Abhanga 1755

When exhausting effort has scattered your mind and senses in every direction, hand over your whole self, life, feeling, speech, body, and mind, and honestly admit you don't know what more to do.

The verse

Literal translation

What it means

Exhaustion-petition + give-five-fold-self abhang.

The opening: tuja dilēm ātām karīm yatna yācā — jīva-bhāva-vācā-kāyā-mana — I have given to you — now make effort — jīva-bhāva-vācā-kāyā-mana. The five-fold-given: jīva (life), bhāva (feeling), vācā (speech), kāyā (body), mana (mind). Now you-make-effort-for-it.

The exhaustion: bhāgalōm dātārā sīṇa jālā bhārī — ātām maja tārīm śaraṇāgatā — exhausted, dātāra — strain heavy — now save me, śaraṇāgata.

The not-knowing: nēṇatām sōsilī tayācī āṭaṇī — navhatām hī kōṇī kāhīm mājhīm — not-knowing, I bore the running-around — not being any of mine. In ignorance, I bore the running-around (= birth-cycles); none of those (= worldly relations) was really mine.

The varma-unknown: varma nēṇē diśā hiṇḍatī mōkaṭa — indriyē sunāṭa dāhī diśā — varma not known — directions wander openly — indriyas empty in ten directions. Sunāṭa = empty, deserted. Without knowing the secret, the directions-of-mind wander openly; the indriyas (senses) are empty in all-ten-directions.

The back-and-forth: vēra-jhārī-phērā siṇalōm sāyāsīm — ātām Hṛṣīkēśī angikārīm — back-and-forth — fatigue with effort — now Hṛṣīkēśī, accept.

The closing: Tukā mhaṇē mana indriyāñcē sō'īm — dhāvē yāsī kāīm karūm ātām — Tuka says: mind on indriyas' side — runs — what to do for this now? The mind has aligned-itself with the indriyas; what can I do?

[T]

For someone today

For today: I have given myself to you — now make the effort for this — my life, feeling, speech, body, mind; I am exhausted, giver — the strain has come heavy on me — now save me, śaraṇāgata; not-knowing, I bore all the running-around — none of those (worldly-relations) was really mine; the secret is not known — my directions wander openly — my senses are empty in all ten directions; with back-and-forth, fatigue has come from effort — now Hṛṣīkēśī, accept (me); Tuka says — the mind has aligned with the indriyas — it runs — what can I do for this now?

Where this applies

• When you are burned out from trying to control every part of your life through sheer effort
• When your attention keeps scattering in every direction no matter how hard you try to focus it
• When you finally admit, honestly and without pretending, that you don't know what to do next
• When you look back at years of struggle and realize much of what you were chasing was never really yours

Related verses

• Abhanga 2387 — Accept whatever life brings with reverence, and place the burden on God rather than carryi
• Abhanga 2494 — Living in devotion turns an ordinary day into a festival and removes the fear of birth and
• Abhanga 2540 — Even the smallest, most helpless creature that cries out to God in danger is sheltered and
• Abhanga 4581 — Tukaram closes his songs by confessing his own unworthiness and boldness, offering everyth