Abhanga 2785
Tapāsī tē mana karūm pāhē ghāta — the tapas (austerity) mind tries to ghāta (destroy, ruin); dharōnī sāngāta indriyāñcā — keeping the sāngāta (company) of the indriyas (senses).
The verse
तपासी तें मन करूं पाहे घात । धरोनि सांगात इंद्रियांचा ॥१॥
म्हणोनि कीर्तन आवडलें मज । सांडोनियां लाज हें चि करी ॥ध्रु.॥
पाहातां आगमनिगमाचे ठाव । तेथें नाहीं भाव एकविध ॥२॥
तुका म्हणे येथें नाहीं वो विकार । नाम एक सार विठोबाचें ॥३॥
Literal translation
Tapāsī tē mana karūm pāhē ghāta — the tapas (austerity) mind tries to ghāta (destroy, ruin); dharōnī sāngāta indriyāñcā — keeping the sāngāta (company) of the indriyas (senses). Mhaṇōnī kīrtana āvaḍale maja — therefore kīrtana has become dear to me; sāṇḍōniyām lāja hē chi karī — abandoning lāja (shame), this alone I do. Pāhātām āgama-nigamāñce ṭhāva — looking at the āgama-nigama (Vedic-textual-revelation-and-tradition) places; tēthē nāhī bhāva eka-vidha — there is no eka-vidha bhāva (one-fold feeling). Tukā says: yēthē nāhī vō vikāra — here there is no vikāra (modification); nāma eka sāra Viṭhōbāñce — the Name is the one sāra (essence) of Viṭhoba.
What it means
A discipline-of-bhakti verse. Tapāsī tē mana karūm pāhē ghāta — dharōnī sāngāta indriyāñcā — the tapas-mind tries to destroy — keeping company with the senses. The diagnostic: the tapas-route — which seems-disciplined — actually keeps company with the senses and tries to destroy. The tapas-mind, by being focused on its tapasvi-task, is unguarded against sense-attractions; meanwhile its tapas-effort itself becomes ghāta-effort (destroying-effort).
The dhrūpada: mhaṇōnī kīrtana āvaḍale maja — sāṇḍōniyām lāja hē chi karī — therefore kīrtana has become dear to me — abandoning lāja (shame), this alone I do. Tukārām's-personal-preference: kīrtana over tapas. Sāṇḍōniyām lāja — abandoning the shame (kīrtana involves public-singing-and-dancing, which is lāja-worthy in formal-religious-decorum). But Tukārām chose this because tapas was destroying.
The second verse: pāhātām āgama-nigamāñce ṭhāva — tēthē nāhī bhāva eka-vidha — looking at the āgama-nigama places — there is no eka-vidha bhāva. Āgama-nigama — the Vedic-revelation and traditional-doctrine — the places-where-formal-religious-authority lives. Tukārām says: there is no one-fold-feeling there. The textual-tradition is multi-vidha (many-fold), not single-fold.
The close: yēthē nāhī vō vikāra — nāma eka sāra Viṭhōbāñce — here there is no vikāra — the Name is the one sāra of Viṭhoba. Yēthē (here, in kīrtana / in Name-practice) — no vikāra (modification). The Name is the one sāra (essence) — eka-sāra.
For someone today
A useful Tukārām-personal-preference statement. The tapas-mind tries to destroy — keeping company with the senses. Therefore kīrtana has become dear to me — abandoning shame, this alone I do. In āgama-nigama, no one-fold feeling. Here no vikāra — the Name is the one sāra of Viṭhoba. The choice is between tapas-with-hidden-sense-company-and-destruction and kīrtana-with-public-shame-but-eka-vidha-bhāva. Tukārām chose the latter, openly. The lāja-abandonment is the cost; the eka-vidha-bhāva and eka-sāra-Name is the gain.
Where this applies
- Choosing kīrtana-over-tapas as safer-and-better
- Recognizing that tapas-mind keeps company with the senses and tries to destroy
- The here-no-vikāra-Name-is-eka-sāra canonical-claim
- Abandoning lāja for the public-kīrtana practice