संत साहित्य · Tukārām · Abhanga 2486 of 4582

Abhanga 2486

It is honest, not shameful, to admit you are ruled by your senses and lack the strength to renounce everything, rather than pretending otherwise.

When you try to give up a habit or attachment and keep failing despite your best intentions

When you feel too weak or too unlucky to live up to the ideal of complete detachment

When you want to speak honestly about your struggles instead of hiding them behind a show of discipline

The verse

इंद्रियांचीं दिनें । आम्ही केलों नारायणें ॥१॥ म्हणऊनि ऐसें सोसीं । काय सांगों कोणांपाशी ॥ध्रु.॥ नाहीं अंगीं बळ । त्याग करींसा सकळ ॥२॥ तुका म्हणे मोटें । प्रारब्ध होतें खोटें ॥३॥

Literal translation

Slave of the indriyas — Nārāyaṇa made me thus. Therefore I bear this — to whom shall I speak. No strength in body — to renounce all. Tuka says: big — prārabdha was bad.

What it means

THE SLAVE-OF-INDRIYAS + BAD-PRĀRABDHA ABHANG.

The shifted-responsibility: indriyāñchīm dinē — āmhī kēlōm Nārāyaṇē — slave of the indriyas — Nārāyaṇa made me thus. Slave-of-the-indriyas; Nārāyaṇa made-me-this-way. A complaint-bhakti: blame-shifted-to-the-Lord for-the-bhakta's-weakness-of-self-control.

The bad-prārabdha-confession: Tukā mhaṇē mōṭē — prārabdha hōtē khōṭē — Tuka says: big — prārabdha was bad. My prārabdha (past-karma-fruits) was-bad-and-big.

[T]

For someone today

For today: slave of indriyas — Nārāyaṇa made me thus; no body-strength to renounce; prārabdha was bad .

Where this applies

When you keep failing to control a habit and feel embarrassed to admit you simply do not have the willpower right now
When you catch yourself blaming circumstances or fate for weaknesses you are ashamed to own directly
When you compare yourself to people who seem to renounce things easily and feel discouraged by your own struggle
When you need permission to be honest about your limits instead of performing a spiritual strength you do not feel

Bhakti