Abhanga 2956
Ask for a mind so touched by love of God that it stays untouched by the world, like a lotus leaf on water, hearing praise and blame without being moved, seeing life the way you see a dream after waking.
The verse
जाणोनि नेणतें करीं माझें मन । तुझी प्रेमखूण देऊनियां ॥१॥
मग मी व्यवहारीं असेन वर्तत । जेवीं जळाआंत पद्मपत्र ॥ध्रु.॥
ऐकोनि नाइकें निंदास्तुति कानीं । जैसा कां उन्मनी योगिराज ॥२॥
देखोनि न देखें प्रपंच हा दृष्टी । स्वप्नीचिया सृष्टी चेविल्या जेवीं ॥२॥
तुका म्हणे ऐसें जालियावांचून । करणें तें तें सीण वाटतसे ॥४॥
Literal translation
Jāṇōnī neṇate karī mājhe mana — knowing, make my mind as-not-knowing; tujhī prema-khūṇa deūnīyām — giving (me) theprema-khūṇa(mark of prema). Maga mī vyavahārī asena vartata — then I will be invyavahāra(worldly-affairs) acting; jevīm jaḷā-āmta padma-patra — like apadma-patra(lotus-leaf) in water. Aikōnī nāike nindā-stuti kānī — hearing, not hearingnindā-stuti(blame-and-praise) in (my) ear; jaisā kām unmanī yogirāja — like theunmanī(no-mind, supra-mental)yogirāja. Dekhōnī na dekhe prapañcha hā drṣṭī — seeing, not seeing thisprapañcha(world) with (my) eyes; svapnīñciyā srṣṭī chevilyā jevīm — as thesrṣṭī(creation) ofsvapna(dream), once-chevilyā(awoke). Tukā says: aise jāliyā-vāñchūna — without this becoming (so); karaṇe te te sīṇa vāṭatase — every doing feels (only) likesīṇa(strain).
What it means
THE canonical 5-verse detached-in-vyavahāra prayer. The three-fold-image-set is among the most-famous in the corpus.
Verse 1 (petition): Jāṇōnī neṇate karī mājhe mana — tujhī prema-khūṇa deūnīyām — knowing, make my mind as-not-knowing — give the prema-mark. The opening-petition: give-me the prema-khūṇa-mark; make-my-mind-as-not-knowing (despite-knowing). This is the transcendence-of-deliberate-jñāna.
Dhrūpada (Image 1 — padma-patra): Maga mī vyavahārī asena vartata — jevīm jaḷā-āmta padma-patra — then I'll be in vyavahāra — like a lotus-leaf in water. The classic Bhagavad-Gītā image (padma-patram-iva-ambhasi): the lotus-leaf is in-the-water yet-water-doesn't-stick-to-it. So the bhakta in-vyavahāra.
Verse 2 (Image 2 — unmanī-yogirāja): Aikōnī nāike nindā-stuti kānī — jaisā kām unmanī yogirāja — hearing, not-hearing blame-praise — like the unmanī yogi-rāja. The unmanī — the no-mind, supra-mental yogic-state where the yogi hears-without-hearing (the auditory-sensation occurs but the mind doesn't engage). So the bhakta with nindā-stuti.
Verse 3 (Image 3 — awoke-from-dream): Dekhōnī na dekhe prapañcha hā drṣṭī — svapnīñciyā srṣṭī chevilyā jevīm — seeing, not-seeing prapañcha — as one (sees) the dream-creation, once awoke. The image: just-awoke from a dream, you-can-still-remember-the-dream-creation but-it-doesn't-affect-you. So-too the bhakta with prapañcha.
Close: Tukā mhaṇe aise jāliyā-vāñchūna — karaṇe te te sīṇa vāṭatase — without this becoming, every doing feels like sīṇa. The discipline-warrant: without these three states (lotus-leaf, unmanī, post-dream), every action is strain. So the petition is essential.
This is one of the most-philosophically-precise detached-in-vyavahāra texts in the bhakti-corpus. Pairs with 2917 non-dual identification, 2937 deha-atīta, 2942 true-samnyāsa = samkalpa-destruction.
For someone today
Tukaram prays for a mind that, even while knowing everything, becomes like one who knows nothing — touched instead by the true mark of love. With that grace, he says, he can go about his daily work and dealings the way a lotus leaf sits in water, present in it yet never wet by it. He wants to hear both blame and praise without either one pulling at him, the way a deeply absorbed yogi hears sound without really being moved by it. And he wants to look at this whole world the way you look back on a dream after waking — seen clearly, but no longer holding any power over you. Without reaching that state, he admits, everything he does simply feels exhausting.
मराठी: तुकाराम अशा मनाची प्रार्थना करतात जे सर्व काही जाणूनही जणू काही जाणतच नाही असे व्हावे — त्याऐवजी प्रेमाच्या खऱ्या खुणेने भारलेले असावे. अशी कृपा लाभली की, ते म्हणतात, रोजचे व्यवहार आणि कामकाज ते तसेच करतील जसे कमळाचे पान पाण्यात असते — पाण्यात राहूनही ओले न होता. निंदा व स्तुती दोन्ही ऐकूनही त्यांनी कोणाकडे ओढले जाऊ नये अशी त्यांची इच्छा आहे, जसा एखादा गूढ योगी आवाज ऐकूनही विचलित होत नाही. आणि हे संपूर्ण जग त्यांना तसेच पाहायचे आहे जसे जागे झाल्यावर स्वप्न आठवते — स्पष्ट दिसते, पण त्याचा पगडा उरत नाही. हे साध्य झाल्याशिवाय, ते कबूल करतात, प्रत्येक कृती केवळ थकवणारी वाटते.
Where this applies
- When you have to work, earn, and deal with people daily but don't want the world to leave a mark on your heart
- When praise makes you proud or criticism wounds you, and you want to hear both without being pulled around
- When ordinary life starts to feel exhausting no matter what you do, and you sense something inward is missing
- When you want to stay engaged with your responsibilities while keeping an inner distance, like a lotus leaf on water