Abhanga 654

Exhausted by endless cycles of rebirth and struggle he cannot end by his own effort, Tukaram asks God's name, the raft across this ocean of life, to come running and show mercy without weighing his faults.

The verse

Literal translation

What it means

A bahu-jācalōm-samsārī-bhava-sindhu-tāraka-Tuka-karuṇā abhang. Samsāra-jāca-and-bhakta-petition register. Five claims:

1. बहुत जाचलों संसारीं — मातेच्या उदरीं — 84-lakh योनी-दार — भिकारी याचक — bahu-jācalōm — mother's womb — 84-lakh yōni — bhikārī-yācaka. The opening-samsāra-jāca-claim: much-tortured (jācalōm) in samsāra; dwelt in mother'sudara(womb);through 84-lakh yōni-doors (the classical-count of species through which the jīva wanders); becamebhikārī-yācaka(beggar-petitioner). Garbha-vāsa-and-84-lakh-wandering-as-bhikārī.

2. जिणें पराधीन — samcita-pāśa — prārabdha-kriyamāṇa सांगाती — sattā भोवंडिती — jiṇē parādhīna — samcita-pāśa — prārabdha-kriyamāṇa sāngātī — sattā bhōvaṇḍitī. The karma-bondage-claim: lifeparādhīna(in others' hands); firmly bound insamcita-pāśa(the noose-of-accumulated-karma); prārabdha-kriyamāṇa (the karma-currently-being-experienced and the karma-being-newly-made) are sāngātī (companions);they bhōvaṇḍitī (spin / make-revolve) by their own sattā (autonomous-power).Karma-binds-and-spins-the-jīva-without-its-consent.

3. पोट न भरे — विसांवा नाही — एक ठाव-गांव नाही — खापरीं तडफडी — belly doesn't fill — no rest — no one place — flops on potsherd. The no-satisfaction-claim: belly doesn't fill, novisāmvā(rest); nonēma(fixed-rule), no one place-village; thejīvalikekhāparīm taḍa-phaḍī(a fish on a potsherd, flopping). No-rest-no-place-flopping-fish-image. (The khāparīm taḍa-phaḍī is a vivid Marathi image: a fish thrown on a hot potsherd, flopping in agony — the jīva in samsāra.)

4. बहुत काळ गेला — पुढें किती न जाणे — पुनरावृत्ती च खंडणा नाही — कल्पांतीं वेगळें — much time gone — don't know how much ahead — no breaking of rebirth — at kalpānta let me be free. The no-breaking-of-rebirth-claim: much time gone in this manner; don't know how much more ahead; nokhaṇḍanā(breaking, severance) ofpunarāvṛtti(rebirth-cycle); let me atkalpānta(end-of-aeon, the cosmic-dissolution) at least bevēgaḷē(separate, free). Endless-rebirth-please-let-me-be-free-by-kalpānta.

5. दुःख कोण हरील — भार कोणा — bhava-sindhu-tāraka तुझें नाम — Nārāyaṇa, धांव — रंक-दीन — अवगुणा न पाही — Tuka करुणा भाकीतसे — who will remove duḥkha — load on whom — bhava-sindhu-tāraka Your nāma — Nārāyaṇa, run — ranka-dīna — don't see avaguṇa — Tuka begs compassion. The closing-bhakta-petition-claim: who will remove thisduḥkha?;on whom shall I lay this load?;Bhava-sindhu-tāraka(ocean-of-becoming-ferry) is Yournāma; now run, Nārāyaṇa, for me theranka-dīna(poor-helpless); don't consideravaguṇa(faults); Tuka begs compassion. Bhava-sindhu-tāraka-nāma-Tuka-karuṇā-bhākī-closing.

[T]

For someone today

Tukaram lays out, in unsparing detail, what it feels like to be exhausted by life: passed through womb after womb, a beggar wandering through countless forms of existence, pulled along by forces he never agreed to and cannot control. There is no rest, no fixed home, no relief, only the flopping agony of a fish thrown onto a hot clay shard. He admits he does not know how much more of this lies ahead and sees no end to the cycle through his own effort. So instead of trying to fix it alone, he simply asks: God's name is the raft that carries people across this ocean of struggle, and he begs God to come running, not weighing his faults, just showing mercy.

मराठी: तुकाराम इथे थेट, कोणतीही सजावट न करता, जगण्याचा शीण मांडतात. गर्भावासातून वारंवार जन्म, चौऱ्याऐंशी लाख योनींतून भटकणारा भिकारी जीव, स्वतःच्या संमतीशिवाय ओढल्या जाणाऱ्या शक्तींच्या ताब्यात असलेले जगणे. ना विसावा, ना ठराविक घर, ना समाधान, फक्त तापलेल्या खापरावर तडफडणाऱ्या माशासारखी अवस्था. पुढे आणखी किती काळ असे भोगावे लागेल हे त्यांना माहीत नाही आणि स्वतःच्या बळावर या फेऱ्यातून सुटका दिसत नाही. म्हणून एकट्याने झगडण्याऐवजी ते फक्त एवढेच मागतात, देवाचे नाम हेच या भवसागरातून तारणारी नाव आहे, आणि त्यांनी दोष न मोजता धावत येऊन कृपा करावी, अशी करुणा भाकतात.

Where this applies

• Bahu jācalōm samsārī; 84-lakh yōni. Wandering-image.
• Karma-tripod spins by own sattā. Bondage-image.
• Khāparīm taḍa-phaḍī. Flopping-fish-image.
• Bhava-sindhu-tāraka nāma; Tuka karuṇā bhākī. Petition-image.

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