Abhanga 2853
Attachment to family and wealth can become anxiety and distraction, so this prayer asks to be stripped of them in order to make more room for the divine.
The verse
नको देऊं देवा पोटीं हें संतान । मायाजाळें जाण नाठवसी ॥१॥
नको देऊं देवा द्रव्य आणि भाग्य । तो एक उद्वेग होय जीवा ॥२॥
तुका म्हणे करीं फकिराचे परी । रात्रदिवस हरि येइल घरा ॥३॥
Literal translation
Nakō dēūm Devā pōṭī he santāna — don't give, Deva, in (my)pōṭī(belly) thissantāna(offspring); māyā-jāḷē jāṇa nāṭhavasī — (it is) the māyā-net — know — (I) won't remember (you). Nakō dēūm Devā dravya āṇi bhāgya — don't give, Deva,dravya(wealth) andbhāgya(good-fortune); tō ēka udvega hōya jīvā — that becomes oneudvega(anxiety, agitation) for the jīva. Tukā says: karī fakīrāñce parī — make (me) like afakīra(mendicant); rātra-divasa Hari yēīla gharā — day-and-night Hari will come to (my) house.
What it means
A 3-verse radical-renunciation prayer. The verse is unusual for the householder-Tukārām corpus — it is a direct anti-family-anti-wealth petition. (This is consistent with bhakti-yearning peaks where the bhakta protests that worldly-prosperity itself becomes obstacle.)
Nakō dēūm Devā pōṭī he santāna — māyā-jāḷē jāṇa nāṭhavasī — don't give, Deva, offspring in (my) belly — (it's) the māyā-net — I won't remember (you). The petition: don't give-me-offspring; offspring is the māyā-net; I-won't-be-able-to-remember-you.
Nakō dēūm Devā dravya āṇi bhāgya — tō ēka udvega hōya jīvā — don't give, Deva, wealth and good-fortune — they become one (great) udvega (anxiety) for the jīva. The petition: don't give-me-wealth-or-good-fortune; they cause-anxiety.
The close: Tukā mhaṇe karī fakīrāñce parī — rātra-divasa Hari yēīla gharā — Tukā: make me like a fakīra — day-and-night Hari will come to (my) house. The positive-petition: make me like a fakīra (mendicant — no family, no wealth) — (then) Hari will come to my house day-and-night. The bhakta wants Hari-visit-frequency — the fakīra-state enables-it.
Fakīra is a Sufi-mendicant term — its use here shows Tukārām's cross-tradition vocabulary. (Tukārām lived during the height of Indo-Persian cultural-exchange in the Deccan.)
For someone today
This is a startling, radical prayer of renunciation. Tuka asks God not to give him children, because he fears that raising a family will tangle him in the net of attachment and make him forget the divine. He asks God not to give him wealth or good fortune either, because he sees these too becoming a constant source of anxiety for the soul. Instead, he asks to be made like a wandering mendicant, free of family and possessions, so that Hari might visit his home day and night. This is honest, yearning prayer rather than a fixed rule — Tuka himself lived as a householder — but it names plainly how family obligations and material success can crowd out a spiritual life.
मराठी: ही एक धाडसी, त्यागाकडे झुकणारी प्रार्थना आहे. तुकाराम महाराज देवाला विनवतात की मला संतान देऊ नकोस, कारण कुटुंब सांभाळताना मी मायेच्या जाळ्यात अडकेन आणि तुला विसरून जाईन अशी भीती त्यांना वाटते. ते धनसंपत्ती किंवा भाग्यही मागत नाहीत, कारण त्यांना दिसते की हे सुद्धा जिवाला सतत चिंतेचे कारण बनते. त्याऐवजी ते विनवतात की मला फकिरासारखे कर — कुटुंब आणि संपत्तीविना — जेणेकरून हरी रात्रंदिवस माझ्या घरी येईल. ही एक प्रामाणिक, आर्त प्रार्थना आहे, कायमचा नियम नव्हे — तुकाराम महाराज स्वतः गृहस्थ होते — पण यातून हे स्पष्ट होते की कौटुंबिक जबाबदाऱ्या आणि भौतिक यश आध्यात्मिक जीवनाला कसे मागे टाकू शकतात.
Where this applies
- When you notice that worrying about wealth or family obligations is crowding out your inner or spiritual life
- When you're drawn to a simpler, less attached way of living, even briefly
- When you want to name honestly how much your possessions or responsibilities weigh on you
- When you're seeking a prayer that admits ambivalence about things you're expected to want