Abhanga 355

A resolve repeated firmly and prepared well before the test arrives can hold steady even against the threat of real harm.

The verse

Literal translation

What it means

A triple-vow of unshakable-resolve abhang within the Mambaji Gosavi persecution cluster (cf. 354 colophon, 356). Three claims:

1. न सोडीं न सोडीं न सोडीं — विठोबा चरण न सोडीं — I will not release, will not release, will not release — Viṭhobā's caraṇa. The triple-vow. Repeated-three-times — to make it unshakable. Viṭhobā's feet — I will not release. (The triple-formula echoes vrata-vow-formulas in the Sanskrit ritual-tradition; what is said three times is bound thrice.)

2. भलतें जड पडो भारी — जीवावरी आगोज — whatever great burden falls — even at stake of jīva. The unconditionality: no condition whatever — including the loss of life — will release the feet.

3. शतखंड देह शस्त्रधारी — करितां परी न भीयें — hundred-pieces of body by the sword-bearer — even so, I will not fear. The body-torture-clause: even if the body is cut into a hundred pieces by the sword — I will not fear. (In the Mambaji Gosavi persecution context, this is concrete: Mambaji is reported to have physically beaten Tukaram with a thorn-stick. The hundred-pieces-by-sword is hyperbolic but proximate to the actual-violence faced.)

4. तुका म्हणे केली आधीं — दृढ बुद्धी सावध — Tuka says: I made beforehand — firm buddhi, sāvadha. The closing-self-claim: I prepared the buddhi beforehand — firm and sāvadha (alert). The resolve was made-firm before the test; not improvised in the moment.

[T]

For someone today

Tukaram declares his resolve three times over, for emphasis: I will not let go, I will not let go, I will not let go of Vithoba's feet. No condition whatsoever will make him release that grip, not even the risk of losing his own life. Even if his body were cut into a hundred pieces by a sword, he says, he would not be afraid. And this is not a resolve made in the heat of the moment — Tukaram made his mind firm and alert well beforehand, so that it could hold steady when the real test came.

मराठी: तुकाराम आपला निश्चय तीनदा ठासून सांगतात: मी विठोबाचे चरण सोडणार नाही, सोडणार नाही, सोडणार नाही. कोणतीही परिस्थिती, अगदी स्वतःच्या जिवावर बेतले तरीही, ती पकड सोडायला लावणार नाही. तलवारीने देहाचे शंभर तुकडे झाले तरी भीती वाटणार नाही, असे ते म्हणतात. आणि हा निश्चय क्षणिक उमाळ्यातून आलेला नाही — तुकारामांनी आपले मन आधीच पक्के आणि सावध केले होते, म्हणजे खरी परीक्षा आली तेव्हा ते स्थिर राहू शकले.

Where this applies

• Triple-vow. न सोडीं न सोडीं न सोडीं.
• Unconditional, even jīva. No exemption.
• Body-torture endured. Resolve withstands.
• Buddhi firm beforehand. Prepare-in-advance.

Related verses

• Abhanga 2374 — Rather than scattering devotion among many lesser deities who demand offerings, Tukaram sa
• Abhanga 2377 — This detailed meditation on Vitthal standing on a brick at Pandharpur, out of love for his
• Abhanga 2387 — Accept whatever life brings with reverence, and place the burden on God rather than carryi
• Abhanga 2402 — For today: happily take rebirths — IF among the Paṇḍharī-Vārkarīs ; Hari-dāsas' company is