Abhanga 1403

Letting your old name, pride, and hoarded guilt burn away, with help from humble company, opens onto a formless joy that needs no label to be real.

The verse

Literal translation

What it means

Let-name-and-form-burn abhang. The opening declaration: jaḷō ātām nāmva rūpa — mājhēm pāpa gāmṭhīñcēm — letnāma-rūpaburn now; — mypāpa(sin) — is in (my)gāmṭha(= knot / bundle). Nāma-rūpa are what should burn — and what burns is my own gāmṭhī-pāpa (= the bundled-up sin I've been carrying as my gāmṭha (= treasured-bundle / inheritance-bundle)). Pāpa-gāmṭhīcē — the sin is in the bundle I've been hoarding; let nāma-rūpa (the bundle's contents) burn.

The means: samtāñciyā caraṇa-rajēm — utarūm ōjhē mātīcēm — bysamtas'caraṇa-raja(= foot-dust); — let theōjhē(load) ofmātī(= clay / earth-body) beutara(= unloaded). The saints' foot-dust is what unloads the clay-body-load. (Compare 1380's ākasmāta caraṇa-raja jōḍē — accidental encountering of foot-dust — confers reverse-samsāra.)

The honest self-judgment: laṭikiyācā abhimāna — hōtā sīṇa pāvita — thelaṭikiyā(= thefalse / counterfeit)'sabhimāna— wasundergoing sīṇa(= toil / fatigue / weariness). The bhakta's confession: what I had been being proud of was alaṭikā(= a counterfeit) — and that abhimāna itself was sīṇa — kept me weary.

The closing: Tukā mhaṇē arūpīñcēm — sukha sācēm ninānvēm — Tuka says — thearūpī's (= formless one's) —sukha— issācēm(true) —ninānvēm(= nameless). The true sukha is of the formless and is nameless. The opening let nāma-rūpa burn connects to the closing the true sukha is nameless — once nāma burns, the ninānvē sukha opens.

[T]

For someone today

For today: let nāma-rūpa burn — my pāpa is in my gāmṭha; let saints' caraṇa-raja unload the clay-body's load; the laṭikā's abhimāna was just sīṇa; the formless's sukha is true and nameless.

Where this applies

• When you are still carrying guilt or shame from your past and want a real way to finally set it down
• When you realize the pride you have been holding onto has only exhausted you, not fulfilled you
• When time spent with humble, grounded people leaves you lighter than any effort you make on your own
• When you are chasing a happiness tied to your name or reputation and it keeps slipping away

Related verses

• 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
• Abhanga 2557 — For today: now I've become master — what I do, the authority is mine .