The devotee's unyielding grip
Original Marathi from the Tukaram Gatha · About Sant Tukaram
मराठी मूळ
बळी ह्मणे आजि दुर्वासया स्वामी । मागों नका तुह्मी नारायणा ॥1॥
बहुतां प्रयासीं जोडला श्रीहरी । बैसविला द्वारीं राखावया ॥ध्रु.॥
परतला दुर्वास मग हो तेथूनि । चिंतातुर मनीं उद्वेगला ॥2॥
काय तूं एकाचा आहेसी अंकित । होई कृपावंत तुका ह्मणे ॥3॥
Tukaram Gatha (Marathi Wikisource)
English Translation
Bali said: O Durvasa, do not ask me to give up Narayana. I obtained Hari after great effort, and I have seated Him at my door to guard it. Durvasa turned back from there, troubled and agitated in his mind. Says Tuka, are You beholden to only one? Be gracious to all, O Lord.
We ask forgiveness for any inaccuracies in rendering Tukaram ji’s original Marathi.
In Plain Words
Bali says: today, Durvasa, lord, do not ask me for Narayana. I won Srihari with great effort. I have seated Him at my door to guard it. Durvasa turned back from there. He was anxious and troubled in his mind. Tuka says: are You the property of one alone? Be gracious to all.
What it means
Tukaram shows Bali refusing to surrender the Lord even to a sage in need: he won God by hard effort and has set Him to guard his own door. Durvasa walks away shaken, and the poem voices his protest, which is also Tukaram's own ache. If God belongs so completely to one devotee, what of the rest who are left waiting? The closing plea, be gracious to all, turns a mythic quarrel into a prayer: let the love that bound God to Bali reach every soul that calls.
Sacred Stories
Abhangas drawing on mythological narratives to illuminate spiritual truths.
More in this theme →