Abhanga 726

Once you let go of worldly clinging, the very attachments that trapped you start carrying life's burdens for you while you simply keep saying the divine name.

The verse

Literal translation

What it means

A samsāra-renounced-māyā-runs-after-bhakta-says-nāma-māyā-does-work-bhōḷī-by-Viṭhṭhal-kṛpā abhang. Māyā-becomes-bhakta-servant register. Three claims:

1. संसार-सोडलेला — माया त्याच्यावर-फार-प्रेमाने — मागें-मागें-धांवते — सुख-दुःख-अंगाने-सहन. Māyā-runs-after-renouncer-claim. He hassōḍilā(let-go)samsāra; māyā (the world-power that-traps) is phāra (great, intense, much) upon him (= her devotion-to-him is intense);runs māgē-māgē (behind-and-behind, following him);suffers sukha-duḥkha (pleasure-pain) herself, in her own anga. Once-the-bhakta-renounces, māyā-herself-runs-after-him-as-servant-and-suffers-the-pain-and-pleasure. (This is one of the most-striking inversions: māyā as the jīva's-trap is here re-imagined as the bhakta's-attendant who runs-after him and bears-the-burden-of-experience for him.)

2. ह्याने नाम-घ्यावं — तीच्या-करण्यानं त्याचं काम. Bhakta-takes-nāma-māyā-does-work-claim. He (the bhakta) justtakes the nāma; byher(māyā's) doing,hiskāma(work) is done. Bhakta-just-says-nāma; māyā-does-the-actual-work-of-the-bhakta's-life.

3. Tuka: भोळी — विठ्ठल-कृपेची कोमळी. Bhōḷī-by-Viṭhṭhal-kṛpā-claim. Tuka says:bhōḷī (tender simple-mindedness, the bhakta's-naïve-mode);by Viṭhṭhal-kṛpā — kōmvaḷī (newly-soft, tender, fresh).The-simple-mindedness-is-newly-tender-by-Viṭhṭhal's-kṛpā. (Thebhōḷī is enabled-by-Viṭhṭhal's-grace, not just-the-bhakta's-naïveté.)

[T]

For someone today

Here is a surprising reversal: once you truly let go of clinging to worldly life, the very forces that used to trap you start working for you instead, taking on the burden of life's ups and downs so you do not have to carry it alone. All you need to do is keep saying the divine name; the rest gets handled. This kind of trusting simplicity is not naive weakness, it is made tender and real through God's grace.

मराठी: इथे एक आश्चर्यकारक उलटफेर आहे. संसाराची खरी आसक्ती सोडली की, ज्या शक्तींनी पूर्वी तुम्हाला अडकवलं होतं त्याच आता तुमच्यासाठी काम करू लागतात, सुखदुःखाचा भार त्या स्वतः उचलतात, तुम्हाला एकट्याने वाहायला लागत नाही. तुम्ही फक्त नामस्मरण करत राहा, बाकीचं आपोआप होतं. हा भाबडा भाव म्हणजे दुर्बलता नाही, तो विठ्ठलाच्या कृपेने कोमल आणि खरा बनतो.

Where this applies

• Māyā runs after. Inversion.
• Bhakta says —māyā does. Servant.
• Bhōḷībykṛpā. Tender-mode.

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