Abhanga 2942
Aisā gheī kā re samnyāsa — take samnyāsa like this; karī samkalpāñcā nāsa — destroy the samkalpa.
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 — take samnyāsa like this; karī samkalpāñcā nāsa — destroy the samkalpa. Maga tūm rāhe bhalate ṭhāyī — then stay anywhere; janī vanī khāṭe bhōī — among people, in forest, on cot, on ground. Tōḍī jāṇivecī kaḷā — cut the kaḷā (art) of jāṇīva (knowing, self-consciousness); hōī vrttīsī vegaḷā — become vegaḷa (separate) from the vrtti (mental-modifications). Tukā says: nabhā — (be like the) nabha (sky); hōī āṇuchā hī gābhā — be even the aṇu'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
THE canonical true-samnyāsa text. Take samnyāsa like this — destroy the samkalpa. Then stay anywhere — among people, in forest, on cot, on ground. Cut the art of jāṇīva — become separate from the vrtti. Be (like) the sky — be even the atom's-center. The radical-claim: samnyāsa is not about-clothes or-location; it is samkalpa-nāśa (intention-destruction). The four-fold inner-disciplines: (1) destroy-samkalpa; (2) cut-jāṇīva-art; (3) become-separate-from-vrtti; (4) be-sky-and-atom-center simultaneously. The outer-location becomes-irrelevant.
Where this applies
- THE canonical true-samnyāsa = samkalpa-destruction radical-renunciation
- Recognizing sannyāsa-is-not-place-or-cloth, but samkalpa-destruction
- Be-nabha (sky) and aṇu-gābhā (atom-center) — samnyāsa-as-formless-and-pointed
- Pairs with 2853 (fakīra-prayer), 2854 (canonical-householder-dharma — parama-pada by balā-of-vairāgya)