Abhanga 521

Tukaram says that binding yourself to the Strong One makes you strong yourself; devotion is not a solo effort, it is strength you receive from the relationship. From that strength he says he can fight back against the pull of worldly life and the basic urges that trouble body and mind, like hunger, sorrow, and fear of old age and death. He treats status, wealth, and physical appearance as worth no more than a blade of grass, because none of it can carry that kind of weight anymore. He goes further still, saying the devotee's bond with God stands even above liberation itself, because the relationship matters more than any goal it leads to.

The verse

Literal translation

What it means

A short strong-deva's-ankita-bhakta-baḷavanta abhang. Combat-register: the bhakta is strong-because-bound-to-the-strongest. Four claims:

1. बळियाचे अंकित — आम्ही जालों बळिवंत — the baḷiyā's ankita — we became baḷavanta. The opening-strength-claim: of thebaḷiyā(the strong, the powerful) — theankita(one-bound, branded-as-His, marked-with-His-mark); we have becomebaḷavanta(strong, mighty). Strength-by-association: the strong-deva's-bound-one is himself strong. (Compare 0486: bhōḷiyāmcā deva sācā ankita = the deva is the bound-one of the simple-hearted; here the inverse: we are the bound-ones of the strong. The ankita-relation is mutual.)

2. लाता हाणोनि संसारा — केला षडूर्मीचा मारा — kicks struck samsāra — māra of ṣaḍ-ūrmī. The combat-claim: withlātā(kicks) we struck (hāṇōnī)samsāra; made themāra(assault, slaughter) of theṣaḍ-ūrmī(six-waves = the six-impulses: hunger, thirst, sorrow, delusion, old-age, death; or the six-disorders of body-and-mind). Samsāra-and-the-six-impulses-defeated.

3. जन धन तन — केलें तृणाही समान — jana-dhana-tana — made tṛṇa-samāna. The belittlement-claim: thejana(people, social-status),dhana(wealth, money),tana(body, physical-self) — madetṛṇa-samāna(grass-equal, blade-of-grass-worth). People-wealth-body-belittled-to-grass.

4. तुका म्हणे आतां — आम्ही मुक्तीचिया माथां — Tuka says: now — we are on mukti's māthā. The closing-elevation-claim: Tuka says: now — we are on themāthā(head) ofmukti. Above-mukti, on-its-head. Even-mukti is below us. The bhakta's elevation-claim is paradoxical: we are above the goal everyone seeks. (Compare 0499 hastīvarī māthā; same elevation-image but there above-cintā, here above-mukti.)

[T]

For someone today

Tukaram says that binding yourself to the Strong One makes you strong yourself; devotion is not a solo effort, it is strength you receive from the relationship. From that strength he says he can fight back against the pull of worldly life and the basic urges that trouble body and mind, like hunger, sorrow, and fear of old age and death. He treats status, wealth, and physical appearance as worth no more than a blade of grass, because none of it can carry that kind of weight anymore. He goes further still, saying the devotee's bond with God stands even above liberation itself, because the relationship matters more than any goal it leads to.

मराठी: जो कोणी परमेश्वराशी दृढ नातं जोडतो, त्याला त्याच्याच सामर्थ्याचा वाटा मिळतो; भक्ती ही एकट्याने करायची झुंज नसते, तर नात्यातून मिळणारं बळ असतं. याच बळावर संसाराचे मोह आणि भूक, दुःख, वृद्धत्व व मृत्यूची भीती यांसारख्या मूळ ओढींशी लढता येतं. प्रतिष्ठा, पैसा आणि शरीर यांना गवताइतकं क्षुल्लक मानायला ही ओवी शिकवते, कारण यातलं काहीच आता तितकं मोलाचं उरत नाही. इतकंच नाही, तर भक्ताचं देवाशी असलेलं नातं मोक्षाच्याही पलीकडे उभं राहतं, कारण साध्यापेक्षा हे नातंच अधिक महत्त्वाचं असतं.

Where this applies

• Bound-to-strong → strong. Strength-by-association.
• Kick samsāra + six-impulses. Combat.
• People-wealth-body grass-equal. Belittlement.
• On mukti's head. Elevation-above-goal.

Related verses

• Abhanga 2467 — What looks like your whole world, like a fig to the insect living inside it, is only a tin
• Abhanga 4481 — Tukaram promises that sincerely calling on the Lord's name, knowingly or unknowingly, with
• Abhanga 4482 — Tukaram teaches that no ritual equals sincerely speaking the Lord's name, that self-center
• Abhanga 4497 — Tukaram describes a life so soaked in devotion that Krishna's presence fills every ordinar