Abhanga 2942
True renunciation is not about where you live but about letting go of your driving intentions, so that your outer circumstances stop mattering to your inner peace.
The verse
ऐसा घेई कां रे संन्यास । करीं संकल्पाचा नास ॥१॥
मग तूं राहें भलते ठायीं । जनीं वनीं खाटे भोईं ॥ध्रु.॥
तोडीं जाणिवेची कळा । होई वृत्तीसी वेगळा ॥२॥
तुका म्हणणे नभा । होई आणुचा ही गाभा ॥३॥
Literal translation
Aisā gheī kā re samnyāsa — takesamnyāsalike this; karī samkalpāñcā nāsa — destroy thesamkalpa. Maga tūm rāhe bhalate ṭhāyī — then stay anywhere; janī vanī khāṭe bhōī — among people, in forest, on cot, on ground. Tōḍī jāṇivecī kaḷā — cut thekaḷā(art) ofjāṇīva(knowing, self-consciousness); hōī vrttīsī vegaḷā — becomevegaḷa(separate) from thevrtti(mental-modifications). Tukā says: nabhā — (be like the)nabha(sky); hōī āṇuchā hī gābhā — be even theaṇu's gābhā(atom-particle's-center).
What it means
THE canonical 3-verse true-samnyāsa = samkalpa-destruction radical-renunciation verse. Tukārām reframes the entire-samnyāsa-concept: not place-or-cloth, but samkalpa-destruction.
Verse 1: Aisā gheī kā re samnyāsa — karī samkalpāñcā nāsa — take samnyāsa like this — destroy the samkalpa. The radical-definition: samnyāsa = destruction-of-samkalpa (the intention-formation, will-act). The samkalpa is the inner-mover; destroying-it is the true-renunciation.
Dhrūpada: Maga tūm rāhe bhalate ṭhāyī — janī vanī khāṭe bhōī — then stay anywhere — among people, in forest, on cot, on ground. Once-samkalpa-is-destroyed, the outer-location is irrelevant. The bhakta can stay-anywhere — janī (among people), vanī (in forest), khāṭe (on cot), bhōī (on ground). The four-fold-outer-location-list is meant-to-cover-all-cases.
Verse 2: Tōḍī jāṇivecī kaḷā — hōī vrttīsī vegaḷā — cut the art of jāṇīva — become separate from vrtti. Two further-disciplines: (1) cut the jāṇīva (the I-am-knowing self-consciousness); (2) become separate-from-vrtti (mental-modifications). Pure Patanjali-yoga-vocabulary: vrtti-nirōdha + jāṇīva-cutting.
Close: Tukā mhaṇaṇe nabhā — hōī āṇuchā hī gābhā — be like the nabha (sky) — be even the gābhā (center) of the aṇu (atom-particle). The two-fold final-image: (1) sky-vast; (2) atom-center. The samnyāsī-bhakta is both vast as-sky AND concentrated as-atom-center simultaneously.
This is Tukārām's reframing of samnyāsa as inner-state-not-outer-form. Pairs with 2853 (don't-give-santāna-make-me-fakīra) but goes-deeper — no-need-to-become-fakīra; destroy-samkalpa-stay-anywhere.
For someone today
True renunciation, Tukaram says, has nothing to do with where you live or what you wear — it means letting go of your own driving intentions and plans. Once you release that inner grip, it no longer matters whether you're among people, alone in a forest, resting on a cot, or lying on bare ground. He also calls for cutting through the constant sense of "I am knowing this" and stepping back from the restless movements of the mind. In the end, be as vast and open as the sky, and at the very same time as concentrated and still as the center of a single atom.
मराठी: तुकाराम म्हणतात, खरा संन्यास हा कुठे राहतो किंवा काय परिधान करतो यावर अवलंबून नसतो — तो स्वतःच्या हट्टी संकल्पांना आणि योजनांना सोडून देण्यात असतो. एकदा हा आतला पकड सुटला, की मग तू माणसांमध्ये असो, रानात एकटा असो, खाटेवर विसावलेला असो किंवा उघड्या जमिनीवर पडलेला असो — काही फरक पडत नाही. तसेच 'मला हे कळते आहे' या सततच्या जाणिवेला छेदून टाक आणि मनाच्या अस्वस्थ हालचालींपासून वेगळा हो. शेवटी, आकाशासारखा विशाल आणि खुला हो, आणि त्याच वेळी एका अणूच्या केंद्रस्थानाइतका एकाग्र आणि स्थिर हो.
Where this applies
- When you think you need to change your circumstances or location to feel spiritually free
- When you're overly attached to your own plans and intentions
- When you want an image for holding both spaciousness and deep focus at once