Abhanga 2638
Whoever seeks refuge is welcomed equally, without regard to background, conduct, or past faults, and past wrongs loosen simply by keeping the divine in mind.
The verse
पाहा किती आले शरण समान चि केले । नाहीं विचारिले गुण दोष कोणांचे ॥१॥
मज सेवटींसा द्यावा ठाव तयांचिये देवा । नाहीं करीत हेवा कांहीं थोरपणाचा ॥ध्रु.॥
नाहीं पाहिला आचार कुळगोत्रांचा विचार । फेडूं आला भार मग न म्हणे दगड ॥२॥
तुका म्हणे सर्वजाणा तुझ्या आल्यावरि मना । केला तो उगाणा घडल्या दोषांच्या ॥३॥
Literal translation
See how many have come for refuge — he has treated them equal; he did not weigh anyone's guṇa-dōṣa (qualities-faults). Give me too a place at the end of them, Deva — he holds no envy of thōrapaṇa (greatness, status). He did not look at āchāra (conduct), did not consider kuḷa-gotra (lineage); one who has come to lift the burden does not then say dagaḍa (stone). Tukā says: all-knowing one, when you come to mind, the committed sins are ugāṇā (loosened, redeemed).
What it means
A direct statement of Vārkarī egalitarian-theology. Pāhā kitī ālē śaraṇa — samāna chi kēlē — nāhīm vichāriliyā guṇa dōṣa kōṇāñchē — see how many have come for refuge — he has treated them all equal; he did not weigh anyone's qualities-and-faults. The intake-criterion is refuge-taking; the Lord does not screen at the door.
The dhrūpada makes the petition modest: maja sēvaṭīmsā dyāvā ṭhāva tayāñchiyē Devā — give me too a place — even at the very end of them. The asker doesn't claim a high seat. Nāhīm karīta hēvā kāmhī thōrapaṇāchā — he holds no envy of greatness — Deva himself has no preference for status.
The second verse names two specific not-criteria: nāhīm pāhilā āchāra — kuḷa-gotrāñchā vichāra — he did not look at conduct, nor at kula-gotra (caste-and-lineage). The egalitarian statement is specific: even āchāra (conduct, behavioral-history) is not the screening-criterion. Then the wonderful image: phēḍūm ālā bhāra mag na mhaṇē dagaḍa — the one who has come to lift the burden does not then say 'stone'. Once the Lord-as-burden-lifter takes on the bhakta, the bhakta's heaviness is not held against him by the lifter. Calling-the-burden-stone after taking it would defeat the lifting.
The close: sarva-jñātā tujhyā ālyāvari manā — kelā tō ugāṇā ghaḍalyā dōṣāñchyā — all-knowing one, when you come to mind, theugāṇā(untying, loosening, redeeming) of committed sins is done. Ugāṇā — to loosen, to untie, to remit — the sins are not destroyed in some violent transaction; they are loosened from the bhakta's account.
For someone today
If you have ever hesitated to approach a refuge because you thought your guṇa-dōṣa would be weighed, your kula-gotra questioned, your āchāra audited — Tukārām's verse is the explicit Vārkarī corrective. Samāna chi kelē — all are treated equal. And the image of the one who lifts the burden and does not call it a stone is precise: once you have been taken in, the heaviness you brought will not be used against you by the one who took you. The mechanism of relief is also gentle — ugāṇā (loosening) rather than violent erasure.
मराठी: जर तुम्हाला कधी असे वाटले असेल की आश्रयाला जाण्याआधी तुमचे गुण-दोष तपासले जातील, तुमचे कुळगोत्र विचारले जाईल, तुमचे आचरण पडताळले जाईल — तर तुकारामांचा हा अभंग वारकरी परंपरेचे स्पष्ट उत्तर आहे. 'समान चि केले' — सर्वांना समानच वागवले जाते. आणि जो भार उचलतो तो नंतर त्याला दगड म्हणत नाही, हे रूपक अगदी अचूक आहे — एकदा तुम्हाला स्वीकारले की तुम्ही आणलेले ओझे तुमच्याविरुद्ध वापरले जाणार नाही. सुटकेचा मार्गही तितकाच सौम्य आहे — हिंसक नाहीसे करणे नव्हे, तर 'उगाणा' म्हणजे हळुवारपणे सोडवणे.
Where this applies
- The Vārkarī claim against social-screening at the door of grace
- Asking even for the last place — sēvaṭīmsā dyāvā ṭhāva — without status-claiming
- Trusting that the lifter does not later call the burden a stone
- Coming-to-mind as the loosening of accumulated sins