संत साहित्य · Tukārām · Abhanga 2436 of 4582

Abhanga 2436

A vow of total commitment is easy to declare but only proven true when the real test lands on your own body, so words alone never show real courage.

When you make a serious promise and only later face what keeping it actually costs you.

When a real crisis arrives and reveals whether your courage was genuine or just talk.

When you choose to stake your whole life on something instead of keeping a casual distance from it.

The verse

सतीचें तें घेतां वाण । बहु कठीण परिणामीं ॥१॥ जिवासाटीं गौरव वाढे । आहाच जोडे तें नव्हे ॥ध्रु.॥ जरि होय उघडी दृष्टि । तरि गोष्टी युद्धाच्या ॥२॥ तुका म्हणे अंगा येतां । तरी सत्ता धैर्याची ॥३॥

Literal translation

Taking the satī's vow — very difficult in outcome. Honor grows for life — not for ordinary association. If vision is open — then war-talk. Tuka says: when it comes on the body — then authority of courage.

What it means

THE SATĪ-VOW-AS-BHAKTI-IRREVOCABILITY ABHANG.

THE OPENING SATĪ-COMPARISON: satīchē tē ghētām vāṇa — bahu kaṭhīṇa pariṇāmīm — taking the satī's vow — very difficult in outcome. Satī = the wife's vow to die with her husband. Vāṇa = vow. Taking the-satī-vow is-very-difficult in-its-outcome (= the actual self-immolation, not just the saying). Bhakti is-like-the-satī-vow — easy-to-say, terrible-when-the-flames-come.

The body-test: Tukā mhaṇē angā yētām — tarī sattā dhairyāchī — when it comes on the body — then authority of courage. When-it-comes on-the-body (= when-the-actual-test arrives); only-then is-shown the-authority of-courage. Words are easy, body-tested-courage is real.

The teaching: Bhakti is-not-just-recitation — it's-an-irrevocable-vow-tested-when-the-fire-comes. The bhakta must-be-ready-for-the-fire (= worldly-loss, persecution, ego-death).

[T]

For someone today

For today: taking the satī's vow is very hard in outcome; honor for life, not ordinary association; war-talk on open-vision; when it comes on the body — then real authority of courage .

Where this applies

When you make a big promise and later realize how much harder it is to keep than to say.
When you claim a strong conviction but haven't yet faced the situation that would truly test it.
When you notice that people who talk boldly about commitment go quiet once real sacrifice is required.
When you're about to find out, in a real crisis, whether your courage was genuine or just talk.

Bhakti