संत साहित्य · Tukārām · Abhanga 292 of 4582

Abhanga 292

This is one of Tukaram's most-radical and most-cited abhangs. Three claims:

When you've been seeking external-deity — and the abhang says the mind is the cause-of-all-siddhi

When mokṣa-and-bondage both depend on mind-state — and you accept this radical claim

When no other daivata — and you receive this central-teaching

The verse

मन करा रे प्रसन्न । सर्व सिद्धीचें कारण । मोक्ष अथवा बंधन । सुख समाधान इच्छा ते ॥१॥ मनें प्रतिमा स्थापिली । मनें मना पूजा केली । मनें इच्छा पुरविली । मन माउली सकळांची ॥ध्रु.॥ मन गुरू आणि शिष्य । करी आपुलें चि दास्य । प्रसन्न आपआपणास । गति अथवा अधोगति ॥२॥ साधक वाचक पंडित । श्रोते वक्ते ऐका मात । नाहीं नाहीं आनुदैवत । तुका म्हणे दुसरें ॥३॥

Literal translation

English: Make the mind delighted — cause of all siddhi. Mokṣa or bandhana, sukha-samādhāna — those are its icchā. Mind established the pratimā, mind made pūjā of mind, mind fulfilled the icchā — mind is the māulī of all. Mind is guru and śiṣya — makes its own dāsya; prasanna to itself; gati or adhō-gati. Sādhakas, vācakas, pundits, śrotas, vaktas — listen to this māta — there is no other daivata — Tuka says — no second.

मराठी: मन करा रे प्रसन्न — सर्व सिद्धीचें कारण — मोक्ष अथवा बंधन — सुख समाधान इच्छा ते. मनें प्रतिमा स्थापिली — मनें मना पूजा केली — मनें इच्छा पुरविली — मन माउली सकळांची. मन गुरू आणि शिष्य — करी आपुलें चि दास्य — प्रसन्न आपआपणास — गति अथवा अधोगति. साधक वाचक पंडित — श्रोते वक्ते ऐका मात — नाहीं नाहीं आनुदैवत — तुकाराम म्हणतात — दुसरें.

Word-by-word gloss

Marathi	Meaning
मन करा रे प्रसन्न	"make the mana (mind) prasanna (delighted)"
सर्व सिद्धीचें कारण	"cause of all siddhi**
मोक्ष अथवा बंधन	"mokṣa or bandhana (bondage)"
सुख समाधान इच्छा ते	"sukha-samādhāna — those are its icchā**
मनें प्रतिमा स्थापिली	"mind established the pratimā (image)"
मनें मना पूजा केली	"mind made pūjā of mind"
मनें इच्छा पुरविली	"mind fulfilled the icchā**
मन माउली सकळांची	"mind is the māulī (mother) of sakaḷa (all)"
मन गुरू आणि शिष्य	"mind is guru and śiṣya**
करी आपुलें चि दास्य	"makes its own dāsya (servant-status)"
प्रसन्न आपआपणास	"prasanna to itself"
गति अथवा अधोगति	"gati or adhō-gati (going-up or going-down)"
साधक वाचक पंडित श्रोते वक्ते ऐका मात	"sādhakas, vācakas, pundits, śrotas, vaktas — listen to this māta**
नाहीं नाहीं आनुदैवत दुसरें	"there is no other daivata — no second"

What it means

One of the most-cited Tukaram abhangs in the entire Gatha. Mind-as-cause-of-all doctrine in radical form. Four claims:

मन करा रे प्रसन्न — सर्व सिद्धीचें कारण — make the mind delighted — cause of all siddhi. The opening-imperative. Manaḥ-prasāda (mind-delight) is the cause of all siddhi. Whether mokṣa, bondage, sukha, samādhāna — all depend on the mind's state.
मनें प्रतिमा स्थापिली — मनें मना पूजा केली — मनें इच्छा पुरविली — मन माउली सकळांची — mind established the image, mind made pūjā of mind, mind fulfilled the icchā — mind is mother-of-all. The radical pūjā-mechanic: the mind establishes the deity-image, performs the pūjā on itself, fulfills its own desires. Mind is the agent-pole, the object-pole, and the receiver-pole simultaneously. The mind is the māulī of all (= the mother-source of everything that happens in your experience). (Compare 263's clay-Pasupati pūjā passes through to the deity; here the meta-claim: all pūjā is mind's pūjā of mind.)
मन गुरू आणि शिष्य — करी आपुलें चि दास्य — प्रसन्न आपआपणास — गति अथवा अधोगति — mind is guru and śiṣya — makes its own dāsya — prasanna to itself — gati or adhō-gati. The complete-cycle. Mind is teacher and student; mind serves itself; mind is delighted by itself; mind takes itself to gati or adhō-gati. The mind is the complete-process of spiritual life.
नाहीं नाहीं आनुदैवत — दुसरें — there is no other daivata — no second. The closing-radical claim. No other daivata. Mind is the only daivata. (Reading: the daivata-experience happens in the mind; the deity-encounter is mind-mediated; the deity that appears to you is the mind's-form. This does not deny the deva-as-real; it claims the daivata-axis of experience is mind-located.)

[T] [Major warkari teaching, often quoted as manaḥ-prasāda doctrine]

For someone today

This is one of Tukaram's most-radical and most-cited abhangs. Three claims:

Make the mind delighted — that is the cause of all siddhi. Mana karā re prasanna. The primary-action of the bhakta-life is mind-delight. Not external-rituals, not other-deities, not specific-actions — make the mind delighted. Everything else flows from this.
Mokṣa-and-bondage are mind-states. Mokṣa athavā bandhana — sukha-samādhāna icchā tē. Both liberation and bondage are what the mind wants / what the mind makes. The mind's icchā determines the outcome. External-circumstance is downstream of mind-state.
Mind is the māulī* (mother) of all. Mana māulī sakaḷāñcī. The mind generates everything in your experience-world: it establishes the image, performs the pūjā, fulfills the desire. The mind is not a piece of you; the mind is the mother-source of your experience-world*.
There is no other daivata. Nāhī nāhī ānudaivata — dusarē. The most-radical claim. No second daivata. The mind is the only deity-experience-medium. (Reading: don't seek the deity outside the mind; the deity-encounter is mind-located. This is not atheism — the deva is real, but the daivata-experience is mind-mediated.)

For today: make the mind prasanna as the primary-practice; recognize that mokṣa-and-bondage are mind-states; recognize the mind as the māulī of your experience-world; don't seek the daivata outside the mind.

This abhang is foundationally important: it places the mind at the center of the spiritual-life and makes mind-delight the primary-action. All other practices (kīrtana, name-japa, bhāva-cultivation, sevā, kālā) are forms of mind-prasāda; without mind-prasāda, the forms are empty.

The closing-claim no other daivata is radical and easy to misread. Read carefully: it does not say there is no deva (Tukaram is not an atheist; the entire corpus is bhakti-based); it says the daivata (worship-object as experienced) is mind-mediated. The encounter-with-the-deva happens in the mind; the mind is the only daivata-axis.

मराठी: ही तुकारामांच्या most-radical आणि most-cited ओव्यांपैकी एक. तीन claims:

मन प्रसन्न करा — हेच सर्व siddhi चं कारण. मन करा रे प्रसन्न. Bhakta-life चं primary-action mind-delight. External-rituals नाही, इतर-देवता नाही, specific-actions नाही — मन प्रसन्न करा. बाकी सर्व यातून flow होतं.
Mokṣa-आणि-bondage mind-states. मोक्ष अथवा बंधन — सुख समाधान इच्छा ते. Liberation आणि bondage दोन्ही — मन काय want करतं / मन काय make करतं. External-circumstance mind-state च्या downstream.
मन māulī* (मातेला) सर्वांची. मन माउली सकळांची. मन तुमच्या experience-world मधलं सर्व generate करतं: image establish करतं, pūjā perform करतं, desire fulfill करतं. मन तुमचा एक भाग नाही; मन तुमच्या experience-world चं मातेला-source*.
दुसरं daivata नाही. नाहीं नाहीं आनुदैवत — दुसरें. Most-radical claim. दुसरं daivata नाही. मन only deity-experience-medium. (Atheism नाही — देव real आहे, पण daivata-experience mind-mediated.)

आज: primary-practice म्हणून मन prasanna करा; mokṣa-आणि-bondage mind-states ओळखा; मन तुमच्या experience-world चं māulī ओळखा; daivata मन च्या बाहेर शोधू नका.

ही ओवी foundationally important: spiritual-life च्या केंद्रस्थानी मन ठेवते आणि mind-delight primary-action करते. इतर सर्व practices (kīrtana, name-japa, bhāva-cultivation, sevā, kālā) mind-prasāda चे forms; mind-prasāda शिवाय forms empty.

Closing-claim दुसरं daivata नाही radical आणि easy to misread. Carefully वाचा: देव नाही असं नाही म्हणत (तुकाराम atheist नाहीत; entire corpus bhakti-based); daivata (worship-object as experienced) mind-mediated म्हणतात. देवाशी encounter मनात होतं; मन only daivata-axis.

Where this applies

Mind-prasāda is the primary-practice. All else flows.
Mokṣa and bandhana are mind-states. External is downstream.
Mind is māulī of your experience-world. Generative source.
No other daivata — daivata-axis is mind-mediated. Not atheism; mind-locus.