Abhanga 1892

Set down the burden that was never truly yours, hand your accounts over to God, and step back from disputes that profit no one.

The verse

Literal translation

What it means

Burden-off-head + accounting-done abhang. Companion to 1891.

The opening: ātām barē jālē — mājhē māthāñcē nighālē — now it is good — the (burden) of my head has come off. Relief-statement — the head's-load is now-removed.

The drudgery-line: cukalī hē mara-mara — bhāra māthāñcē ḍōngara — this drudgery has stopped — the head's-mountain-burden. Mara-mara = the dying-and-dying / drudgery; ḍōngara = mountain. The mountain-of-the-head has-finally-come-off.

The world's-tearing line: nasatām kāhīm jōḍī — karitī bahutē taḍā-tōḍī — without anything to gain — many do tearing-asunder. Jōḍī = gain, profit; taḍā-tōḍī = tearing-and-cutting / disputes. In the world, even-without-anything-to-gain, many-fight-and-tear-each-other-apart. (= world's-pointless-disputation; the bhakta has-stepped-away-from-it.)

The closing: jālā jhāḍā-pāḍā — Tukā mhaṇē gēlī pīḍā — the accounting is done — Tuka says — pain has gone. Jhāḍā-pāḍā = the accounting / formal-balance. Once-the-accounting-is-handed-over-to-the-Lord, the pain-of-it-departs.

[T]

For someone today

For today: now it is good — the burden of my head has come off; this drudgery has stopped — the head's-mountain-burden; without anything to gain, many do tearing-asunder; the accounting is done — Tuka says — pain has gone.

Where this applies

• When you finally put down a responsibility you had been carrying far too long and feel the physical relief of it
• When you notice people around you arguing bitterly over something that gains nobody anything
• When you're exhausted from constantly totaling up grievances and want to just hand the whole ledger over
• When you realize a burden you've been dragging was self-imposed and you're free to set it down

Related verses

• Abhanga 2374 — Rather than scattering devotion among many lesser deities who demand offerings, Tukaram sa
• Abhanga 2377 — This detailed meditation on Vitthal standing on a brick at Pandharpur, out of love for his
• Abhanga 2387 — Accept whatever life brings with reverence, and place the burden on God rather than carryi
• Abhanga 2402 — For today: happily take rebirths — IF among the Paṇḍharī-Vārkarīs ; Hari-dāsas' company is