Abhanga 4516
Kāya ātām yāsi mhaṇāve lēmkarūm — jagācā hā guru māyabāpa — what now to call this — a child?
The verse
काय आतां यासि म्हणावें लेंकरूं । जगाचा हा गुरु मायबाप ॥१॥
माया याची यासि राहिली व्यापून । कळों नये क्षण एक होतां ॥२॥
क्षण एक होतां विसरलीं त्यासि । माझेंमाझें ऐसें करी बाळा ॥३॥
करी कवतुक कळों नेदी कोणा । योजूनि कारणा तें चि खेळे ॥४॥
तें सुख लुटिलें घरिचिया घरीं । तुका म्हणे परी आपुलाल्या ॥५॥
Literal translation
Kāya ātām yāsi mhaṇāve lēmkarūm — jagācā hā guru māyabāpa — what now to call this — a child? — he is jagat's guru, māyabāpa. Māyā yācī yāsi rāhilī vyāpūna — kaḷōm naye kṣaṇa eka hōtām — his māyā stayed-surrounding him — not-known-when-a-kṣaṇa-passes. Kṣaṇa eka hōtām visaralīm tyāsi — mājhe-mājhe aise karī bāḷā — one-kṣaṇa-passing, (they) forgot him; the child does \"mine-mine\". Karī kavatuka kaḷōm nedī kōṇā — yōjūni kāraṇā tem ci kheḷe — (he) does kavatuka, lets-no-one-know; planning a kāraṇa, plays-just-that. Te sukha luṭile ghara-ciyā gharīm — Tukā mhaṇe parī āpulālyā — that sukha is looted at-home-in-(your-own)-house — Tukā says — but each-(in)-its-own-way.
What it means
A 5-verse meditation on the Krṣṇa-bāla paradox: what-shall-we-even-call-him a child — he is jagat-guru-māyabāpa. His own māyā surrounds him so that parents forget-in-one-kṣaṇa and the child does \"mine-mine.\" This becomes Tukārām's compact theology of līlā-as-self-concealment: he plays-the-planned-kāraṇa, lets-no-one-know — and the sukha is already-being-looted at-home-in-your-own-house (i.e., the Lord is already-in-the-house), but each-takes-it-in-its-own-way.
For someone today
Tukārām claims: the-greatest-treasure is-already-being-handed-out at-home-in-your-own-house; each-takes-it-in-his-own-way; the-Lord-conceals-himself even in-front-of-his-parents.
Where this applies
- Tukārām's sukha-looted-at-home-in-house canonical line
- Lord-as-child-is-his-own-concealment paradox
- Companion to 2745 (Pāṇḍharī-hāṭa bhakti-market)