Abhanga 101
Don't waste your life. Bow at every foot — purify your own heart. The contemplation of the deity, with one-pointed mind, is the business that yields gain. What more is there to teach?
The verse
आतां तरी पुढें हाचि उपदेश । नका करूं नाश आयुष्याचा ॥१॥ सकळांच्या पायां माझें दंडवत । आपुलालें चित्त शुद्ध करा ॥ध्रु.॥ हित तें करावे देवाचें चिंतन । करूनियां मन एकविध ॥२॥ तुका म्हणे लाभ होय तो व्यापार । करा काय फार शिकवावें ॥३॥
Literal translation
English: From now on, this is the instruction: don't waste your life. My prostration at every foot — purify your own heart. The beneficial thing is contemplation of the deity, with the mind made one-pointed. Tuka says: do the business that yields gain — what more is there to teach?
मराठी: आतापुढे हाच उपदेश — आयुष्याचा नाश करू नका. सर्वांच्या पायां माझा दंडवत — आपलं चित्त शुद्ध करा. हित म्हणजे देवाचं चिंतन — मन एकविध करून. तुकाराम म्हणतात — जे लाभ देतं तो व्यापार करा; आणखी काय शिकवायचं?
Word-by-word gloss
| Marathi | Meaning |
|---|---|
| आतां तरी पुढें हाचि उपदेश | "from now on — this is the instruction" |
| नका करूं नाश आयुष्याचा | "don't waste your life" |
| सकळांच्या पायां माझें दंडवत | "my prostration at all feet" |
| आपुलालें चित्त शुद्ध करा | "purify your own heart" |
| हित तें करावे देवाचें चिंतन | "the beneficial thing — contemplation of the deity" |
| करूनियां मन एकविध | "making the mind one-pointed" |
| लाभ होय तो व्यापार | "the business that yields gain" |
| काय फार शिकवावें | "what more is there to teach?" |
What it means
A short general-instruction abhang. Three plain rules: (1) don't waste life; (2) bow at every foot, purify own heart; (3) contemplate the deity, one-pointed mind. The closing — करा काय फार शिकवावें — do (this); what more is there to teach? — collapses the whole spiritual instruction down to one paragraph. The सकळांच्या पायां दंडवत — prostration at all feet — is structurally important: it pairs the bowing-to-others with the purifying-of-own-heart. They are linked operations. [T]
For someone today
When you ask what should I do with your spiritual life, Tukaram offers the compressed answer in this abhang. Three lines, no elaboration. The first — don't waste life — sets the urgency. The second — bow at every foot, purify your own heart — pairs outer humility with inner cleansing. The third — contemplate the deity, one-pointed mind — names the actual practice. Everything else is variations.
मराठी: आध्यात्मिक जीवनात काय करू विचारत असाल — तुकाराम compressed उत्तर देतात. तीन ओळी, elaboration नाही. पहिली — आयुष्य नाश नको — urgency. दुसरी — सर्वांच्या पायी नमस्कार, स्वतःचं चित्त शुद्ध — बाह्य नम्रता आणि आत-शुद्धीकरण जोडलेले. तिसरी — देवाचं चिंतन, एकविध मन — खरी साधना. बाकी सर्व variations.
Where this applies
- Wasting time and need a plain instruction. Three lines.
- Bowing to people who irritate you. Pair with purify-own-heart.
- Need the entire summary. This is it.