Abhanga 2931
You already know what's right, Pandurang — you know the true way of dharma. So what more is there for me to say? My words are spent; I simply lay them at your feet. All three kinds of karma — what's stored from the past, what's ripening now, and what's being done in this moment — can change in a single instant by your power. Tukaram says: by your sovereign power, you are the one who does everything.
The verse
जाणसी उचित । पांडुरंगा धर्मनीत ॥१॥
तरि म्यां बोलावें तें काईं । सरे ऐसें तुझे पायीं ॥ध्रु.॥
पालटती क्षणें । संचितप्रारब्धक्रियमाण ॥२॥
तुका म्हणे सत्ता । होसी सकळ करिता ॥३॥
Literal translation
Jāṇasī uchita — you know theuchita(fitting, appropriate); Pāṇḍurangā dharma-nīti — Pāṇḍurangā, thedharma-nīti(dharmic-method, just-conduct). Tari myām bōlāve te kāī — therefore, what should I speak?; sare aise tujhe pāyī — (my words are) depleted/spent — thus at your feet. Pālaṭatī kṣaṇe — (they) change in (an) instant; samchita-prārabdha-kriyamāṇa — samchita, prārabdha, kriyamāṇa (the three karma-types). Tukā says: sattā — (by your)sattā(sovereign-power); hōsī sakaḷa karitā — you are thesakaḷa-karitā(all-doer).
What it means
A short you-know-dharma-nīti; karma-changes-by-your-sattā surrender prayer. Jāṇasī uchita — Pāṇḍurangā dharma-nīti — you know the fitting — the dharma-nīti. The opening: the Lord knows-what-is-right; I-don't-need-to-instruct-him.
Tari myām bōlāve te kāī — sare aise tujhe pāyī — what should I speak — spent thus at your feet. The surrender: all my-words spent at your-feet. (Pairs with 2903 vechiyele vāṇī.)
Pālaṭatī kṣaṇe — samchita-prārabdha-kriyamāṇa — (they) change in an instant — samchita, prārabdha, kriyamāṇa. The radical-claim: all three karma-types can be changed-in-an-instant by-the-Lord's-sattā. (Pairs with 2922 all-three-karmas-became-Nārāyaṇa.)
The close: Tukā mhaṇe sattā — hōsī sakaḷa karitā — by sattā — you are the all-doer. The bhakti-claim: the Lord is the sakaḷa-karitā (all-doer); karma is-his-to-rearrange.
For someone today
You already know what's right, Pandurang — you know the true way of dharma. So what more is there for me to say? My words are spent; I simply lay them at your feet. All three kinds of karma — what's stored from the past, what's ripening now, and what's being done in this moment — can change in a single instant by your power. Tukaram says: by your sovereign power, you are the one who does everything.
मराठी: तू आधीच जाणतोस काय योग्य आहे, पांडुरंगा — तुला खरा धर्ममार्ग ठाऊक आहे. मग मी आणखी काय बोलू? माझे शब्द संपले आहेत; मी ते फक्त तुझ्या पायांशी ठेवतो. संचित, प्रारब्ध आणि क्रियमाण — हे तिन्ही कर्म, तुझ्या शक्तीने एका क्षणात बदलू शकतात. तुकाराम म्हणतात: तुझ्या सत्तेने, सर्वकाही करणारा तूच आहेस.
Where this applies
- When you're anxious about a past mistake or an outcome that feels locked in and unchangeable
- When you find yourself over-explaining or bargaining with God or life instead of simply trusting
- When you feel stuck by fate and need to remember that things can shift