Abhanga 43
If you actually believe the deity has charge of your karma, then you do not have to carry it. If you are still carrying it, you do not yet believe.
The verse
धर्माची तूं मूर्ती । पाप पुण्य तुझे हातीं ॥१॥ मज सोडवीं दातारा । कर्मापासूनि दुस्तरा ॥ध्रु.॥ करिसी अंगीकार । तरी काय माझा भार ॥२॥ जिवींच्या जीवना । तुका म्हणे नारायणा ॥३॥
Literal translation
English: You are the form of dharma; sin and virtue are in your hand. Release me, O giver, from the karma that is hard to cross. If you take charge, what burden is mine? Life-of-the-living, Tuka says — Narayana.
मराठी: तू धर्माची मूर्ती; पाप-पुण्य तुझ्या हातांत. मला सोडव, दात्या, कर्माच्या दुस्तर बंधनातून. तू अंगीकार करतोस, मग माझा भार कसा? जिवांच्या जीवना, तुकाराम म्हणतात — नारायणा.
Word-by-word gloss
| Marathi | Meaning |
|---|---|
| धर्माची तूं मूर्ती | "you are the very form of dharma" |
| पाप पुण्य तुझे हातीं | "sin and virtue are in your hand" |
| मज सोडवीं दातारा | "release me, O giver" |
| कर्मापासूनि दुस्तरा | "from the difficult-to-cross karma" (दुस्तर = hard to cross over) |
| करिसी अंगीकार तरी काय माझा भार | "if you accept (charge), then what is my burden?" |
| जिवींच्या जीवना | "O life of life" |
What it means
A short prayer-abhang. The opening claim is theologically precise: पाप पुण्य तुझे हातीं — sin and virtue are in your hand. The deity is named as having sovereignty over the karma-economy. Verse 2 (refrain) makes the request: release-me-from-difficult-karma. Verse 3 contains the abhang's logical pivot: करिसी अंगीकार तरी काय माझा भार — if you accept (charge), then what is my burden? This is a syllogism of surrender: if I have given it to you, I no longer carry it; if I am still carrying it, I have not given it to you. [T]
For someone today
English: This abhang is for the moment when you have been carrying something — past wrongs, regret, the weight of years of mistakes — and you have to face whether you have actually surrendered it or whether you have only said you have. Tukaram's logical line is uncomfortable: if you have surrendered it, you do not still carry it. If you are still carrying it, you have not surrendered it. The two are not compatible. The continuing presence of the burden is itself the evidence that the surrender was rhetorical.
The cure is not better surrender-rhetoric; the cure is actually setting the thing down. The deity, in Tukaram's framework, is structurally available to take on what you give. The bottleneck is the giving. If you have not yet given, the deity cannot take. If you have given, the burden lifts and stays lifted.
मराठी: ही ओवी अशा क्षणासाठी जेव्हा तुम्ही काहीतरी उचलत आहात — मागच्या चुका, खंत, वर्षांच्या चुकांचा भार — आणि तुम्हाला पाहावं लागतं की तुम्ही खरंच ते सोडलं आहे का — किंवा फक्त "सोडलं" म्हणालात. तुकारामांची तार्किक ओळ अस्वस्थ करणारी: सोडलं असेल तर अजून उचलत नसता. उचलत असाल तर सोडलं नाहीये. दोन्ही एकत्र शक्य नाही. भाराची सतत उपस्थिती हीच सुपूर्दीकरण काल्पनिक होतं याचा पुरावा.
उपाय better surrender-rhetoric नाही — खरंच गोष्ट खाली ठेवणं. तुकारामांच्या framework मध्ये देव रचनात्मकपणे उपलब्ध आहे — तुम्ही जे द्याल ते घ्यायला. bottleneck देणं आहे. तुम्ही दिलं नसेल, तर देव घेऊ शकत नाही. दिलं तर भार उठतो आणि उठलेलाच राहतो.
Where this applies
- When you've been carrying past actions and the carrying has become its own weight. Tukaram's logic: are you still carrying because you haven't actually given it?
- When 'I should fix this myself' has become heavier than the original problem. Hand it over.
- When pleading itself has become the not-letting-go. The pleading is a signal. Stop pleading. Surrender.