Abhanga 1090

Tukaram opens this Rama story by saying that Rama's years of forest exile did not shrink him, they carried his name into every part of the land, because people remember him wherever he suffered. Tukaram insists that Rama's name and Rama himself are not two separate things, they are one and the same. Even the old scriptures tell of Rama weeping in the forest, showing that greatness does not mean an absence of pain. Once you truly understand this, Tukaram asks, why would confusion remain?

The verse

Literal translation

What it means

Rāmacaritra abhanga 1. Four claims:

1. Rāma-वन-वास — सर्व-देश-वसे. Rāma-resides-in-all-deśa-claim. Rāmā in vana-vāsa;by that he resides in sarva-dēśa. (Through forest-exile, Rāma's name spread; he resides everywhere.)

2. नाम-जतन — समर्थ-न-भिन्न. Samartha-not-bhinna-claim. Made thejatana(careful-keeping) of thenāma;the samartha is not bhinna (different from the name). (Rāma and Rāma-nāma are the same.)

3. वन-अंतरी-रडे — पुराण-पवाडे. Puranic-great-deeds-claim. Invana-antarīheraḍē (laments); such are thepavāḍē (great-deeds) in purāṇa.

4. Tuka: ऋषि-नेम — कळोनि-भ्रम-कां. Knowing-why-bhrama-claim. Tuka says: rṣi-nēma (the rishi's vow / scriptural rule); knowing this, whybhrama? (Knowing what scripture has said, why the confusion?)

[T]

For someone today

Tukaram opens this Rama story by saying that Rama's years of forest exile did not shrink him, they carried his name into every part of the land, because people remember him wherever he suffered. Tukaram insists that Rama's name and Rama himself are not two separate things, they are one and the same. Even the old scriptures tell of Rama weeping in the forest, showing that greatness does not mean an absence of pain. Once you truly understand this, Tukaram asks, why would confusion remain?

मराठी: तुकाराम या रामकथेच्या सुरुवातीला सांगतात की रामाचा वनवास त्याला लहान करत नाही, उलट त्यामुळेच त्याचं नाव सगळीकडे पोहोचलं, कारण जिथे तो दुःखी झाला तिथेही लोक त्याला आठवतात. तुकाराम स्पष्ट सांगतात की रामाचं नाव आणि राम स्वतः वेगळे नाहीत, ते एकच आहेत. जुन्या पुराणांतही सांगितलं आहे की राम वनात रडला, यावरून कळतं की मोठेपणाचा अर्थ दुःख नसणे असा होत नाही. हे एकदा नीट समजलं की मग गोंधळ कशासाठी उरावा, असा प्रश्न तुकाराम विचारतात.

Where this applies

• All-deśa. Vana-vāsa.
• Not-bhinna. Samartha.
• Forest-deeds. Pavāḍē.
• No-bhrama. Rṣi-nēma.

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