Abhanga 2400
Devotion is not bookkeeping; direct presence in loving service matters more than tallying merits, debts, or who owes whom.
The verse
रोजकीर्दी जमा धरुनी सकळ । खताविला काळ वरावरी ॥१॥ नाहीं होत झाड्यापाड्याचें लिगाड । हुजराती ते गोड सेवा रूजू ॥ध्रु.॥ चोरासाटीं रदबदल आटा हाश । जळो जिणे दाश बहुताचें ॥२॥ तुका म्हणे सावधान निर्भर मानसीं । सालझाड्यापाशी गुंपों नेणे ॥३॥
Literal translation
Keeping daily-records, gathering all — wasted time above. No need for ledger-balancing-trouble — direct-presence service is sweet. For the thief, blame-payment-burned — burn the life of being-servant-to-many. Tuka alert, mind-filled — doesn't get tangled in yearly-accounts.
What it means
THE ANTI-BOOKKEEPING BHAKTI ABHANG. Continues 2399's drama-performance / non-attachment theme, now in commercial-accounting metaphor.
The wasted-records: rōjakīrdī jamā dharunī sakaḷa — khatāvilā kāḷa varāvarī — keeping daily-records, gathering all — wasted time. Keeping daily-account-books wastes time.
THE DIRECT-PRESENCE: nāhīm hōta jhāḍyā-pāḍyāchē ligāḍa — hujarātī tē gōḍa sēvā rūjū — no need for ledger-balancing-trouble — direct-presence service is sweet. Hujarātī = direct-presence, in-the-Lord's-presence. No-need-for ledger-balancing-trouble; direct-presence-service is-sweet.
The teaching: Bhakti is-not-bookkeeping — no-need to-tally-merits-and-demerits, no-need to-balance-karmic-accounts. Hujarātī (direct-presence-in-the-Lord's-court) suffices.
[T]
For someone today
For today: daily-records waste time; no ledger needed — direct-presence service is sweet ; burn servitude to many; Tuka alert — doesn't tangle in yearly-accounts.
Where this applies
- When you're mentally tallying who has done more for whom in a relationship or friendship.
- When you feel drained from trying to please or negotiate with too many people at once.
- When you believe you must earn spiritual merit through careful bookkeeping of good and bad deeds.
- When you want simple, direct devotion instead of anxious self-accounting.