Abhanga 4530
Even a grieving lament, when it stays fixed on the one you love, is itself an act of remembrance and can be the good omen that reunion is near.
The verse
जननी हे म्हणे आहा काय जालें । शरीर रक्षिलें काय काजें ॥१॥
काय काज आतां हरिविण जिणें । नित्य दुःख कोणें सोसावें हें ॥२॥
हें दुःख न सरे हरि न भेटे तों । त्यामागें चि जातों एका वेळे ॥३॥
एकवेळ जरी देखतें मी आतां । तरी जीवापरता न करितें ॥४॥
करितां हे मात हरीचें चिंतन । शुभ तो शकुन तुका म्हणे ॥५॥
Literal translation
Mother-says-āhā-what-happened — for-what-protected-body. What-use-now-Hari-viṇa-jiṇē — daily-duḥkha-can't-bear. This-duḥkha-doesn't-end-Hari-not-met — going-after-him-at-once. If-I-saw-him-now-once — wouldn't-spare-jīva. Saying-this — Hari-chintana — śubha-śakuna-Tukā says.
What it means
A 5-verse yamak-bandha — Yashodā's lament during Krṣṇa's-absence (post-Kāḷiya before-return). The lament: 'what-was-the-use-of-protecting-this-body-without-Hari — life-without-him-is-daily-duḥkha — I-will-go-after-him-this-moment — if-I-saw-him-now-once-I-wouldn't-spare-my-life'. The crucial pivot in v5: kariṭām-hē-māta-harīchēm-chintana — śubha-tō-śakuna — even-the-very-act-of-her-saying-this is-Hari-chintana — which-is-itself-the-śubha-śakuna (auspicious-omen) that-the-Lord-is-already-arriving. The mother's-lament becomes-its-own-promise-of-reunion. Pair with 4529 (preceding chain), 4531 (Lord's-procession-arrives).
For someone today
Yashoda, grieving in Krishna's absence, cries that keeping her own body safe means nothing without him, that daily sorrow is unbearable, and that if she saw him just once more she would not hold back her own life to reach him. But Tukaram catches something tender in her very words: her lament is itself an act of remembering Hari, and that remembering is the good omen that he is already on his way back. Even grief, when it stays fixed on the one you love, is a form of devotion, and it can be the very thing that draws reunion closer.
मराठी: यशोदा, कृष्णाच्या विरहात दुःखी होऊन म्हणते की हरीशिवाय स्वतःचा देह जपून काय उपयोग, रोजचे दुःख सहन होत नाही, आणि जर एकदाच त्याला पाहिले तर आपला जीवही मागे ठेवणार नाही. पण तुकाराम तिच्या याच शब्दांत काहीतरी हळुवार टिपतात, तिचा विलाप हाच हरीचे चिंतन आहे, आणि तेच चिंतन हा शुभ शकुन आहे की तो परत येत आहे. दुःखसुद्धा, जर ते प्रिय व्यक्तीवरच केंद्रित राहिले, तर तीही एक प्रकारची भक्तीच ठरते, आणि तीच पुनर्भेट जवळ आणणारी गोष्ट बनू शकते.
Where this applies
- When you are grieving someone's absence so deeply that ordinary life feels pointless
- When you cannot stop thinking about someone you desperately miss
- When you wonder whether your own sorrow has any meaning or purpose
- When you need reassurance that love expressed through longing is not wasted