Abhanga 880

When you're spinning in worry and feel trapped by your own senses, relief can come simply from letting the divine name rise onto your tongue.

The verse

Literal translation

What it means

A fallen-into-the-whirl-much-worry-strayed-from-way-quickly-found-track-caught-in-vice-of-indriyas-prison-it's-well-Viṭṭhal-name-came-on-speech abhang. Viṭṭhal-name-came-on-speech-relief register. Three claims:

1. भोवणीं-पडलों — चिंतवणी — मारग-चुकलों — लाग-वेगें. Whirl-and-stray-and-track-found-claim. I hadpaḍilōminto thebhōvaṇa; muchcintavaṇī; strayed from themāraga; quickly madelāga(found the track-of-the-stray) —vēgē. Whirl-and-stray-and-found-the-track-quickly.

2. इंद्रियांच्या-संदी — बंदी-सांपडलों. Caught-in-vice-of-indriyas-claim. In thesandīof theindriyas — I was caught inbandī. Caught-in-the-prison-of-the-senses. (The sandī image: a vice / a narrow-clamp — the indriyas are like a vice that holds-you.)

3. Tuka: बरें-जालें — Viṭṭhalसें-वाचे-आलें. Viṭṭhal-came-on-speech-relief-claim. Tuka says: it's barē (well, all-is-well-now)—Viṭṭhal-(name) has come on the vācā. It's-now-good — Viṭṭhal-name-on-tongue. (Closing-relief: the trial-is-over because Viṭṭhal-name has-come — speech-itself has been-saved.)

[T]

For someone today

Tukaram describes being spun around by worry and confusion, losing his way, and feeling trapped by his own senses as if locked in a vice. But then, without any big dramatic turnaround, relief comes simply because Vitthal's name rises to his lips. Saying the divine name does not require that he has already solved his confusion first; the name itself is the relief. This is a small, honest snapshot of what recovering from being overwhelmed can actually feel like: less like a victory, more like a name showing up on your tongue and things easing.

मराठी: तुकाराम इथे सांगतात की ते चिंतेच्या भोवऱ्यात पडले होते, वाट चुकले होते, आणि स्वतःच्याच इंद्रियांच्या पकडीत जणू तुरुंगात अडकल्यासारखे वाटत होते. पण कोणताही मोठा नाट्यमय बदल न होता, विठ्ठलाचे नाव त्यांच्या ओठांवर आले आणि दिलासा मिळाला. देवाचे नाव घेण्यासाठी आधी सगळा गोंधळ सोडवलेला असावा लागत नाही, ते नावच दिलासा असते. गोंधळातून बाहेर पडणे कसे असते याचे हे एक साधे, प्रामाणिक चित्र आहे. विजयासारखे नाही, तर नाव ओठांवर येऊन गोष्टी सुसह्य होण्यासारखे.

Where this applies

• Whirl-and-stray. Lostness.
• Indriya-prison. Trapped.
• Viṭṭhal-came. Relief.

Related verses

• Abhanga 2448 — The easiest path to God is repeating divine names with love at home, right where you are,
• 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
• Abhanga 4482 — Tukaram teaches that no ritual equals sincerely speaking the Lord's name, that self-center