Abhanga 1075

In this verse Tukaram pictures himself outwitting death, slipping away by giving up his hold on the body, the way you'd finally throw off a rough old blanket you've worn far too long. He covers his tracks and hides beyond reach, not by dying but by loosening his grip on the idea that he is the body at all. What remains is a devotion that is private and fierce, no longer performed for anyone's approval or comparison, so intense it can look like turbulence from the outside. The lesson is that real freedom starts with releasing your fear-bound attachment to the body before life forces the release on you.

The verse

Literal translation

What it means

A deceived-kāla-(time-or-death)-struck-a-hide-out-or-dive-gave-up-the-body-by-throwing-it-away-covered-myself-up-much-in-the-black-the-rough-blanket-was-discarded-by-force-no-track-comes-any-more-hidden-far-away-on-the-other-side-separate-service-applied-jealous-zeal-and-turbulence abhang. Deceived-kāla-discarded-rough-blanket register. First abhang of the Ghōngaḍyācē sub-series — a sequence where Tuka uses the ghōngaḍa (rough-blanket) as the metaphor for the body or for childish-play disguise. Four claims:

1. काळ-ठकिलें — कुडी-टाकलें. Deceived-kāla-claim. Deceivedkāḷa (death/time), struck a daḍī (hide-out, dive); gave-up thekuḍī (body) by ṭāka-throwing. (I dove out of the body so kāla can't catch me.)

2. पांघुरलों-काळ — घोंगड-सांडवलें. Discarded-rough-blanket-claim. Covered up much inkāḷē (the black / time);the ghōngaḍa (rough-blanket — the body) was sāṇḍavalē (made-to-discard) by baḷa (force). (The body-blanket has been thrown off.)

3. लाग-न — परते-दुरी-लपालें. Hidden-far-claim. Nolāgacomes any more; hidden far on theparatē (other side). (Death's tracker can't find me.)

4. Tuka: आड-सेवा — हेवा-धांदली. Separate-sēvā-claim. Tuka says: separatesēvā;applied hēvā (jealous-zeal) and dhāndalī (turbulence, frenzy). (My sēvā is nowāḍa—off-the-grid/separate from the world's view — with hēvā-and-dhāndalī.)

This is the first of the Ghōngaḍyācē abhanga sub-series — 12 poems where Tuka treats the rough-blanket as a key metaphor.

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For someone today

In this verse Tukaram pictures himself outwitting death, slipping away by giving up his hold on the body, the way you'd finally throw off a rough old blanket you've worn far too long. He covers his tracks and hides beyond reach, not by dying but by loosening his grip on the idea that he is the body at all. What remains is a devotion that is private and fierce, no longer performed for anyone's approval or comparison, so intense it can look like turbulence from the outside. The lesson is that real freedom starts with releasing your fear-bound attachment to the body before life forces the release on you.

मराठी: या अभंगात तुकाराम स्वतःला मृत्यूला चकवून पळून जाताना दाखवतात, शरीराची पकड सोडून देतात, जसे खूप दिवस पांघरलेली जाडीभरडी घोंगडी शेवटी झुगारून द्यावी तशी. ते आपले माग पुसतात आणि पोहोचेपलीकडे लपतात, मरून नव्हे तर 'मीच शरीर आहे' या कल्पनेची पकड सैल करून. उरते ती एक खाजगी आणि तीव्र भक्ती, कोणाच्या मान्यतेसाठी किंवा तुलनेसाठी नव्हे, इतकी उत्कट की बाहेरून पाहणाऱ्याला ती खळबळ वाटावी. खरे स्वातंत्र्य म्हणजे शरीराविषयीची भीतीयुक्त आसक्ती जीवन स्वतः सोडवून घेण्याआधी आपणहून सोडून देणे, हीच या ओवीची शिकवण आहे.

Where this applies

• Deceived-kāla. Daḍī.
• Discarded-blanket. Sāṇḍavalē.
• Hidden-far. Paratē-durī.
• Separate-sēvā. Āḍa.

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