Abhanga 1787
Tukaram wants only to keep serving and worshipping, even through repeated rebirth, so completely that liberation itself ends up serving him rather than being his goal.
The verse
घेईंन मी जन्म याजसाठीं देवा । तुझी चरणसेवा साधावया ॥१॥ हरिनामकीर्तन संतांचे पूजन । घालूं लोटांगण महाद्वारीं ॥ध्रु.॥ आनंदें निर्भर असों भलते ठायीं । सुखदुःख नाहीं चाड आम्हां ॥२॥ आणीक सायास न करीं न धरीं आस । होईंन उदास सर्व भावें ॥३॥ मोक्ष आम्हां घरीं कामारी ते दासी । होय सांगों तैसी तुका म्हणे ॥४॥
Literal translation
I will take birth for this sake, deva — to attain your caraṇa-sevā. Hari-nāma-kīrtana, the pūjana of the saints — we offer a full-prostration at the great-door. With ānanda, full, let us be in any place — sukha-duḥkha has no charm for us. No other effort do I make — no other hope do I hold — I will become udāsa with full-bhāva. Mokṣa in our house is the kāmārī, the dāsī — she becomes as we say, Tuka says.
Word-by-word gloss
| Marathi | Meaning |
|---|---|
| घेईंन मी जन्म याजसाठीं देवा | "I will take — birth — for this sake — deva" |
| तुझी चरणसेवा साधावया | "to attain — your caraṇa-sevā" |
| हरिनामकीर्तन संतांचे पूजन | "Hari-nāma-kīrtana — the pūjana of the saints" |
| घालूं लोटांगण महाद्वारीं | "we offer — a lōṭāngaṇa (full-prostration) — at the great-door" |
| आनंदें निर्भर असों भलते ठायीं | "with ānanda, full — let us be — in any place" |
| सुखदुःख नाहीं चाड आम्हां | "sukha-duḥkha — no charm — for us" |
| आणीक सायास न करीं न धरीं आस | "another effort — I do not make — I do not hold — (other) hope" |
| होईंन उदास सर्व भावें | "I will become — udāsa — with all-bhāva" |
| मोक्ष आम्हां घरीं कामारी ते दासी | "mokṣa — in our house — the kāmārī (work-girl) — the dāsī" |
| होय सांगों तैसी तुका म्हणे | "(she) becomes — as we say — Tuka says" |
What it means
Birth-for-the-sake-of-service + mokṣa-as-our-housemaid abhang. A foundational anti-mokṣa-bhakti-supremacy abhang — one of the most-quoted in the gatha.
The opening: ghē'īn mī janma yājasāṭhīm dēvā — tujhī caraṇa-sēvā sādhāvayā — I will take birth for this sake, deva — to attain your caraṇa-sevā. Birth-itself is welcomed, not as bondage, but as opportunity-for-caraṇa-sevā (the worship-of-the-feet). Anti-mokṣa stance — Tuka does not seek-release-from-rebirth; he wants-rebirth-to-continue-the-service.
The kīrtana-line: Hari-nāma-kīrtana santāñcē pūjana — ghālūm lōṭāngaṇa mahā-dvārīm — Hari-nāma-kīrtana, the pūjana of the saints — full-prostration at the great-door. Mahā-dvāra = the great-door (= the door-of-Pandhari-temple, of any-bhakta's-heart, of any-saintly-place). The bhakta's life-program is just-this: kīrtana, saint-worship, prostration.
The ānanda-everywhere line: ānandēm nirbhara asōm bhalatē ṭhāyīm — sukha-duḥkha nāhīm cāḍa āmhām — with ānanda, full, let us be in any place — sukha-duḥkha have no charm for us. Nirbhara = fully-loaded, full-of, brimming. Brimming-with-ānanda anywhere; sukha-and-duḥkha have-no-attractive-pull.
The udāsa-line: āṇīka sāyāsa na karīm na dharīm āsa — hō'īna udāsa sarva-bhāvē — I make no other effort, hold no other hope — I'll become udāsa with full-bhāva. Sāyāsa = strenuous-effort; udāsa = detached, indifferent (= the asanga state). No-other-effort, no-other-hope; total-udāsīnatā with full-bhāva. (= passion-for-Hari combined-with detachment-from-everything-else.)
The closing — the famous mōkṣa-as-housemaid line: mōkṣa āmhā gharīm kāmārī tē dāsī — hōya sāngōm taisī — mokṣa in our house is the kāmārī, the dāsī — she becomes as we say. Kāmārī = the work-girl (a household servant who does daily-chores); dāsī = handmaid. Mokṣa is reduced from the highest-Vedānta-goal to a household-servant-girl in the bhakta's-house — she does as we say. The most-radical bhakti-supremacy claim in the gatha: liberation is at-our-disposal, not we at-its-pursuit.
The implicit-theology: bhakti-rasa is so much-higher than mokṣa that mokṣa serves-the-bhakta as a maidservant. The bhakta does not strive-for-liberation; he strives-only-for-service. Mokṣa-comes-running-as-a-handmaid to the bhakta-engaged-in-Hari-nāma.
This abhang is one of the most-quoted Tukaram abhangs — its mokṣa-as-housemaid line is foundational for the Vārkarī claim that bhakti-is-higher-than-mokṣa. (Pairs with other anti-mokṣa-bhakti-supremacy abhangs in the gatha.)
[T]
For someone today
For today: I will take birth, deva, for this sake — to attain your caraṇa-sevā; Hari-nāma-kīrtana, the worship of the saints — full-prostration at the great-door; with ānanda, full, let us be anywhere — sukha-duḥkha have no charm for us; no other effort do I make, no other hope do I hold — I'll become udāsa with full-bhāva; mokṣa in our house is the maidservant, the handmaid — she becomes as we say, Tuka says.
Where this applies
- When you catch yourself chasing a spiritual reward instead of simply loving the practice itself
- When your circumstances change for better or worse and you wonder whether your inner peace depends on them
- When you feel pulled between many goals and want to settle on one clear purpose
- When someone offers you an easy way out of effort and you realize you'd rather keep showing up in service