Abhanga 2676
A useful self-disclaimer for anyone whose creative or inspired output exceeds their self-conception. These are not my words — I am the hired-laborer; the compassionate-one loosened the utterance and preserved my honor; the voice became sweet by Name-shouting; my fear has perished and I have become sky-like; this is the sants' prasāda. The honest stance refuses to claim authorship of what was released-through-one, and refuses to claim credit for the honor-preserved in a tumultuous life. The closing santa-prasāda attribution is important: the transformation is gift, not achievement.
The verse
नव्हती माझे बोल जाणां हा निर्धार । मी आहें मजूर विठोबाचा ॥१॥
निर्धारा वचन सोडविलें माझ्या । कृपाळुवें लज्जा राखियेली ॥ध्रु.॥
निर्भर मानसीं जालों आनंदाचा । गोडावली वाचा नामघोषें ॥२॥
आतां भय माझें नासलें संसारीं । जालोंसें यावरी गगनाचा ॥३॥
तुका म्हणे हा तों संतांचा प्रसाद । लाधलों आनंद प्रेमसुख ॥४॥
Literal translation
These are not my words; know this nirdhāra (firmly) — I am Viṭhoba's majūra (hired-laborer, paid-worker). My firm-resolve-vachana (utterance) — he loosened (sōḍavilēm); the compassionate one preserved my lajjā (honor, modesty). I became nirbhara (saturated, brimming) in mind with bliss — the voice became gōḍāvalī (sweetened) by nāma-ghōṣa (Name-shouting). Now my fear has perished in samsāra — I have become gaganāchā (sky-like, of-the-sky). Tukā says: this is the santa-prasāda (sants' prasāda) — I have attained the bliss of prema-sukha.
What it means
A striking self-disclaimer-verse. Navhatī mājhe bōla jāṇām hā nirdhāra — mī āhē majūra Viṭhōbāchā — these are not my words, know this firmly — I am Viṭhoba's hired-laborer. Majūra — a day-laborer, paid-worker — is the humblest possible self-description. Tukārām disclaims authorship: he is not the poet; he is Viṭhoba's paid-help, executing the master's-work.
The dhrūpada: nirdhārā vachana sōḍavilēm mājhyā — krpāḷuvē lajjā rākhiyelī — my firm-resolve-utterance he loosened; the compassionate one preserved my honor. Two acts of the compassionate-one: (a) sōḍavilēm vachana — loosened the utterance — the inspired speech was released by the compassionate-one, not produced by Tukārām; (b) lajjā rākhiyelī — preserved the honor — the bhakta's reputation was preserved by the Lord, not by Tukārām's own conduct.
The second verse: nirbhara mānasīm jālōm ānandāchā — gōḍāvalī vāchā nāma-ghōṣē — I became saturated (nirbhara) in mind with bliss; the voice became sweetened by Name-shouting. Nirbhara — brimming-full, saturated — names the mind-state. The voice became gōḍāvalī (sweet, mellifluous) by nāma-ghōṣa (Name-shouting). The poetry-craft is itself a side-effect of Name-shouting, not a separately-cultivated skill.
The third verse names the freedom: ātām bhaya mājhē nāsalē samsārīm — jālōmsē yāvarī gaganāchā — now my fear has perished in samsāra — I have become gaganāchā (sky-like, of-the-sky) over this. Gaganāchā jālōm — I have become sky — names the spatial-expansion-state.
The close: santa-prasāda — lādhalōm ānanda prema-sukha — this is the sants' prasāda — I have attained the bliss of prema-sukha. The whole transformation is attributed to santa-prasāda (gift-from-the-sants), not to self-effort.
For someone today
A useful self-disclaimer for anyone whose creative or inspired output exceeds their self-conception. These are not my words — I am the hired-laborer; the compassionate-one loosened the utterance and preserved my honor; the voice became sweet by Name-shouting; my fear has perished and I have become sky-like; this is the sants' prasāda. The honest stance refuses to claim authorship of what was released-through-one, and refuses to claim credit for the honor-preserved in a tumultuous life. The closing santa-prasāda attribution is important: the transformation is gift, not achievement.
Where this applies
- Disclaiming authorship of inspired speech, art, or insight
- Recognizing that one's honor-preserved is by the compassionate-one's grace
- The image of gaganāchā jālōm (became sky-like) as the freedom-state
- Santa-prasāda attribution for the whole transformation