Abhanga 3032
This is Tukārām's classic prayer of refuge. May the Name stay on my lips and love fill my whole being — that is the gift I ask for, coming to you fallen and humble. Again and again I bow my head at the feet of the saints, taking them as my guide. Tukā says that with this practice, the vast ocean of worldly existence can be crossed in a single step.
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 thenāmastay in (my)kaṇṭha; angīm bharōnīyām prema — maypremafill (my)anga(body). Aise dyāve kāmhī dāna — give some suchdāna; ālōm patita śaraṇa — I have come,patita, forśaraṇa. Samtāñciye pāyīm — at thesants' pāya; veḷōveḷām ṭhevīm ḍōīm — again-and-again, I place (my)ḍōī(head). Tukā mhaṇe tare — Tukā says: (I will) cross; bhava-sindhu ekā sare — thebhava-sindhuin onesara(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
This is Tukārām's classic prayer of refuge. May the Name stay on my lips and love fill my whole being — that is the gift I ask for, coming to you fallen and humble. Again and again I bow my head at the feet of the saints, taking them as my guide. Tukā says that with this practice, the vast ocean of worldly existence can be crossed in a single step.
मराठी: हे तुकारामांचे शरणागतीचे भावपूर्ण मागणे आहे. कंठात नाम राहावे आणि अंतःकरण प्रेमाने भरून जावे — हीच देणगी मी मागतो, पतित होऊन तुझ्या शरण आलो आहे. वेळोवेळां संतांच्या पायी मी माझे मस्तक ठेवतो, त्यांनाच मार्गदर्शक मानतो. तुका म्हणतात, अशा साधनेने हा भवसिंधू एका क्षणात, एका पावलात पार करता येतो.
Where this applies
- When you feel unworthy and unsure how to even ask for help.
- When you want a simple daily practice instead of a complicated one.
- When you look to someone wiser or further along the path for guidance.
- When a problem in life feels like an ocean too wide to cross.