Abhanga 2452
Freedom is not something you can claim with words alone; it is only real once your reactions of joy and anger have genuinely settled.
The verse
आपुलिया आंगें तोडी मायाजाळ । ऐसें नाहीं बळ कोणापाशीं ॥१॥ रांडापोरें त्याग करी कुटुंबाचा । नावरे हे वाचा आणि मन ॥ध्रु.॥ हर्षामर्ष जों हे नाहीं जों जिराले । तोंवरि हे केले चार त्यांनीं ॥२॥ मुक्त जालों ऐसें बोलों जाये मुखें । तुका म्हणे दुःखें बांधला तो ॥३॥
Literal translation
Tear māyā-net by your own body — no one has such strength. Renouncing wife-children, family — but speech and mind aren't subdued. Until joy-anger isn't digested — till then they make those four. Saying "I'm mukta" with the mouth — Tuka says: bound by duḥkha.
What it means
THE ANTI-PRETENDER-MUKTI ABHANG.
The māyā-net-strength: āpuliyā āngē tōḍī māyā-jāḷa — aiśē nāhīm baḷa kōṇāpāśīm — tear māyā-net by your own body — no one has such strength. No-one has-such-strength to-tear-the-māyā-net by-their-own-effort.
The empty-renouncement: rāṇḍā-pōrē tyāga karī kuṭumbāchā — nāvarē hē vāchā āṇi mana — renouncing wife-children — but speech and mind not subdued. Outer-renouncement of-family doesn't-subdue speech-and-mind.
THE CLOSING: mukta jālōm aiśē bōlōm jāyē mukhē — Tukā mhaṇē duḥkhē bāndhalā tō — saying "I'm mukta" with the mouth — bound by duḥkha. The one who-mouths-mukti is-bound-by-duḥkha. Anti-pseudo-mukti polemic: real-mukti is-not-a-mouth-claim.
[T]
For someone today
For today: māyā-net not torn by self-effort; outer renouncement insufficient; mouthing mukti = bound by duḥkha .
Where this applies
- When you have given up outward comforts but still feel restless and unsettled inside
- When you claim to have moved on from something but your reactions say otherwise
- When you notice your anger or excitement still controls your words and actions
- When you are tempted to declare yourself spiritually advanced without real inner change