Abhanga 2918
True renunciation finds its real reward in the company of the wise and saintly — that companionship is itself the prize. Being near such people works like a lamp, gradually burning away your faults until you become free of sin. The genuine devotee of God is the one who no longer sees any real division between themselves and the divine, or between one being and another. Tukaram says he simply dances and sings in love, losing himself completely until he melts into the song itself.
The verse
वैराग्याचें भाग्य । संतसंग हा चि लाग ॥१॥
संतकृपेचे हे दीप । करी साधका निष्पाप ॥ध्रु.॥
तो चि देवभक्त । भेदाभेद नाहीं ज्यांत ॥२॥
तुका प्रेमें नाचे गाये । गाणियांत विरोन जाये ॥३॥
Literal translation
Vairāgyāñce bhāgya — (the)bhāgya(fortune) ofvairāgya; santa-sanga hā chi lāga — sant-sangaitself is thelāga(gain, prize). Santa-krpeñce he dīpa — thisdīpa(lamp) ofsant-krpā; karī sādhakā niṣpāpa — makes the sādhakaniṣpāpa(sinless, free-from-pāpa). Tō chi Deva-bhakta — that very one is the Deva-bhakta; bhedābheda nāhī jyāmta — in whom there is nobhedābheda(distinction, division). Tukā preme nāche gāye — (Tukā) dances and sings inprema; gāṇiyāmta virōn jāye — melts (virōn jāye) into the singing.
What it means
A short canonical sant-sanga as vairāgya's fortune verse. Vairāgyāñce bhāgya — santa-sanga hā chi lāga — vairāgya's fortune — sant-sanga is itself the gain. The opening-claim: for one who has vairāgya, sant-sanga is the prize-and-fortune.
Santa-krpeñce he dīpa — karī sādhakā niṣpāpa — this lamp of sant-krpā — makes the sādhaka niṣpāpa. The function: sant-krpā burns-away-pāpa.
Tō chi Deva-bhakta — bhedābheda nāhī jyāmta — that one is the Deva-bhakta — in whom no bhedābheda. The diagnostic: true-Deva-bhakta has no bhedābheda (no-distinction-with-Deva, also no-distinctions-among-creatures).
The close: Tukā preme nāche gāye — gāṇiyāmta virōn jāye — Tukā dances-sings in prema — melts into the singing. The bhakta's-experience: the singer-melts-into-the-song.
For someone today
True renunciation finds its real reward in the company of the wise and saintly — that companionship is itself the prize. Being near such people works like a lamp, gradually burning away your faults until you become free of sin. The genuine devotee of God is the one who no longer sees any real division between themselves and the divine, or between one being and another. Tukaram says he simply dances and sings in love, losing himself completely until he melts into the song itself.
मराठी: खऱ्या वैराग्याचे खरे फळ म्हणजे संतांचा सहवास — तो सहवासच खरा लाभ आहे. अशा माणसांच्या सान्निध्यात राहिल्याने, एखाद्या दिव्याप्रमाणे, हळूहळू तुमचे दोष जळून जातात आणि तुम्ही पापमुक्त होता. खरा देवभक्त तोच असतो, ज्याला स्वतःमध्ये आणि परमेश्वरामध्ये, किंवा एका जीवामध्ये आणि दुसऱ्यामध्ये कोणताच खरा भेद उरत नाही. तुकाराम म्हणतात, ते फक्त प्रेमाने नाचतात आणि गातात, स्वतःला पूर्णपणे विसरून जातात, आणि शेवटी त्या गाण्यातच विरून जातात.
Where this applies
- When you seek genuine renunciation but find yourself unsure where its real reward lies
- When you spend time with wise or spiritually grounded people and notice your own faults softening
- When you catch yourself still dividing the world into us and them, or yourself and the divine
- When you lose yourself completely in a moment of song, dance, or devotion and feel the separation between doer and act disappear