाहीत. तुकारामांचा शेवटचा मुद्दा स्पष्ट आहे, हेच अंधत्व आपलेही आहे, आपण देवाच्या सान्निध्यातच राहतो पण खऱ्या दृष्टीऐवजी आपल्याच लहान स्वार्थात आणि आशांमध्ये अडकून राहतो.
Where this applies
- Tukārām's 22-verse extended bāla-līlā with 14-worlds-in-mouth + Yamala-Arjuna + butter-stealing + āśā-makes-blind + universal-application canonical