Abhanga 80
If you have been trying to love everyone equally by effort — to suppress the self-vs-other reaction — Tukaram is naming the upstream lever. The reaction is downstream of ahankar. Argue with the reaction directly and it persists. Address the ego (the I-claim), and the reaction vanishes by itself because the construction-engine is gone. The categories of mine and not-mine are not modifiable by effort; they dissolve only when their producer dissolves.
The verse
उपाधीच्या नांवें घेतला सिंतोडा । नेदूं आतां पीडा आतळों ते ॥१॥ काशासाठीं हात भरूनि धुवावे । चालतिया गोवे मारगासि ॥ध्रु.॥ काय नाहीं देवें करूनि ठेविलें । असें तें आपुलें ते ते ठायीं ॥२॥ तुका म्हणे जेव्हां गेला अहंकार । तेव्हां आपपर बोळविले ॥३॥
Literal translation
English: In the name of (some) occasion, I took the holy sprinkle — I will not let the trouble touch me again. Why wash hands full (of dirt) again? The path forward is bound. What hasn't God already arranged? What is yours stays in its place. Tuka says: when ahankar went — self-and-other was sent off (with it).
मराठी: उपाधीच्या नावाने मी सिंतोडा घेतला; आता पीडेला अंगाला लागू देणार नाही. हात भरून का धुवावे? मार्गाला बंधन आहे चालण्याचं. देवाने काय करून ठेवलं नाही? तुमचं ते त्या ठिकाणी आहे. तुकाराम म्हणतात — जेव्हा अहंकार गेला, तेव्हा आपपर बोळविले.
Word-by-word gloss
| Marathi | Meaning |
|---|---|
| उपाधीच्या नांवें घेतला सिंतोडा | "in the name of upādhi (occasion / association), I took the holy-sprinkle" (a purification gesture) |
| नेदूं आतां पीडा आतळों ते | "I will not let the trouble touch (me) again" |
| काशासाठीं हात भरूनि धुवावे | "why should one wash hands full (of dirt) again?" |
| चालतिया गोवे मारगासि | "the path of the going (= the moving onward) is bound" |
| काय नाहीं देवें करूनि ठेविलें | "what hasn't God already arranged?" |
| असें तें आपुलें ते ते ठायीं | "what is yours stays in its place" |
| जेव्हां गेला अहंकार | "when ahankar went" |
| तेव्हां आपपर बोळविले | "then self-and-other was sent-away" |
What it means
The closing line is the abhang's compressed teaching: जेव्हां गेला अहंकार, तेव्हां आपपर बोळविले — when ahankar (ego) went, self-and-other was sent off. The two are one departure. The categories आप-पर (mine-and-other-than-mine) are constructions of ahankar; they have no independent existence. Remove ahankar, and the categories collapse — not by effort, but by structural absence of the construction-engine. The earlier verses about what hasn't God already arranged underline the logic: when one stops claiming, what was already-arranged becomes visible. [T]
For someone today
If you have been trying to love everyone equally by effort — to suppress the self-vs-other reaction — Tukaram is naming the upstream lever. The reaction is downstream of ahankar. Argue with the reaction directly and it persists. Address the ego (the I-claim), and the reaction vanishes by itself because the construction-engine is gone. The categories of mine and not-mine are not modifiable by effort; they dissolve only when their producer dissolves.
मराठी: सर्वांवर समान प्रेम प्रयत्नाने करायला बघत असाल — self-vs-other प्रतिसाद दाबायला — तुकाराम upstream lever नाव सांगतायत. प्रतिसाद अहंकाराचा downstream. प्रतिसादाशीच argue केलं — टिकतो. अहंकाराला (I-claim) सामोरं या — प्रतिसाद आपोआप विरघळतो — कारण construction-engine गेलं. माझं आणि माझं नाही या categories प्रयत्नाने बदलत नाहीत; त्यांचा producer विरघळला की त्या विरघळतात.
Where this applies
- Self-vs-other binary stops firing. Note what left: ahankar.
- Trying to love everyone by effort, not taking. Address ego upstream.
- Witness someone in whom this no longer fires. Recognize the structural absence.