Abhanga 4516
The sacred can hide inside the most ordinary family relationship, playing a familiar role while its true depth goes unnoticed, even by those closest to it.
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
Tukaram wonders aloud what to even call this child, since he is really the guru and parent of the whole world, yet his own disguise is so complete that even his parents forget who he is for a moment and simply treat him as their own little one who says mine, mine, like any child. He plays his part fully, keeping his true purpose hidden from everyone, and Tukaram says the deepest happiness is already being handed out right there in your own home, though each person receives and recognizes it in their own particular way. The lesson is that the sacred often hides inside the most ordinary, familiar relationships of your household, waiting to be noticed rather than sought somewhere far away.
मराठी: तुकाराम विचार करतात की या मुलाला काय म्हणावे, कारण तो प्रत्यक्षात संपूर्ण जगाचा गुरु आणि मायबाप आहे, तरीही त्याचा वेश इतका पूर्ण असतो की त्याचे स्वतःचे आई-वडीलही क्षणभर विसरतात आणि त्याला सामान्य मुलासारखे "माझे माझे" म्हणणारे आपले बाळ मानतात. तो आपली भूमिका पूर्णपणे निभावतो, आपला खरा हेतू सर्वांपासून लपवून ठेवतो, आणि तुकाराम म्हणतात की सर्वात मोठे सुख तुमच्याच घरात आधीच वाटले जात आहे, फक्त प्रत्येक जण ते आपापल्या पद्धतीने स्वीकारतो. यातून हेच शिकायला मिळते की पवित्रता बऱ्याचदा तुमच्या घरातील सर्वात साध्या, परिचित नात्यांमध्येच लपलेली असते, ती दूर कुठेतरी शोधण्याऐवजी ओळखली जाण्याची वाट पाहत असते.
Where this applies
- When someone close to you turns out to have a depth or importance you had never fully noticed
- When you search for meaning far away while overlooking what is quietly present in your own home
- When a family member plays an ordinary role so convincingly that their true worth goes unrecognized
- When you realize happiness was already available close to you, just received differently by each person