Abhanga 2350

Kirtana sung with full, fierce energy burns away wrongdoing and obstacles, so devotion should be taken up boldly, like a sword and a war drum, not half-heartedly.

The verse

Literal translation

What it means

KĪRTANA-AS-WARFARE-AGAINST-DŌṢA ABHANG.

The Name-as-sword image: kiḷa pāpāchī hē mūrti — nāma-khaḍga ghē'ūm hātīm — the dark-pāpa's mūrti — we'll take the Name-sword in hand. Nāma-khaḍga = Name-sword. The dark-pāpa's-mūrti (= the embodied-darkness-of-sin); we'll-take the-Name-as-our-sword.

The damāma: Tukā mhaṇē jāūm — baḷē damāmē hī lāvūm — Tuka says: let's go — with force we'll sound the damāma. Damāma = kettledrum, war-drum. Let's-go; with-force we'll-sound the-damāma (the war-drum-of-bhakti).

[T]

For someone today

For today: kīrtanas burn — dōṣas flee; ānanda before the dindī; Name-sword in hand; let's go — sound the damāma with force.

Where this applies

• When you sing or chant half-heartedly instead of putting your whole self into it
• When old habits and obstacles keep coming back and you need something forceful to break them
• When you picture your struggle with wrongdoing as a real fight, not just a vague feeling
• When you are gathering with others in devotion and need the courage to go all in, loudly and without holding back

Related verses

• Abhanga 2448 — The easiest path to God is repeating divine names with love at home, right where you are,
• Abhanga 2467 — What looks like your whole world, like a fig to the insect living inside it, is only a tin
• 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