संत साहित्य · Tukārām · Abhanga 152 of 4582

Abhanga 152

Selfhood dissolves through wholehearted engagement, not endless circling, and full commitment carries more weight than mere study or hesitation.

When the spinning has actually engaged you and the jīva-pana has dissolved — and you have to recognize the commitment

When the previous husband (allegiance) is the only thing keeping you from settling — and you have to drop him

When standing-upright (not sow, donkey, bitch) is the new posture — and you have to honor the upright

The verse

लये लये लखोटा । मूळबंदि कासोटा । भावा केलें साहें । आतां माझें पाहें ॥१॥ हातोहातीं गुंतली । जीवपणा मुकली । धीर माझा निका । सांडीं बोल फिका ॥२॥ अंगीकारी हरि । नको पडों फेरी । लाज धरीं भांडे । जग झोडी रांडे ॥३॥ बैस भावा पाठीं । ऐक माझ्या गोष्टी । केला सांडीं गोहो । येथें धरीं मोहो ॥४॥ पाठमोरा डोल । आवरी तें बोल । पांगलीस बाळा । पुढें अवकळा ॥५॥ आतां उभी ठायीं । उभाउभीं पाहीं । नको होऊं डुकरी । पुढें गाढव कुतरी ॥६॥ नामा केलें खरें । आपुलें म्या बरें। तुका म्हणे येरी । पांगविल्या पोरी ॥७॥ तुशीं कोण घाली हुंबरी । साही पांगल्या अठरा चारी ॥ध्रु.॥

Literal translation

With rhythm-rhythm, the bundle (lakhotā) is at the waist; brother gave the support; now look at me. Hand-to-hand caught — jīva-pana gone. My patience is firm; drop the bland talk. Hari embraces — don't go in circles. Hold shame, you quarreling-one — the world strikes the wretched. Sit at brother's back, listen to my words; drop the gohū (husband), fix attention here. Wobbling backwards — restrain that talk; you're sprawled, child — disgrace ahead. Stand upright now, look up — don't be a sow, ahead a donkey, then bitch. Nāmā (Namdev) made it real — I have done it well. Tuka says: the others have slipped, girls. Whoever raises a humbarī (challenge) — the six, the eighteen, the four (philosophies / puranas / vedas) all yield.

मराठी: लये-लये लखोटा — मूळबंदी कासोटा; भावाने साह्य केलं — आता माझं पाहा. हातोहाती गुंतली — जीवपणा मुकली. माझा धीर पक्का; सांड फिका बोल. हरि अंगीकार करतो — फेरी पडू नको. लाज धर, भांडे; जग रांडेला झोडतं. भावाच्या पाठी बस, माझ्या गोष्टी ऐक; गोहू सोड, इथे मोह धर. पाठमोरा डोल — तो बोल आवर; तू पांगलीयस बाळा — पुढे अवकळा. आता उभी राहा, उभा-उभी पाहा — डुकरी होऊ नको, पुढे गाढव-कुतरी. नामाने केलं खरं — मी आपलं बरं. तुकाराम म्हणतात — येरी पांगवलेल्या पोरी. हुंबरी कोण घालेल — सहा-अठरा-चार सर्व पांगतात.

What it means

The closing fugadi-abhang. The bhakta-speaker has settled into the spin with Hari; जीवपणा मुकली — jīva-pana is gone (selfhood-as-claim is dissolved). The instruction to others: don't circle endlessly (फेरी) — settle. Drop the gohū (former-husband / former-allegiance) and fix attention here. Stand-upright — don't be the sow, donkey, bitch sequence (descending animal-states). The closing claim — सहा-अठरा-चार सर्व पांगतात — the six (philosophies), eighteen (puranas), four (vedas) all yield to the bhakta who has settled — invokes Namdev's precedent (नामाने केलं खरें). [T] [Tradition]

For someone today

This abhang offers three useful pieces.

First, the sense of separate selfhood dissolves in the spin, not by thinking about the non-self. The fugadi-spin is the practice; the dissolution of self is simply what happens as a result of full engagement, not something you reach by working it out mentally.

Second, endless circling — going through the motions without your attention actually settling on Hari — is the failure mode. The cure isn't to circle better; it's to actually settle.

Third, the descending sequence of animal images — sow, donkey, bitch — is the cost of refusing to stand upright. Every time you fail to stand, you slip into a lower form. The remedy is to stand and look upward.

मराठी: या ओवीत तीन उपयुक्त शिकवणी आहेत.

पहिली: वेगळेपणाची जाणीव spin मध्येच विरघळते, स्वतःविषयी नकाराचा विचार करून नव्हे. फुगडीचा फेर ही साधना आहे; पूर्ण सहभागातून जीवपणा आपोआप विरघळतो, तो मनाने विचार करून मिळवायची गोष्ट नाही.

दुसरी: अंतहीन फिरणं — म्हणजे लक्ष खरोखर हरीवर स्थिर न होता नुसतं हालचाल करत राहणं — हीच अपयशाची अवस्था आहे. उपाय अधिक चांगलं फिरणं नाही, तर खरोखर स्थिर होणं आहे.

तिसरी: उतरत्या प्राण्यांच्या प्रतिमांची मालिका — डुकरी, गाढव, कुत्री — ताठ उभं राहण्यास नकार दिल्याची किंमत आहे. प्रत्येक वेळी उभं राहायला चुकलात की खालच्या रूपात घसरता. उपाय म्हणजे उभं राहून वर पाहणं.

Where this applies

Spin engaging, jīva-pana dissolving. Recognize.
Endless circling, no settle. Settling is the cure.
Descending animal-sequence in your life. Stand upright.