संत साहित्य · Tukārām · Abhanga 32 of 4582

Abhanga 32

If the voice is unsweet, it doesn't matter. The deity is hungry for the calling, not the music.

When you don't sing because you 'can't sing' and you have to ask whether the not-singing is honesty or self-protection

When you don't pray because you don't have eloquent words and you have to ask whether the silence is reverence or shame

When you've been told (by a teacher, a tradition, your own perfectionism) that your offering isn't good enough — and you have to remember whose hunger you were going to feed

The verse

नये जरी तुज मधुर उत्तर । दिधला सुस्वर नाहीं देवें ॥१॥ नाहीं तयाविण भुकेला विठ्ठल । येइल तैसा बोल रामकृष्ण ॥ध्रु.॥ देवापाशीं मागें आवडीची भक्ति । विश्वासेंशीं प्रीति भावबळें ॥२॥ तुका म्हणे मना सांगतों विचार । धरावा निर्धार दिसेंदिस ॥३॥

Literal translation

English: Even if you cannot bring out a sweet reply — if God has not given you a fine voice — Vitthal is not hungry for that. Speak the names Rāma, Kṛṣṇa as they come. Ask of God the devotion-of-love, with trust and affection, by the strength of feeling. Tuka says: I am telling the mind a thought — hold to this resolve, day by day.

मराठी: तुला गोड उत्तर देता आलं नाही — देवानं तुला सुस्वर दिला नसला — तरी विठ्ठल त्यासाठी भुकेला नाही. राम-कृष्ण असे शब्द जसे येतील तसे बोल. देवाकडे मागायची ती आवडीची भक्ती — विश्वासाने, प्रीतीने, भावबळाने. तुकाराम म्हणतात — मनाला हाच विचार सांगतो: हाच निर्धार दिवसेंदिस धरा.

Word-by-word gloss

Marathi	Meaning
नये जरी तुज मधुर उत्तर	"even if you cannot bring out a sweet (musical) reply / response"
दिधला सुस्वर नाहीं देवें	"if God did not give you a sweet voice"
नाहीं तयाविण भुकेला विठ्ठल	"Vitthal is not hungry for that (the sweet voice)"
येइल तैसा बोल रामकृष्ण	"speak (the names) Rāma-Kṛṣṇa as they come"
आवडीची भक्ति	"devotion-of-love"
विश्वासेंशीं प्रीति भावबळें	"with trust, love, by the strength of feeling"
धरावा निर्धार दिसेंदिस	"hold firm to this resolve, day by day"

What it means

This abhang opens a new section after the gopī-arc closes. Its concern is the practice of bhajan — devotional speaking/singing — for those who are not naturally gifted singers. The refrain (ध्रु.) is the heart: नाहीं तयाविण भुकेला विठ्ठल — Vitthal is not hungry for that. The deity's hunger is for the calling, the direction-of-feeling, not the aesthetic quality of the voice. येइल तैसा बोल — speak as it comes — releases the would-be devotee from the perfectionist gate. [T]

For someone today

English: This abhang is permission to do the practice you have been refusing because you think you're not good enough at it. The classical excuse — I can't sing, I don't have words for prayer, my meditation is bad — is precisely what Tukaram is dismantling. The deity's hunger is not for the polished offering. येइल तैसा बोल रामकृष्ण — speak the names as they come. Even unrefined, the calling is what feeds the relationship.

The deeper teaching is in the निर्धार दिसेंदिस — day-by-day resolve. The unrefined offering becomes the practice when held day after day, not when polished. Consistency without aesthetics outperforms aesthetics without consistency.

मराठी: ही ओवी तुम्ही "मला नीट येत नाही" म्हणून जी साधना सोडत आलात ती करायची परवानगी आहे. classical बहाणा — मला गाता येत नाही, प्रार्थनेला शब्द नाहीत, माझं ध्यान वाईट — तेच तुकाराम मोडून टाकत आहेत. देवाची भूक चकाचक offering साठी नाही. येइल तैसा बोल रामकृष्ण. कच्चं असलं तरी बोलणं हेच नातं पुरवतं.

खोल शिकवण आहे निर्धार दिसेंदिस — दिवसेंदिस निर्धार. कच्चं offering साधना बनतं दिवसामागून दिवस धरून ठेवल्याने — चकाचक केल्याने नाही.

Where this applies

When you don't sing because you 'can't sing'. Vitthal isn't hungry for the music. Sing.
When you don't pray because you don't have eloquent words. येइल तैसा बोल. The words as they come.
When you've been told your offering isn't good enough. Whose hunger were you going to feed? It wasn't a critic's.