Abhanga 2630
You can pray this verse exactly. Don't let man-praise and sacred-story-selling happen; don't let another's spouse or wealth come into my mind; don't let jealousy and slander-of-sants happen; don't let body-pride mount; don't let me repeatedly forget your feet. The list is comprehensive: it covers vocation (1), sense-trespass (2), inner-enmity (3), foundational-pride (4), and chronic-forgetting (5). The prayer-discipline is to ask for the absence of these conditions, recognizing that one cannot prevent them alone.
The verse
नरस्तुति आणि कथेचा विकरा । हें नको दातारा घडों देऊं ॥१॥
ऐसिये कृपेचि भाकितों करुणा । आहेसि तूं राणा उदाराचा ॥ध्रु.॥
पराविया नारी आणि परधना । नको देऊं मनावरी येऊं ॥२॥
भूतांचा मत्सर आणि संतनिंदा । हें नको गोविंदा घडों देऊं ॥३॥
देहअभिमान नको देऊं शरीरीं । चढों कांहीं परी एक देऊं ॥४॥
तुका म्हणे तुझ्या पायांचा विसर । नको वारंवार पडों देऊं ॥५॥
Literal translation
Narastuti (praise-of-men) and the kathā (sacred-story) made into vikarā (commerce/sale) — don't let this happen, Giver. I ask compassion of this kindness — you are the king of the generous. Another's wife and another's wealth — don't let them come over my mind. Jealousy toward beings and slander of sants — don't let this happen, Govinda. Body-pride — don't let it mount the body; let just one (the surrender) — let it stay. Tukā says: the forgetting of your feet — don't let it repeatedly fall.
What it means
A 5-verse comprehensive negative-petition prayer — Tukārām's don't-let-this-happen-to-me list. Each verse names a specific pollution to be protected against:
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Narastuti and kathā-vikrā — praising men and selling the kathā. Narastuti is praise-of-living-men (panegyric for patrons, flattery for the powerful) — Tukārām's most-loathed compromise of the bard's craft. Kathā-vikrā — making a sale of the sacred story — turning religious-discourse into a livelihood-transaction. These two together name the corruption of the religious-poet's vocation.
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Paranāri and paradhana — another's woman and another's wealth. The classical pairing — the two most-common mental-trespasses. Nakō dēūm manāvarī yēūm — don't let them come over my mind — Tukārām asks the Lord to prevent the mental trespass, not just the bodily one.
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Bhūta-matsara and santa-nindā — jealousy of beings and slander of sants. Two universal pollutions — envy of others' state, and speaking-ill of the sants. The pairing diagnoses the two faces of inner-enmity.
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Deha-abhimāna — body-pride. Don't let it mount the body — let just one (the surrender) remain. Pride identifying with the body is the foundational obscuration.
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Pāyāñchā visara — forgetting your feet. Don't let it repeatedly fall. The vāramvāra — over and over — is the worry: not the rare lapse but the chronic forgetting.
The dhrūpada is the warrant for the petition: aisiyē krpēcī bhākitōm karuṇā — āhēsi tūm rāṇā udārāchā — I ask compassion of this kindness — you are the king of the generous. The argument: you are udāra-rāṇā (king of generosity); the six protections I am asking for are within your generous range.
For someone today
You can pray this verse exactly. Don't let man-praise and sacred-story-selling happen; don't let another's spouse or wealth come into my mind; don't let jealousy and slander-of-sants happen; don't let body-pride mount; don't let me repeatedly forget your feet. The list is comprehensive: it covers vocation (1), sense-trespass (2), inner-enmity (3), foundational-pride (4), and chronic-forgetting (5). The prayer-discipline is to ask for the absence of these conditions, recognizing that one cannot prevent them alone.
Where this applies
- Daily moral-petition prayer covering vocation, sense-trespass, inner-enmity, pride, and forgetting
- A clergy / teacher / artist asking against the narastuti-kathā-vikrā compromise
- The chronic-forgetting petition for those whose practice has drifted
- A list-prayer that does not soften the specifics