संत साहित्य · Tukārām · Abhanga 2929 of 4582

Abhanga 2929

Who has time to waste words on trivial things anymore, Tukaram asks — now there's only one task worth doing: holding Vitthal in your heart. Pull your wandering mind back, again and again, however many times it strays. Tukaram admits that going around teaching people this has made him look like a madman in others' eyes.

Recognizing upadeśa-to-people makes-Tukā-mad (= absorbed)

The verse

कोण वेची वाणी । आतां क्षुल्लका कारणीं ॥१॥ आतां हें चि काम करूं । विठ्ठल हृदयांत धरूं ॥ध्रु.॥ नेंदाविया वृत्ति । आतां उठों चि बहुती ॥२॥ उपदेश लोकां । करूनी वेडा होतो तुका ॥३॥

Literal translation

Kōṇa vechī vāṇī — whovechī(spends)vāṇī(speech); ātām kṣullakā kāraṇī — now onkṣullaka(petty, trivial) matters? Ātām he chi kāma karūm — now only this work shall (I) do; Viṭhṭhala hrdayāmta dharūm — hold Viṭṭhal in (my) heart. Nēndāviyā vrtti — pullvrtti(mental-modifications); ātām uṭhōm chi bahutī — now rise-up many-times-over. Upadeśa lōkām karūnī — givingupadeśato people; veḍā hōtō Tukā — Tukā has becomeveḍā(mad).

What it means

A short commit-to-bhakti-only verse. Kōṇa vechī vāṇī — ātām kṣullakā kāraṇī — who spends speech now on petty matters? The rhetorical-question: who would waste-speech-on-trivia (now that we have-bhakti)?

Ātām he chi kāma karūm — Viṭhṭhala hrdayāmta dharūm — now only this work — hold Viṭṭhal in heart. The commitment: only-this-work, only-Viṭṭhal-in-heart.

Nēndāviyā vrtti — ātām uṭhōm chi bahutī — pull the vrtti — rise-up many-times. Yoga-vocabulary: vrtti-nirōdha (pulling-back-mental-modifications) is the basic-Patanjali-yoga discipline. Tukārām adapts-it: pull-the-vrtti and rise-many-times to-the-bhakti.

The close: upadeśa lōkām karūnī — veḍā hōtō Tukā — giving upadeśa to people, Tukā has become mad. The veḍā state — both mad-with-bhakti and seen-as-mad-by-the-paṇḍitas (echo of 2859 Pāṇḍita-jana-spit-Tukā-out!).

For someone today

मराठी: आता क्षुल्लक गोष्टींवर बोलण्यात वेळ कोण घालवतो, तुकाराम विचारतात — आता एकच काम करण्यासारखे आहे: विठ्ठलाला हृदयात धरून ठेवणे. भरकटणारे मन पुन्हा पुन्हा, कितीही वेळा भटकले तरी परत खेचून आणा. तुकाराम कबूल करतात की हे लोकांना शिकवत फिरल्यामुळे इतरांच्या नजरेत ते वेडे ठरले आहेत.

Where this applies

When you notice how much of your talk each day is filler, gossip, or complaints
When you keep getting distracted and need to gently pull your attention back to what matters
When people think you are strange or excessive for how devoted you are to your practice