संत साहित्य
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संत साहित्य · Tukārām · Abhanga 1629 of 4582

Abhanga 1629

For today: put the burden on Deva — there's no need to take the entire-country on your own head; the body is under your prārabdha — strain only grows with effort-of-bearing; your business is just the instrumental-cause — the fruit is given by your accumulated-karma; Tuka says — turning around and around in effort, your very breath digests itself away.

When you'd urge offloading-the-burden-to-Deva — don't take country on head; deha-prārabdha; vyavasāya-just-nimitta; samcita-gives-fruit

The verse

भार घालीं देवा । न लगे देश डोईं घ्यावा ॥१॥ देह प्रारब्धा अधीन । सोसें अधिक वाढे सीण ॥ध्रु.॥ व्यवसाय निमत्ति । फळ देतसे संचित ॥२॥ तुका म्हणे फिरे । भोंवडीनें दम जिरे ॥३॥

Literal translation

English: Put the burden on Deva — no need to take the country on the head. Deha is under prārabdha — by sōsa, the sīṇa only grows. Business is nimitta — the fruit, samcita gives. Tuka says: turning — by the spinning, the breath digests itself.

Word-by-word gloss
Marathi Meaning
भार घालीं देवा "put burden — on Deva"
न लगे देश डोईं घ्यावा "no needto takecountryon head"
देह प्रारब्धा अधीन "dehaunder prārabdha"
सोसें अधिक वाढे सीण "by bearing-effortincreasesstrain"
व्यवसाय निमत्ति "business — is nimitta"
फळ देतसे संचित "fruitgivessamcita"
तुका म्हणे फिरे "Tuka says — turning"
भोंवडीनें दम जिरे "by spinningbreathdigests-itself"

What it means

Anti-effort + put-burden-on-Deva abhang.

The opening: bhāra ghālīm Devā — na lagē dēśa ḍō'īm ghyāvāput the burden on Deva — no need to take the country on the head. Dēśa ḍō'īm ghyāvā — folk-idiom: to take the country / land on one's head (= to assume responsibility for the entire country / world's-affairs). Don't make yourself the responsible-head-bearer of everyone's-burdenput it on Deva.

The deha-prārabdha: dēha prārabdhā adhīna — sōsē adhika vāḍhē sīṇadeha is under prārabdha — by sōsa (bearing-effort), sīṇa (strain) only grows. The body is determined-by-prārabdha already; trying-harder only adds strain without adding result.

The vyavasāya-claim: vyavasāya nimitti — phaḷa dētasē samcitabusiness is nimitta — samcita gives the fruit. Vyavasāya = occupation, business, effort; nimitta = mere-instrumental-cause. One's-work is only the apparent-cause; the actual-fruit-giver is one's samcita (accumulated-karma). (Pattern P3: classical-karma-theory cited against personal-effort.)

The closing-image: Tukā mhaṇē phirē — bhōmvaḍīnē dama jirēTuka says: turning — by the spinning, the breath digests itself. Phirē = turns, revolves; bhōmvaḍī = whirling, spinning; dama jirē = the breath itself digests-away (= one runs out of breath in the spinning). The image: spinning-around-in-effort, one's own breath gets-used-up; the spinning-itself is its own-undoing. (Folk-image: the dizziness-of-effort defeats itself.)

[T]

For someone today

For today: put the burden on Deva — there's no need to take the entire-country on your own head; the body is under your prārabdha — strain only grows with effort-of-bearing; your business is just the instrumental-cause — the fruit is given by your accumulated-karma; Tuka says — turning around and around in effort, your very breath digests itself away.

Where this applies

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