Abhanga 367
Tukaram makes a bold choice here. Other people can pursue austerities and yogic techniques, and some of them will reach exalted inner states or even what people call the highest liberation — fine, let them. But Tukaram and those like him choose something different: dancing together in the public square at Pandharpur. He goes further and says that chasing liberation itself as your ultimate goal is actually shameful for a servant of God, because what he wants is not to dissolve away but to stay in loving relationship, as God's devoted servant.
The verse
करोत तपादि साधनें । कोणी साधो गोरांजनें ॥१॥ आम्ही न वजों तया वाटा । नाचूं पंढरीचोहटां ॥ध्रु.॥ पावोत आत्मिस्थति । कोणी म्हणोत उत्तम मुक्ति ॥२॥ तुका म्हणे छंद । आम्हां हरिच्या दासां निंद्य ॥३॥ ॥ स्वामीस सद्गुरूची कृपा जाली ॥ - अभंग ४
Literal translation
Let (them) do tapa and other sādhanā — some achieve gōrāñjana. We will not go on those paths — we will dance at the Pandhari-cauk. Let (them) attain ātma-sthiti — some say uttama-mukti. Tuka says: that chand — for us, Hari's dāsas, is nindya. (Colophon: the master received the sad-guru's grace — abhang 4.)
मराठी: करोत तपादि साधनें — कोणी साधो गोरांजनें. आम्ही न वजों तया वाटा — नाचूं पंढरीचोहटां. पावोत आत्मिस्थति — कोणी म्हणोत उत्तम मुक्ति. तुकाराम म्हणतां — छंद — आम्हां हरिच्या दासां निंद्य. (कोलोफोन: स्वामीस सद्गुरूची कृपा जाली — अभंग ४.)
Word-by-word gloss
| Marathi | Meaning |
|---|---|
| करोत तपादि साधनें | "let (them) do tapa and other sādhanā" |
| कोणी साधो गोरांजनें | "some — achieve gōrāñjana (yogic-fusion)" |
| आम्ही न वजों तया वाटा | "we — will not go on those paths" |
| नाचूं पंढरीचोहटां | "we will dance at the Pandhari-cauk" |
| पावोत आत्मिस्थति | "let (them) attain ātma-sthiti" |
| कोणी म्हणोत उत्तम मुक्ति | "some say uttama-mukti" |
| छंद आम्हां हरिच्या दासां निंद्य | "that chand (fad) — for us — Hari's dāsas — is nindya" |
What it means
A we-Hari-dāsas-refuse-other-paths abhang. Three claims:
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करोत तपादि साधनें — कोणी साधो गोरांजनें — आम्ही न वजों तया वाटा — नाचूं पंढरीचोहटां — let them do tapa-sādhanā, some achieve gōrāñjana — we won't go those paths — we'll dance at the Pandhari-cauk. The opening-refusal: let others pursue tapa-sādhanā or gōrāñjana (yogic-fusion / yogic-techniques); we go a different way — dancing at Pandhari-cauk. (Cauk — town-square / public-place. Dancing at the cauk is kīrtan-and-dance, the public-bhakti expression. Compare 363 easy-foot-path; same anti-difficult-route register.)
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पावोत आत्मिस्थति — कोणी म्हणोत उत्तम मुक्ति — let them attain ātma-sthiti — some say uttama-mukti. The radical-secondary-refusal: let others attain ātma-sthiti (self-state) and uttama-mukti (best-liberation); that's their pursuit, not ours. The Vārkarī-bhakta does not aim at mukti as the highest-goal.
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तुका म्हणे छंद — आम्हां हरिच्या दासां निंद्य — Tuka says: that fad — for us, Hari's dāsas, is nindya. The radical-closing: that fad / fashion (of seeking ātma-sthiti, uttama-mukti) — for Hari's dāsas — is nindya (despicable, blameworthy). We don't want mukti; we want Hari-dāsa-status. (Compare 165 we don't want mukti, we want His dāsa-position; same anti-mukti register.)
The colophon — स्वामीस सद्गुरूची कृपा जाली - अभंग ४ — opens the next four abhangs (368-371) as the sad-guru-grace cluster — the dream-initiation of Tukaram by Bābājī Caitanya. 0367 thus concludes the prior thread and introduces the next.
[T]
For someone today
Tukaram makes a bold choice here. Other people can pursue austerities and yogic techniques, and some of them will reach exalted inner states or even what people call the highest liberation — fine, let them. But Tukaram and those like him choose something different: dancing together in the public square at Pandharpur. He goes further and says that chasing liberation itself as your ultimate goal is actually shameful for a servant of God, because what he wants is not to dissolve away but to stay in loving relationship, as God's devoted servant.
मराठी: तुकाराम इथे एक ठाम निवड करतात. इतरांनी तप करावं, कठीण साधना करावी, कोणी उच्च आत्मिक अवस्था किंवा सर्वोच्च मुक्तीही मिळवावी — त्यांना खुशाल तसं करू द्या. पण तुकाराम आणि त्यांच्यासारखे लोक वेगळी वाट निवडतात — पंढरीच्या चौकात एकत्र नाचणं. ते पुढे जाऊन म्हणतात की मुक्ती हेच अंतिम ध्येय मानणं हे हरिच्या दासासाठी लाजिरवाणं आहे, कारण त्यांना विरघळून जायचं नाही तर देवाशी प्रेमाचं, सेवकाचं नातं टिकवून ठेवायचं आहे.
Where this applies
- Let others do tapa-sādhanā. Don't critique their paths.
- Dance at the Pandhari-cauk. Vārkarī-alternative.
- Mukti as aim is nindya for dāsa. Anti-mukti-as-aim.