Abhanga 761

Nothing worthwhile grows without real sacrifice, a seed must be buried to yield grain, and giving everything of yourself, even your life, brings back double, not loss.

The verse

Literal translation

What it means

A one-seed-destroyed-yields-ear-no-free-profit-give-jīva-in-battle-double-profit abhang. Sacrifice-for-yield register. Three claims:

1. एका-बीजा-नास — मग कणीस-भोग — सकळ-कळे — लाहान-थोरां-जीव. One-seed-destroyed-yields-ear-claim. Onebīja(seed) iskēlā nāsa(made-to-perish, destroyed by being-buried); then onebhōgēlathekaṇīsa(ear-of-grain — yields a whole-ear when it sprouts); everyone knows thisbhāva(this is common-sense); jīva (life) depends onlāhāna-thōrā(the small-and-the-great — both small-things and great-things). Seed-must-perish-to-yield-the-ear.

2. लाभ-नाहीं फुका-साठीं — केल्या-वीण जीवा-साठीं. No-free-profit-without-doing-claim. Nolābha(profit) forphuka(free); without doing (kēlyāvīṇa) for thejīva. No-profit-without-effort.

3. Tuka: रणीं — जीव-देतां — लाभ-दुणी. Battle-give-jīva-double-profit-claim. Tuka says: in theraṇa(battle, struggle-arena); giving thejīva(laying-down-the-life); lābha duṇī (double profit).Battle-give-life-double-profit. (The implied bhakti-application: in the bhakti-struggle,giving up the jīva(the small-self / the samsāric-life) yieldsdouble-profit.)

[T]

For someone today

This abhang names the sacrifice-for-yield pattern:

1. One seed destroyed yields the ear; everyone knows this; life depends on things both small and great. The seed yields the ear.

2. No free profit without doing. Nothing free.

3. In battle, give your life — the profit doubles. Battle brings double profit.

For today: the seed must perish to yield the ear of grain; there is no profit for nothing; in the battle of life, giving your life yields double profit; the bhakti application is that the small self must perish for the devotee's life to bear fruit.

This abhang is one of Tukaram's most precise statements of sacrifice yielding a return — the seed that perishes to yield the ear, paired with the battlefield image of doubled profit. Compare 0705, where the same hard discipline appears — renunciation is not easy, it is like eating poison morsel by morsel — but here it is worked out through the seed-yields-ear and battle-double-profit images instead. "Giving your life doubles the profit" is the precise claim that sacrifice yields a multiplied return.

मराठी: ही ओवी त्यागातून-फळ-मिळण्याचा नमुना सांगते:

1. एक बीज नष्ट होते तेव्हाच कणीस मिळते; हे सर्वांना माहीत आहे; जीवन लहान-मोठ्या दोन्ही गोष्टींवर अवलंबून असते. बीजातूनच कणीस.

2. फुकट काहीच मिळत नाही, कष्टाशिवाय लाभ नाही. फुकट काही नाही.

3. रणांगणात जीव दिला असता लाभ दुप्पट होतो. रणात दुप्पट लाभ.

आजसाठी: बीज नष्ट झाल्याशिवाय कणीस मिळत नाही; फुकट कशाचाही लाभ नाही; जीवनाच्या रणांगणात जीव दिल्यास लाभ दुप्पट मिळतो; भक्तीतील अर्थ असा की छोटा अहंकार नष्ट झाल्याशिवाय भक्ताचे जीवन फळाला येत नाही.

ही ओवी तुकारामांच्या त्यागातून-फळ-मिळण्याच्या सर्वात नेमक्या विधानांपैकी एक आहे — बीज नष्ट होऊन कणीस देते आणि रणांगणावर जीव दिल्यास लाभ दुप्पट होतो, या दोन प्रतिमांतून हे मांडले आहे. ओवी क्र. ०७०५ शी तुलना करता येईल — तिथेही हाच कठोर तप आहे, वैराग्य सोपे नाही, ते घास-घास विष खाण्यासारखे आहे — पण इथे तेच बीज-कणीस आणि रण-दुप्पट-लाभ या प्रतिमांतून मांडले आहे. "जीव दिला की लाभ दुप्पट होतो" हेच त्यागातून बहुगुणित परतावा मिळण्याचे नेमके विधान आहे.

Where this applies

• Seed perishes — ear. Sacrifice.
• No free profit. Effort.
• Battle-give-jīva. Double-profit.

Related verses

• Abhanga 2374 — Rather than scattering devotion among many lesser deities who demand offerings, Tukaram sa
• Abhanga 2377 — This detailed meditation on Vitthal standing on a brick at Pandharpur, out of love for his
• Abhanga 2387 — Accept whatever life brings with reverence, and place the burden on God rather than carryi
• Abhanga 2402 — For today: happily take rebirths — IF among the Paṇḍharī-Vārkarīs ; Hari-dāsas' company is