Abhanga 2655
My staying is at the feet — distasted from other rasas. Give the mind such firmness, Nārāyaṇa — I petition. Inside is your dwelling — others are the cause of destruction. Tukā: the last-thing — let it be truly preserved.
The verse
राहाणें तें पायांपाशी । आणिकां रसीं विटोनि ॥१॥
ऐसा धीर देई मना । नारायणा विनवितों ॥ध्रु.॥
अंतरीं तों तुझा वास । आणिकां नास कारण ॥२॥
तुका म्हणे शेवटींचें । वाटे साचें राखावें ॥३॥
Literal translation
My staying is at the feet — distasted (viṭōnī) from other rasas. Give such dhīra (firmness) to the mind, Nārāyaṇa — I petition. Inside (antarīm) is your dwelling — others are the cause of destruction. Tukā says: the śevaṭīñche (last-thing) — it seems-right truly to preserve.
What it means
A small single-orientation prayer. Rāhāṇē tē pāyāmpāśīm — āṇikām rasīm viṭōnī — my staying is at the feet — distasted from other rasas. Viṭōnī — being-tired-of, going-distasted-from, having-had-enough-of. The bhakta does not say I avoid other rasas (as duty); he says I am distasted from them. The flavor has gone out of the alternatives.
The dhrūpada: aisā dhīra dēī manā — Nārāyaṇā vinavitōm — give such firmness to the mind, Nārāyaṇa, I petition. The bhakta asks the protector to preserve the dhīra (firmness) of staying-at-the-feet. The petition acknowledges that the distaste-from-rasas needs maintenance.
The second verse: antarīm tōm tujhā vāsa — āṇikām nāsa kāraṇa — inside is your dwelling — others are the cause of destruction (nāsa). The diagnostic: the inner-dwelling is the Lord's; the others (āṇika = others, alternatives) are the nāsa-kāraṇa — the cause of destruction. The threat-identification is precise.
The close: śevaṭīñche — vāṭē sāchē rākhāve — the last-thing — it seems-right truly to preserve. Śevaṭīñche — the last-thing, the final-thing, the end-thing — Tukārām's mortality-clear instinct says: preserve the truly-last-thing. The implication: many things one preserves are not actually-last; the truly-last thing — the foot-staying, the inner-dwelling — that is what needs preserving.
For someone today
The verse offers a small petition-prayer for single-orientation. Give me such firmness that I stay at the feet, distasted from other rasas; recognize that inside is your dwelling and others are the destruction-cause; preserve the truly-last-thing. The bhakti-insight is that the alternatives are not temptations one must heroically resist — they are nāsa-kāraṇa (destruction-causes), and the right response is viṭōnī (going-distasted-from), not violent-rejection. The taste itself goes out of the alternatives when the inner-dwelling is recognized.
Where this applies
- Asking for firmness against alternative-rasa attractions
- Recognizing the inner-dwelling as the operating-reality
- Naming alternatives as nāsa-kāraṇa rather than as temptations
- Preserving the śevaṭīñche — the truly-last-thing