संत साहित्य
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संत साहित्य · Tukārām · Abhanga 307 of 4582

Abhanga 307

English: If you want this body to go in vain — play dyūta-karma sāripāṭ with mano-bhāva.

When you've been spending the body in dyūta or viṣaya — and the abhang says body goes in vain
When naraka-ambition produces sant-nindā — and you accept this counter-intuitive claim
When Rāma-piśā is the alternative — and you receive this radical-mode

The verse

अरे हें देह व्यर्थ जावें । ऐसें जरी तुज व्हावें । द्यूतकर्म मनोभावें । सारीपाट खेळावा ॥१॥ मग कैचें हरिचें नाम । निजेलिया जागा राम । जन्मोजन्मींचा अधम । दुःख थोर साधिलें ॥ध्रु.॥ विषयसुखाचा लंपट । दासीगमनीं अतिधीट । तया तेचि वाट । अधोगती जावया ॥२॥ अणीक एक कोड । नरका जावयाची चाड । तरी संतनिंदा गोड । करीं कवतुकें सदा ॥३॥ तुका म्हणे ऐसें । मना लावी राम पिसें । नाहीं तरी आलिया सायासें । फुकट जासी ठकोनी ॥४॥

Literal translation

English: If you want this body to go in vain — play dyūta-karma sāripāṭ with mano-bhāva. Then where is Hari-nāma? — sleeping, jāgā Rāma. Janma-janmā's adhama — great duḥkha produced. Viṣaya-sukha-lampaṭa, dāsi-gamana over-bold — for him, that very path — to adho-gati. And one more kōḍa — if (you have) ambition for naraka — do sant-nindā sweetly, with kautuka, always. Tuka says: such (paths) — make the mind Rāma-piśā — otherwise, coming with sāyāsa — fukaṭ jāsī ṭhakōnī.

मराठी: हें देह व्यर्थ जावें — ऐसें जरी तुज व्हावें — द्यूतकर्म मनोभावें — सारीपाट खेळावा. मग कैचें हरिचें नाम — निजेलिया जागा राम — जन्मोजन्मींचा अधम — दुःख थोर साधिलें. विषयसुखाचा लंपट — दासीगमनीं अतिधीट — तया तेचि वाट — अधोगती जावया. अणीक एक कोड — नरका जावयाची चाड — तरी संतनिंदा गोड — करीं कवतुकें सदा. तुकाराम म्हणतात — ऐसें — मना लावी राम पिसें — नाहीं तरी आलिया सायासें — फुकट जासी ठकोनी.

Word-by-word gloss
Marathi Meaning
हें देह व्यर्थ जावें "this body to go in vain"
द्यूतकर्म मनोभावें सारीपाट खेळावा "play dyūta-karma (gambling) sāripāṭ with mano-bhāva**"
मग कैचें हरिचें नाम "then where (is) Hari-nāma?"
निजेलिया जागा राम "sleeping, jāgā Rāma (= Rāma awake-while-sleeping?)"
जन्मोजन्मींचा अधम "janma-janmā's adhama"
दुःख थोर साधिलें "great duḥkha obtained / produced"
विषयसुखाचा लंपट दासीगमनीं अतिधीट "viṣaya-sukha-lampaṭa (greedy), dāsi-gamana (going-to-the-maid) over-bold**"
तया तेचि वाट अधोगती जावया "for him, that very path — to go to adho-gati**"
अणीक एक कोड नरका जावयाची चाड "and one more kōḍa (wonder) — if (you have) ambition for naraka"
तरी संतनिंदा गोड करीं कवतुकें सदा "do sant-nindā sweetly, with kautuka (cleverness), always"
मना लावी राम पिसें "make the mind Rāma-piśā (Rāma-mad)"
नाहीं तरी आलिया सायासें फुकट जासी ठकोनी "otherwise — coming with sāyāsa — you go for free, deceived"

What it means

A sharp-warning abhang on body-going-in-vain. Five claims:

  1. If body to go in vain — play dyūta-karma sāripāṭ. Sarcastic-instruction. If you want the body to go in vain, the recipe is dyūta (gambling) with mano-bhāva. The gambling-with-full-attention is the body-wasting recipe.

  2. Where is Hari-nāma? Sleeping, jāgā Rāma*. The bhakta-alternative: even in sleep, Rāma is awake (= the Hari-nāma continues even when the body sleeps). The gambler doesn't have this; the bhakta does*.

  3. Janma-janmā's adhama, great duḥkha. The life-after-life adhama — the cumulative-fall. Great duḥkha is produced by dyūta-karma + sleeping-without-Rāma.

  4. Viṣaya-sukha-lampaṭa, dāsi-gamana = adho-gati path. Greedy for viṣaya-sukha + bold for dāsi-gamana (going-to-the-maid / sex-with-prohibited-women). That very path leads to adho-gati (downward-going).

  5. Sant-nindā sweetly = naraka-recipe. The most-subtle critique. If you have ambition for naraka, do sant-nindā (slander-of-saints) gōḍa (sweetly), with kautuka (cleverness) — as a habit. The sweet, clever, habitual sant-nindā is the naraka-recipe. (This is sarcastic-direct: Tukaram is naming the active-cultivation of slander-of-saints as the deliberate-naraka-path.)

  6. Closing: make the mind Rāma-piśā or go fukaṭ-deceived. Mana lāvī Rāma piśē. Make the mind Rāma-mad (= fully-given-over to Rāma like a piśā). Otherwise, coming-with-sāyāsa, you go fukaṭ jāsī ṭhakōnī — you came with effort and go for-free deceived. (The body-life is the sāyāsa-arrival; if not Rāma-piśā, the arrival is wasted.)

[T]

For someone today

This abhang gives the recipes for body-going-in-vain and the alternative:

  1. Recipes for body-in-vain: (a) gambling with attention; (b) sleeping without Rāma; (c) viṣaya-sukha-greed + dāsi-gamana boldness; (d) sweet-clever-habitual sant-nindā. Each is named precisely; each produces a specific direction (vain-going, adhama-cumulation, adho-gati, naraka).

  2. The alternative: Rāma-piśā mind. Mana lāvī Rāma piśē. Make the mind Rāma-mad. The piśā (mad / fool) register: fully-given-over without rationalization, without held-back portion. (Compare 273's Tuka, niraya-vāsī piśā.)

  3. Life is sāyāsa-arrival. Coming-with-sāyāsa — the body-life arrived through effort (= prior karma, accumulated effort). Without Rāma-piśā, the sāyāsa-arrival goes fukaṭ jāsī ṭhakōnī — for free, deceived.

For today: check whether you are running any of the four body-in-vain recipes; recognize that the body-life is sāyāsa-arrival not to be wasted; make the mind Rāma-piśā; otherwise the deception happens silently — fukaṭ-jāsī.

This abhang is important for those-with-life-in-the-balance: it names the destructive-paths precisely and offers the alternative-mode. The Rāma-piśā mode is the complete-alternative to all the destructive-paths.

मराठी: ही ओवी body-going-in-vain च्या recipes आणि alternative देते:

  1. Body-in-vain recipes: (a) attention सह gambling; (b) Rāma-शिवाय झोपणं; (c) viṣaya-sukha-greed + dāsi-gamana boldness; (d) sweet-clever-habitual sant-nindā. प्रत्येक precisely नामकित; प्रत्येक specific direction produce करतो (vain-going, adhama-cumulation, adho-gati, naraka).

  2. Alternative: Rāma-piśā mind. मना लावी राम पिसें. मनाला Rāma-mad करा. Piśā (mad / fool) register: rationalization-शिवाय fully-given-over, held-back portion-शिवाय.

  3. Life sāyāsa-arrival. Sāyāsa-सह येणं — body-life effort मुळे आलं (= prior karma, accumulated effort). Rāma-piśā-शिवाय, sāyāsa-arrival fukaṭ jāsī ṭhakōnī जातं — फुकट, deceived.

आज: चार body-in-vain recipes पैकी कोणते तुम्ही run करत आहात check करा; body-life sāyāsa-arrival आहे, waste न करायचा ओळखा; मनाला Rāma-piśā करा; नाहीतर deception silently होतं — fukaṭ-jāsī.

ही ओवी life-in-the-balance वाल्यांसाठी महत्त्वाची: destructive-paths precisely नाव सांगते आणि alternative-mode देते. Rāma-piśā mode सर्व destructive-paths चं complete-alternative.

Where this applies

Sant-sang / Sant-pūjā Bhakti body-goes-in-vain

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