Abhanga 703

Caves, ash marks, and outward religious rules cannot give you peace; only letting go of your restless longing brings true good.

The verse

Literal translation

What it means

A cave-forest-without-samādhāna-bhasma-without-pakṣa-niraseanāst-of-āśā-is-hita abhang. Anti-form-religion register. Five claims:

1. दरा-वन-काय? — समाधान-नसतां — थोडे-नाही-तेथें — काय-जोडी? Cave-forest-useless-claim. What will thedarā vana(cave-and-forest) do — so long as nosamādhāna(peace, settlement)?; (many people) are already there in the forest — what isjōḍa(gained) for them?. Cave-forest-doesn't-give-without-internal-samādhāna; many-already-there-and-have-gained-nothing.

2. रिगतां-पेंव्यात-धांव — सिद्धी-तेथें? Pēmvā-pit-not-real-siddhi-claim. (Some) entering, run into thepēmvā (a hidden-grain-pit, a pit-trap)—(they think they have) gained siddhi there. (Implied: thepēmvāis just a pit; siddhi-claimed-there is delusion.)Hidden-pit-isn't-real-siddhi.

3. भस्म-राख-काय? — अंतर-पक्ष नसतां. Bhasma-rākha-without-pakṣa-useless-claim. What will thebhasmaandrākha(ash, cinder — the marks of asceticism, the smear on the body) do? — so long as there's noantara-pakha (the inner-side / inner-pakṣa, internal-stance).External-ash-without-internal-side-is-useless.

4. वर्णाश्रम-धर्म — श्रम-झालं तरी जातात. Varṇāśrama-fades-when-śrama-comes-claim. Varṇa-āśrama dharma — jātī (they go, they fade) when (true) śrama (effort, true-disciplined-toil) comes.Varṇāśrama-dharma-fades-in-the-presence-of-true-śrama. (When real spiritual-toil comes, thevarṇa-āśrama observances are no-longer-the-criterion.)

5. Tuka: सोंग-पाश — आशा-निरसली ती च हित. Sōnga-pāśa-niraseanāst-of-āśā-is-hita-claim. Tuka says: thesōnga-pāśa (the disguise-noose, the costume-trap)—when the āśā (longing, expectation) dissolves (nirasē), that-is hita (the good, the welfare).Only-niraseanāst-of-āśā-is-hita; the rest (cave, ash, varṇāśrama, sōnga) is disguise-and-trap.(The sōnga-pāśa is the trap of putting-on-the-form-without-the-content.)

[T]

For someone today

Running off to a cave or forest will not help you if your mind has found no peace, and plenty of people already living there have gained nothing from it. Wearing ash and cinder marks, or following the outward rules of caste and station, means nothing without an honest inner change to match them. Tukaram says all of that, the retreat, the ash, the rituals, can become just a costume, a trap that looks holy but has no real substance inside. The only thing that truly helps is letting go of your restless longing; when that craving quiets down, you have found the real good.

मराठी: मन शांत झाले नसेल तर गुहेत किंवा जंगलात पळून जाण्याचा काही उपयोग नाही, आणि तिथे आधीच राहणाऱ्या अनेकांना त्यातून काहीच मिळालेले नाही. अंगाला भस्म-राख फासणे किंवा वर्णाश्रमाचे बाह्य नियम पाळणे, हे मनातला खरा बदल सोबत नसेल तर व्यर्थ आहे. तुकाराम म्हणतात की हे सगळे, वनवास, भस्म, कर्मकांड, हे केवळ एक सोंग आहे, दिसायला पवित्र पण आतून पोकळ असा सापळा. फक्त आपली अस्वस्थ आशा शांत होणे, हेच खरे हित आहे.

Where this applies

• Cave-forest, nosamādhāna. Useless.
• Bhasma, noantara-pakha. Useless.
• Varṇāśrama fades. True-śrama.
• Sōnga-pāśa—āśā dissolved. Only-criterion.

Related verses

• Abhanga 2448 — The easiest path to God is repeating divine names with love at home, right where you are,
• Abhanga 2467 — What looks like your whole world, like a fig to the insect living inside it, is only a tin
• Abhanga 2494 — Living in devotion turns an ordinary day into a festival and removes the fear of birth and
• Abhanga 4481 — Tukaram promises that sincerely calling on the Lord's name, knowingly or unknowingly, with