संत साहित्य · Tukārām · Abhanga 2459 of 4582

Abhanga 2459

Liberation does not have to be earned through grueling effort or endless searching; it is freely given, so the real work is simply to keep singing and remembering God.

When you're grinding through a difficult practice and start to suspect the difficulty itself isn't making you holier.

When you keep looking for the next place, teacher, or ritual that will finally give you peace.

When you want a simple, repeatable practice, like chanting or remembering God's name, instead of one more elaborate regimen.

The verse

कासया करावे तपाचे डोंगर । आणीक अपार दुःखरासी॥१॥ कासया फिरावे अनेक ते देश । दावितील आस पुढें लाभ ॥ध्रु.॥ कासया पुजावीं अनेक दैवतें । पोटभरे तेथें लाभ नाहीं ॥२॥ कासया करावे मुक्तीचे सायास । मिळे पंढरीस फुका साटीं ॥३॥ तुका म्हणे करीं कीर्तन पसारा । लाभ येईंल घरा पाहिजे तो ॥४॥

Literal translation

Why make mountains of tapa — only piles of duḥkha. Why wander many countries — they show hope ahead, no gain. Why worship many deities — fills stomach there, no gain. Why make mukti-effort — Pandharī gives [it] for free. Tuka says: make kīrtana spread — desired gain comes home.

What it means

THE WHY-MUKTI-EFFORT-PANDHARĪ-GIVES-FOR-FREE ABHANG. The supreme expression of Vārkarī accessibility-theology.

The four kāsayā (why) questions — each dismissing a rival-spiritual-path:

Why mountains-of-tapa? Only piles-of-duḥkha (anti-ascetic-austerity)
Why wander-many-countries? Hope-shown-ahead, no-gain (anti-pilgrimage-tour)
Why worship-many-deities? Stomach-fills-there, no-gain (anti-pantheon-shopping)
Why mukti-effort? Pandharī-gives-it-for-FREE (phukā sāṭīm)

THE CELEBRATED LINE: kāsayā karāvē muktīchē sāyāsa — miḷē Paṇḍharīsa phukā sāṭīm — why make mukti-effort — Pandharī gives [it] for free. Phukā = free-of-cost. Mukti — given-for-free at-Pandharī. The most-radical claim of Vārkarī accessibility — what philosophers-and-yogis-strive-for is available-at-Pandharī-for-the-asking.

The closing: karīm kīrtana pasārā — lābha yē'īmla gharā pāhijē tō — make kīrtana spread — desired gain comes home. Just-spread-kīrtana; the-gain comes-home.

[T]

For someone today

For today: no mountains-of-tapa, no country-wandering, no multi-deity-worship; mukti is given free at Pandharī; make kīrtana spread — gain comes home.

Where this applies

When you're pushing yourself through harsh self-denial and wonder if the suffering itself is the point — it isn't.
When you keep searching outward, place to place or practice to practice, hoping the next one will finally deliver.
When you're juggling many rituals or deities hoping one of them will finally pay off.
When you feel like real spiritual freedom must be earned through exhausting effort, and you need permission to receive it simply instead.

Anti-ritual / Yoga-bhakti Bhakti Pāṇḍuranga / Viṭhṭhal