Abhanga 3032
Kaṇṭhīm rāhō nāma — may the nāma stay in (my) kaṇṭha; angīm bharōnīyām prema — may prema fill (my) anga (body).
The verse
कंठीं राहो नाम । अंगीं भरोनियां प्रेम ॥१॥
ऐसें द्यावें कांहीं दान । आलों पतित शरण ॥ध्रु.॥
संतांचिये पायीं । वेळोवेळां ठेवीं डोईं ॥२॥
तुका म्हणे तरें । भवसिंधु एका सरें ॥३॥
Literal translation
Kaṇṭhīm rāhō nāma — may the nāma stay in (my) kaṇṭha; angīm bharōnīyām prema — may prema fill (my) anga (body). Aise dyāve kāmhī dāna — give some such dāna; ālōm patita śaraṇa — I have come, patita, for śaraṇa. Samtāñciye pāyīm — at the sants' pāya; veḷōveḷām ṭhevīm ḍōīm — again-and-again, I place (my) ḍōī (head). Tukā mhaṇe tare — Tukā says: (I will) cross; bhava-sindhu ekā sare — the bhava-sindhu in one sara (single-stride).
What it means
A canonical 3-verse refuge-petition by Tukārām.
The petition is condensed-canonical-Vārkarī: 1. Name-in-throat, prema-in-body — the two-marks of-the-realized-bhakta 2. Give-this-dāna; I'm patita and-have-come-for-refuge — the petition-stance 3. Sants'-feet I-keep-head-again-and-again — sant-pūjā as-the-method 4. Bhava-sindhu-crossed-in-one-stride — the soteriological-result
The image of ekā sare (one-single-stride) for-crossing-the-bhava-sindhu is striking — not-a-long-journey, but-a-single-step enabled by Name-in-throat, prema-in-body, sants'-feet.
Compare-Tukārām's-own 2742 (yātī-hīna-mati-hīna refuge), 2811 (bhēṭīlāgī-yearning).
For someone today
Tukārām's canonical refuge-petition. May the Name stay in (my) throat; may prema fill (my) body. Give some such gift — I have come, fallen, for refuge. At the sants' feet — again-and-again I place (my) head. (I will) cross the bhava-sindhu — in one single-stride. The verse permits the canonical Vārkarī refuge-petition: Name-throat, prema-body, sants'-feet, bhava-sindhu-single-stride.
Where this applies
- Tukārām's canonical refuge-petition
- Name-in-throat, prema-in-body canonical bhakta-marks
- Bhava-sindhu-crossed-in-one-stride — single-step soteriology
- Companion to 2742, 2811