Abhanga 2975
You do not need scholarly mastery of scripture to reach God; living simply with devotion in his name, and trusting him with an honest, childlike heart, is enough.
The verse
पाहों ग्रंथ तरी आयुष्य नाहीं हातीं । नाहीं ऐशी मति अर्थ कळे ॥१॥
होईंल तें हो या विठोबाच्या नांवें । आचरलें भावें जीवीं धरूं ॥ध्रु.॥
एखादा अंगासी येईंल प्रकार । विचारितां फार युक्ति वाढे ॥२॥
तुका म्हणे आळी करितां गोमटी । मायबापा पोटीं येते दया ॥३॥
Literal translation
Pāhōm grantha tarī āyuṣya nāhī hātī — looking atgrantha— there is noāyuṣya(life-time) in my hand; nāhī aiśī mati artha kaḷe — (I) don't have suchmati(intelligence) (that) theartha(meaning) would be known. Hōīla te hō yā Viṭhōbāñcyā nāve — whatever happens — may it happen in this Viṭhōbā's Name; ācharale bhāve jīvī dharūm — what isācharale(practiced) withbhāva, hold (it) in (the)jīva. Ekhādā angāsī yeīla prakāra — if someprakāra(condition, situation) comes onto (my)anga; vichāritām phāra yukti vāḍhe — onvichāra(considering), manyyukti(means) grow. Tukā says: āḷī karitām gōmaṭī — (when one makes) a sweetāḷī(baby's-fuss, tender-fuss); māyabāpā pōṭī yete dayā — themāyabāpa(mother-father) —dayā(compassion) comes in (their) belly.
What it means
A short bhakta's-recourse-by-baby's-fuss verse. Pāhōm grantha tarī āyuṣya nāhī hātī — nāhī aiśī mati artha kaḷe — can't read grantha — no life-time in hand — no mati to understand meaning. The honest-confession: no time, no intelligence, for studying scripture.
Hōīla te hō yā Viṭhōbāñcyā nāve — ācharale bhāve jīvī dharūm — whatever happens, in Viṭhōbā's Name — what is practiced with bhāva, hold in jīva. The simpler-path: live with bhāva-in-Viṭhōbā's-Name.
Ekhādā angāsī yeīla prakāra — vichāritām phāra yukti vāḍhe — if some condition comes — many tricks grow on considering. The pragmatic-claim: don't-plan-ahead; when-the-situation-comes, the-yukti-grows-by-itself.
The close: Tukā mhaṇe āḷī karitām gōmaṭī — māyabāpā pōṭī yete dayā — making a sweet baby's-fuss — māyabāpa's-belly fills-with-dayā. The bhakti-image: baby's-fuss is the bhakta's-recourse; the parent's-belly fills-with-compassion at-the-baby's-cry. (Pairs with 2850 baby's-words-wonderful-to-parents.)
For someone today
This is a simple prayer built around the image of a child's fussing. I don't have a lifetime to spend studying scripture, Tukārām says, and I don't have the intelligence to grasp its meaning anyway. So whatever happens, let it happen in Viṭhobā's Name — whatever I practice with devotion, I'll hold close in my heart. If some difficult situation arises, thinking it through in the moment will bring the means I need — I don't have to have it all figured out in advance. Just as a baby's sweet, insistent fussing stirs compassion in a mother and father's heart, so too does a devotee's simple, heartfelt turning toward God call up divine compassion. The strategy here is not scholarly mastery of scripture but plain devotion and childlike trust — the resourcefulness you need will grow as the situation calls for it.
मराठी: हा एक बाळाच्या हट्टाच्या प्रतिमेवर आधारलेली साधी प्रार्थना आहे. तुकाराम म्हणतात, ग्रंथ वाचायला माझ्या हाती इतके आयुष्य नाही, आणि त्याचा अर्थ समजण्याइतकी बुद्धीही माझ्याकडे नाही. म्हणून जे होईल ते विठोबाच्या नावानेच होवो — जे भावाने आचरले जाईल, तेच मी जीवात धरून ठेवीन. एखादा कठीण प्रसंग अंगावर आला, तर विचार करता करता आपोआप उपाय सुचत जातात — सगळं आधीच ठरवून ठेवायची गरज नाही. जसे बाळाचा गोड हट्ट पाहून आईबापाच्या पोटात कणव दाटून येते, तसेच भक्ताच्या साध्या, मनापासूनच्या हाकेनेही देवाची करुणा जागी होते. इथली शिकवण अशी आहे की शास्त्रपांडित्य लागत नाही — साधी भक्ती आणि बाळासारखा निर्व्याज विश्वास पुरेसा असतो; प्रसंग येईल तसतशी युक्तीही वाढत जाते.
Where this applies
- When you feel you lack the time or education to study scripture deeply and worry that this makes your faith less valid
- When you are anxious about planning for every possible future problem instead of trusting you will handle it when it comes
- When you want to approach God simply and honestly, the way a child turns to a parent, instead of performing sophistication
- When you catch yourself comparing your plain devotion to someone else's scholarly or polished practice