Abhanga 671

When your own mind will not listen and keeps rushing toward harm even with its eyes open, the honest response is to stop fighting it alone and cry out for help.

The verse

Literal translation

What it means

A kāya-karitōm-yā-manā-doesn't-listen-Nārāyaṇa-mind-as-cāṇḍāḷa-anivāra-Tukyā-bandhu abhang. Mind-as-uncontrollable-cāṇḍāḷa register. Five claims:

1. काय-काय करितों या मना — Nārāyaṇa ऐकत नाही — करूं-नये त्याची vivancanā — पतना नेऊं. Opening-mind-doesn't-listen-claim. Whatever I do with thismanas, it doesn't-listen toNārāyaṇa; it makes-decisions-on what-shouldn't-be-done; it has-undertaken to-take-me-into-fall.

2. Sairāṭa भलत्यासवें — वाट-आडवाट-दरे-दरकुट — कुडें-कपट नाही — घात बळकट. Mind-runs-sairāṭa-claim. Runssairāṭa(uncontrollably) with anyone; across paths, side-paths, ravines, ravine-rims; doesn't consider deceit, no fear of treachery; mounted-strong-injury planned.

3. दाही दिशा अपुरी — सप्त-पाताळ-आकाश — phāsa देखूनही उडी — पाहुणा केला. Mind-jumps-into-noose-claim. Ten directions don't-suffice for its-wandering; seven hells and heaven; jumps-with-force even-after-seeing-the-noose (thephāsa); made me a guest-in-this-country (= a stranger-in-samsāra).

4. सर्व-इंद्रिय चेतवून — आशा-तृष्णा-कल्पना-काम-क्रोध-काळ — शुद्ध-buddhi दूर — राळ — cāṇḍāḷa-अनिवार. Mind-rouses-foes-and-buddhi-as-ashes-claim. Rousing allindriyas; (rouses) the seven foes (āśā-tṛṣṇā-kalpanā-kāma-krōdha-kāḷa-and-implicit-others); drives awayśuddha-buddhi, makes itrāḷa(ashes / chaff); such ananivāra cāṇḍāḷa(unstoppable cāṇḍāḷa).

5. आतां काय करावें — बहु जाच — Tukyā-bandhu: Hṛṣīkēśī धांव — ऐसी परी जाली. Closing-cry-claim. Now what is to be done with this?; much-tortured, much-distressed; Tukyā-bandhu says:Hṛṣīkēśī, run — such a state has come to me. Mind-helplessly-cried-to-Hṛṣīkēśī.

[T]

For someone today

Tukaram gives up trying to reason with his own mind, because no matter what he does it simply will not listen and keeps choosing exactly what it should not. He describes it running wild in every direction, across paths and ravines, with no thought for deceit or the harm it is planning against him. It wanders farther than the ten directions and the seven worlds can hold, and it leaps straight into the trap even while watching the trap close. It stirs up craving, fantasy, anger, and desire in every sense, and burns away his clear judgment until nothing sound is left. Having tried everything and been worn down by it, he stops trying to fix his own mind by willpower and simply cries out for help, admitting he has reached a state he cannot manage alone.

मराठी: तुकाराम स्वतःच्या मनाशी वाद घालणे सोडून देतात, कारण काहीही केले तरी ते ऐकत नाही आणि नेहमी जे करू नये तेच निवडते. ते सांगतात की हे मन कोणत्याही रस्त्याने, दरीतून, वाटा-आडवाटांतून बेभानपणे धावते, त्याला फसवणुकीची किंवा स्वतःच्या नुकसानाची पर्वा नसते. दाही दिशा आणि सातही लोक त्याच्या भटकंतीला पुरत नाहीत, आणि सापळा समोर दिसत असतानाही ते सरळ त्यात उडी मारते. ते सर्व इंद्रियांना चेतवून हाव, कल्पना, राग आणि वासना जागवते, आणि यामुळे शुद्ध बुद्धी जळून राख होते. सर्व प्रयत्न करून थकल्यावर ते स्वतःच्या इच्छाशक्तीने मन सुधारण्याचा नाद सोडतात आणि थेट मदतीसाठी हाक मारतात, कबूल करतात की आता अशी अवस्था आली आहे जी एकट्याने सांभाळता येत नाही.

Where this applies

• Mind doesn't-listen. Mind-doesn't-listen.
• Mindsairāṭa. Sairāṭa-mind.
• Mind jumps into noose. Self-destruction.
• Cāṇḍāḷa anivāra. Unstoppable.
• Hṛṣīkēśī dhāva. Final-cry.

Related verses

• Abhanga 2448 — The easiest path to God is repeating divine names with love at home, right where you are,
• Abhanga 2464 — For today: Pāṇḍuranga is sukha-rūpa ; no wandering, no shaving, no sādhana-pressure ; Chan
• Abhanga 2477 — Like a child too absorbed in play to notice how tired he is, let go and trust the parent c
• Abhanga 2481 — Pandharpur surpasses even the greatest pilgrimage cities because people there set aside pr