संत साहित्य · Tukārām · Abhanga 428 of 4582

Abhanga 428

When your body and mind fail you and even basic clarity is gone, surrender everything and ask directly for God's name and a fearless, reassuring hand.

When bodily-failure makes you not-see kṣara and akṣara — and you have to recognize this register

When total-tyāga is done and you run to the deva — and you accept this resolve

When Tukya-śaraṇāgata receives abhaya-karu — and you receive this protection

The verse

न चलती हात पाय दृष्टी फिरली कैसी । जाणतां न देखों गा क्षर आणि अक्षरासी ॥१॥ विठोबा दान दे गा तुझ्या सारिखें नामा । कीर्ति हे वाखाणिली थोर वाढली सीमा ॥ध्रु.॥ सर्वस्वें त्याग केला धांव घातली आतां । कृपादान देई देवा येउनि सामोरा आतां ॥२॥ इंयें वज्रघातें तपे उष्ण वरी जाळ । सोसिलें काय करूं दुर्भर हे चांडाळ ॥३॥ जाणवी नरनारी जागो धरम लोकां । पावती पुण्यवंत सोई आमुचिये हाका ॥४॥ घातला योगक्षेम तुज आपुला भारू । तुकया शरणागता देई अभयकरू ॥५॥

Literal translation

Hands-feet don't move — vision turned — how? — knowing, don't see kṣara and akṣara. Viṭhobā — give dāna like Yours, Nāma — kīrti vākhāṇilī — boundary spread. Sarvasvē tyāga done — running now — give kṛpā-dāna, deva — coming sāmōrā. Vajra-ghāta, tapa-uṣṇa, jvāḷa above — what to do, dur-bhāra cāṇḍāḷa? Tell nara-nārī — dharma keep awake — puṇyavantas come to our hākā. Placed yoga-kṣema — Your bhāru — Tukya-śaraṇāgata — give abhaya-karu.

मराठी: न चलती हात पाय दृष्टी फिरली कैसी — जाणतां न देखों गा क्षर आणि अक्षरासी. विठोबा दान दे गा तुझ्या सारिखें नामा — कीर्ति हे वाखाणिली थोर वाढली सीमा. सर्वस्वें त्याग केला धांव घातली आतां — कृपादान देई देवा येउनि सामोरा आतां. इंयें वज्रघातें तपे उष्ण वरी जाळ — सोसिलें काय करूं दुर्भर हे चांडाळ. जाणवी नरनारी जागो धरम लोकां — पावती पुण्यवंत सोई आमुचिये हाका. तुकाराम म्हणतां — घातला योगक्षेम तुज आपुला भारू — तुकया शरणागता देई अभयकरू.

Word-by-word gloss

Marathi	Meaning
न चलती हात पाय दृष्टी फिरली कैसी	"hands and feet — don't move — vision turned"
जाणतां न देखों गा क्षर आणि अक्षरासी	"knowing — don't see — kṣara and akṣara"
विठोबा दान दे गा तुझ्या सारिखें नामा	"Viṭhobā — give dāna — like Yours, Nāma"
कीर्ति हे वाखाणिली थोर वाढली सीमा	"kīrti — vākhāṇilī — boundary spread"
सर्वस्वें त्याग केला धांव घातली आतां	"all-belonging tyāga done — running now"
कृपादान देई देवा येउनि सामोरा आतां	"give kṛpā-dāna — coming sāmōrā"
इंयें वज्रघातें तपे उष्ण वरी जाळ	"vajra-ghāta, tapa-uṣṇa, jvāḷa above"
सोसिलें काय करूं दुर्भर हे चांडाळ	"what to do — dur-bhāra cāṇḍāḷa?"
जाणवी नरनारी जागो धरम लोकां	"tell nara-nārī — dharma keep awake"
पावती पुण्यवंत सोई आमुचिये हाका	"puṇyavantas come to our hākā"
घातला योगक्षेम तुज आपुला भारू	"placed yoga-kṣema — Your bhāru"
तुकया शरणागता देई अभयकरू	"Tukya-śaraṇāgata — give abhaya-karu"

What it means

A bodily-failure-pray-Viṭhobā-for-abhaya-karu abhang. Six claims:

न चलती हात पाय दृष्टी फिरली कैसी — जाणतां न देखों गा क्षर आणि अक्षरासी — hands-feet don't move — vision turned — knowing, don't see kṣara and akṣara. The opening-failure: hands and feet don't move; vision is turned; knowing, I don't seekṣara(perishable) andakṣara(imperishable). Faculty-failure; even the cosmological-distinctions are lost.
विठोबा दान दे गा तुझ्या सारिखें नामा — कीर्ति हे वाखाणिली थोर वाढली सीमा — Viṭhobā, give dāna like Yours, Nāma — kīrti vākhāṇilī, boundary spread. The Nāma-petition: Viṭhobā, givedānalike Yours —Nāma(the Name); thekīrti(fame) isvākhāṇilī(recounted); the boundary has spread great. Petition for the deva's-name as the gift, modeled on the deva-Himself.
सर्वस्वें त्याग केला धांव घातली आतां — कृपादान देई देवा येउनि सामोरा आतां — sarvasvē tyāga done — running now — give kṛpā-dāna — coming sāmōrā. The total-renunciation-running-toward-deva claim: I have done complete renunciation; running now; givekṛpā-dāna(grace-gift); come in front of me (sāmōrā). Petition for direct-confrontation.
इंयें वज्रघातें तपे उष्ण वरी जाळ — सोसिलें काय करूं दुर्भर हे चांडाळ — vajra-ghāta, tapa-uṣṇa, jvāḷa above — what to do, dur-bhāra cāṇḍāḷa? The suffering-account: vajra-ghāta(lightning-strikes),tapa-uṣṇa(heat-austerities),jvāḷa(flames) above; what to do — heavy-as-a-cāṇḍāḷa-burden? Existential-suffering-listing.
जाणवी नरनारी जागो धरम लोकां — पावती पुण्यवंत सोई आमुचिये हाका — tell nara-nārī — dharma keep awake — puṇyavantas come to our hākā. The call-claim: letnara-nārīknow; letdharmakeep awake among the people; thepuṇyavantas(merit-holders) come to ourhākā(calling-cry). Public-call summons puṇyavantas.
घातला योगक्षेम तुज आपुला भारू — तुकया शरणागता देई अभयकरू — placed yoga-kṣema — Your bhāru — Tukya-śaraṇāgata — give abhaya-karu. The closing-surrender: I have placed myyoga-kṣema(well-being) — as Your burden; to Tukya-śaraṇāgata(the surrendered-Tuka) — giveabhaya-karu(hand-of-fearlessness). Surrender + fearlessness-hand petition.

[T]

For someone today

Tukaram describes a moment of total collapse: his hands and feet will not obey him, his sight has gone strange, and he can no longer even tell what is temporary from what is eternal. In that helplessness he does not ask for comfort in the abstract, he asks Vithoba specifically for the gift of God's own Name, trusting that this Name carries the fame and reach it is known for. He says he has given up everything and is running toward God now, asking God to come and meet him face to face rather than staying distant. He names his suffering plainly, comparing it to being struck like lightning and scorched by fire, and admits it feels unbearably heavy. In the end he hands his whole well-being over as God's burden to carry, and asks, as someone who has fully surrendered, to be given a fearless, reassuring hand.

मराठी: तुकाराम एका पूर्ण कोसळण्याच्या क्षणाचे वर्णन करतात, हात-पाय ऐकत नाहीत, दृष्टी विचित्र फिरते, आणि क्षणभंगुर काय व शाश्वत काय हेही ओळखता येत नाही. या हतबल अवस्थेत ते कुठलीही सर्वसाधारण सांत्वना मागत नाहीत, तर थेट विठोबाकडे त्याच्या स्वतःच्या नामाची देणगी मागतात, कारण त्या नामाची कीर्ती आणि व्याप्ती जगजाहीर आहे. आपण सर्वस्वाचा त्याग केला असून आता देवाकडे धावत आहोत, असं ते सांगतात, आणि देवाने दूर न राहता समोर येऊन भेटावं अशी विनवणी करतात. आपलं दुःख ते स्पष्टपणे मांडतात, वज्राघातासारखं आणि आगीसारखं भाजणारं, आणि ते असह्य ओझ्यासारखं वाटतं हे मान्य करतात. शेवटी ते आपलं संपूर्ण हित देवाच्या हाती सोपवतात आणि, पूर्णपणे शरण आलेला भक्त म्हणून, निर्भय व आश्वासक हात मागतात.

Where this applies

Bodily-failure. Acknowledge.
Cosmological-blur. Even kṣara-akṣara lost.
Petition for Nāma as dāna. Deva's-Name-gift.
Total-renunciation; sāmōrā. Direct-confrontation.
Existential-suffering as cāṇḍāḷa-load. Don't minimize.
Abhaya-karutośaraṇāgata. Closing-surrender.

Cosmology / Avatāra Bhakti Surrender (śaraṇāgati)