Abhanga 215

Being tired of chasing more than you need is honest, not failure, and real companionship is already enough, so the thing to pray for is a heart that isn't restless.

The verse

Literal translation

What it means

A anti-excess prayer abhang. Four claims:

1. अधिकाचा मज कांटाळा — I am tired of the adhika (excess). Not tired of poverty; tired of excess. The kāmṭāḷā (weariness) is of the surplus, the over-much, the more-than-needed. This is structurally important: the bhakta is not in scarcity-mode; the bhakta is in over-supply-fatigue mode and seeking less.

2. तुम्हां गोपाळां संगति — काय नाहीं तुम्हापाशीं — सकळांविशीं संपन्न — with you gopālas — companionship; what is not with you? — complete in every respect. The gopāla-companionship is complete-in-every-respect. Adhika (excess) elsewhere is unnecessary because here is sampanna. The companionship-with-the-comrades-and-the-deity provides all that is needed.

3. उद्योगाचा नेघें भार — लागल्या सार पुरतें — I will not take the burden of udyoga; the sāra when stuck suffices. Udyoga (striving, work-of-procurement) is refused as a burden. The sāra (essence) — when it sticks (when it comes into possession) — is enough. Don't pursue more than the sāra; don't take on the burden of striving for the surplus.

4. तुका म्हणे अधीर जिणें नारायणें न करावें — Tuka says: Nārāyaṇa, do not make (this) life adhīra. The closing-prayer. Adhīra — impatient, restless, unable-to-wait. The prayer is for the deity to not make life impatient. The impatient-life is what produces adhika-pursuit. The non-impatient-life is content with the sāra-puratē condition.

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For someone today

This abhang names a counter-cultural prayer. Three claims:

1. Tiredness-of-excess is a real and dignified state. Adhikāchā maja kāmṭāḷā. This is not defeat, not failure, not insufficiency. It is honest-recognition that the excess has become burdensome. The modern world tends to treat more-is-better; Tukaram's claim is enough is what is needed; excess is wearying.

2. The gopāla-sangati is complete in every respect. Sakaḷāñvīśīm sampanna. The companionship of the comrades and the deity provides what is needed. Don't seek the adhika elsewhere. The diagnosis: if you are seeking adhika elsewhere, the gopāla-sangati hasn't been honored as sampanna.

3. Refuse the burden of udyoga. Udyogāchā nēghē bhāra. The striving for the surplus is a burden. The sāra-puratē (essence-suffices) condition is the contentment-marker. Take what sticks to you (what comes by grace, by relationship, by work done without straining for more) — that is enough.

4. The closing prayer: don't make this life adhīra. Adhīra jiṇē Nārāyaṇē na karāvē. The impatient-life is what produces the adhika-pursuit. The prayer is for non-impatience. Notice: Tukaram does not pray for less excess in the world; he prays for non-impatience in his own life. The adhika-problem lies upstream of the life itself being adhīra.

For today: when you find yourself tired of the excess, recognize it as honest dignified state. Trust that the companionship of real comrades with the real presence is complete in every respect. Refuse the burden of striving for the surplus. Pray for non-impatience, since adhika-pursuit is downstream of adhīra-jīvana.

मराठी: ही ओवी एक चालरीतीविरुद्ध जाणारी प्रार्थना सांगते. यात तीन गोष्टी आहेत.

1. अतिरेकाचा कंटाळा येणं ही खरी आणि सन्माननीय अवस्था आहे. हे पराजय नाही, अपयश नाही, अपुरेपणाही नाही. हे एक प्रामाणिक ओळख आहे — की जास्तीचं ओझं झालं आहे. आजचं जग 'जितकं जास्त तितकं चांगलं' असं मानतं; तुकारामांचा दावा आहे — जेवढं गरजेचं तेवढं पुरे; अतिरेक थकवणारा असतो.

2. गोपाळांची सोबत सर्वार्थाने परिपूर्ण आहे. सोबती आणि देव यांची सोबतच जे हवं ते सगळं देते. जास्तीचं दुसरीकडे शोधू नका. निदान असं आहे — जर तुम्ही जास्तीचं इतरत्र शोधत असाल, तर याचा अर्थ ही सोबत परिपूर्ण आहे हे तुम्ही अजून मान्य केलेलं नाही.

3. उद्योगाचं ओझं नाकारा. जास्तीसाठी झटणं हे ओझं आहे. जे हाती लागतं तेवढं पुरे — ही समाधानाची खूण आहे. जे कृपेने, नात्यातून, किंवा जास्तीसाठी न झटता केलेल्या कामातून मिळतं, तेवढं घ्या — तेवढंच पुरेसं आहे.

4. शेवटची प्रार्थना — हे जीवन अधीर करू नकोस. अधीर जगणं हेच अतिरेकाच्या मागे लागण्याचं मूळ आहे. ही प्रार्थना अधीरता नसण्यासाठी आहे. लक्षात घ्या — तुकाराम जगातला अतिरेक कमी व्हावा म्हणून प्रार्थना करत नाहीत; ते स्वतःच्या जीवनातली अधीरता नसावी म्हणून प्रार्थना करतात. अतिरेकाची समस्या ही मुळात जीवनच अधीर असण्याच्या आधी असते.

आज एवढंच — तुम्हाला अतिरेकाचा कंटाळा आला असेल, तर ती एक प्रामाणिक, सन्माननीय अवस्था म्हणून ओळखा. खऱ्या सोबत्यांची आणि खऱ्या उपस्थितीची सोबत सर्वार्थाने परिपूर्ण आहे यावर विश्वास ठेवा. जास्तीसाठी झटण्याचं ओझं नाकारा. अधीरता नसण्यासाठी प्रार्थना करा, कारण अतिरेकाचा पाठलाग हा अधीर जगण्याचाच परिणाम आहे.

Where this applies

• When you notice you're chasing more even though what you already have is enough.
• When the pressure to keep striving for surplus feels like a burden you want to put down.
• When you catch yourself looking outside a relationship or community for something it already gives you.
• When restlessness, not actual need, is what's driving you to want more.

Related verses

• Abhanga 2494 — Living in devotion turns an ordinary day into a festival and removes the fear of birth and
• Abhanga 4481 — Tukaram promises that sincerely calling on the Lord's name, knowingly or unknowingly, with
• Abhanga 4482 — Tukaram teaches that no ritual equals sincerely speaking the Lord's name, that self-center
• Abhanga 2557 — For today: now I've become master — what I do, the authority is mine .