Abhanga 1233
Occasional, unforced remembrance of the divine dissolves accumulated past burden the way water dissolves dirt, and keeps new wrongdoing and inner turmoil from taking hold.
The verse
जळातें संचित । ऐसी आहे धर्म नीत ॥१॥ माझ्या विठोबाचे पाय । वेळोवेळां मनीं ध्याय ॥ध्रु.॥ नेदी कर्म घडों । कोठें आडराणें पडों ॥२॥ तुका म्हणे मळ । राहों नेदी ताप जाळ ॥३॥
Literal translation
Samcita (becomes) water-dissolved — such is the dharma-niti. Meditate my Viṭhobā's feet from time to time in the mind. (It) does not let karma form; doesn't let any aḍa-rāṇa fall anywhere. Tuka says: doesn't let the maḷa remain — burns the tāpa-jāḷa.
मराठी: संचित जळांत-च (जळास) — अशी धर्माची नीत. माझ्या विठोबाचे पाय — वेळोवेळां मनीं ध्याय. कर्म घडूं देत नाहीं — कुठें-च आड-राण (अडथळा) पडूं देत नाहीं. Tukā म्हणे — मळ राहूं देत नाहीं — ताप-जाळ (तापाची जाळी / तापला-जाळ) — जाळतें.
Word-by-word gloss
| Marathi | Meaning |
|---|---|
| जळातें संचित | "samcita to (becomes) jaḷa (water-drowned)" |
| ऐसी आहे धर्म नीत | "such is the dharma-nīti (dharma's law/principle)" |
| माझ्या विठोबाचे पाय | "my Viṭhobā's feet" |
| वेळोवेळां मनीं ध्याय | "from time to time (vēḷō-vēḷām) — meditate (dhyāya) in mind" |
| नेदी कर्म घडों | "(it/he) does not let karma form (ghaḍōm)" |
| कोठें आडराणें पडों | "doesn't let aḍa-rāṇa (block) fall anywhere" |
| मळ राहों नेदी | "doesn't let the maḷa (impurity) remain" |
| ताप जाळ | "burns (jāḷa) the tāpa (heat / fever)" |
What it means
Viṭhobā's-feet-dissolve-samcita teaching. The opening line is a paradox: jaḷātēm samcita — samcita to-water — meaning samcita gets water-treatment, dissolved like dirt washed off by water. Aisī āhē dharma-nīta — such is the dharma-niti.
The mechanism is feet-meditation: vēḷō-vēḷām manīm dhyāya — from time to time, in the mind. Not constant; not effortful — vēḷō-vēḷām (now-and-then). And the result-list: 1. Nēdī karma ghaḍōm — doesn't let new karma form (kriyamāṇa is checked) 2. Kōṭhē āḍa-rāṇē paḍōm — doesn't let any obstacle (aḍa-rāṇa = block / barrier) fall in the path 3. Maḷa rāhōm nēdī — doesn't let the maḷa (impurity, the samcita-residue) remain 4. Tāpa-jāḷa — burns the tāpa-jāḷa (the fever-net, the inner-burning)
This is the warkari teaching at its mildest: not even constant remembrance, just vēḷō-vēḷām — and the samcita-burden dissolves.
[T]
For someone today
For today: samcita is dissolved like dirt in water — by Viṭhobā's feet meditated from time to time; it doesn't take much.
Where this applies
- When you feel weighed down by years of past mistakes and wonder if you can ever be free of them
- When you assume spiritual practice has to be constant, intense effort to actually work
- When you're trying to stop repeating the same harmful patterns
- When you're carrying an inner restlessness or low-grade anxiety and don't know how to cool it