संत साहित्य · Tukārām · Abhanga 3138 of 4582

Abhanga 3138

Liberation cannot be seized through anxious haste, and a scattered, deluded mind will always mistake what is false for what is real.

When you find yourself rushing toward a spiritual or personal goal with anxious urgency instead of steady clarity.

When you feel your attention and desires scattering across many small attachments instead of settling into one.

When you feel worn down and realize you might be treating something false as if it were the real thing you need.

The verse

मोक्ष देवापाशीं नाहीं । लटिक्या घाई वळिवतें ॥१॥ काय खरें न धरी शुद्धी । गेली बुद्धी भ्रमलें ॥ध्रु.॥ अहंकारास उरलें काईं । पांचांठायीं हें वांटे ॥२॥ तुका म्हणे कुंथे भारें । लटिकें खरें मानुनियां ॥३॥

Literal translation

Mōkṣa devāpāśīm nāhī — mokṣa is not at Deva's-place; laṭikyā ghāī vaḷivate — false-haste forces. Kāya khare na dharī śuddhī — what's real, doesn't hold śuddhi; gelī buddhī bhramale — buddhi has gone, deluded. Ahamkārāsa urale kāīm — what is left for ahamkāra; pāmchāmṭhāyīm he vāmṭe — splits into five-places. Tukā mhaṇe kumthe bhāre — Tukā says: (he) groans under the load; laṭike khare mānunīyām — mistaking false for real.

What it means

A short 3-verse observation by Tukārām. The claim: mokṣa is-not-acquired-at-Deva's-place as-people-imagine in-false-haste. Real-discrimination (śuddhi) is-lost when-the-buddhi-becomes-deluded. Ahamkāra-itself fragments-into-5-pāmcha-bhūta-attachments. The bhakta groans-under-the-burden because-(he)-mistakes-laṭike (false) for-khare (true).

For someone today

Tukārām's observation. Mokṣa is not at Deva's side — false haste forces (the idea). What is real — (one) doesn't hold clarity; buddhi has gone, deluded. What remains for ahamkāra? — it splits into the five-places. (He) groans under the load — mistaking false for true. The verse offers the recognition that treating liberation as a place to rush toward is an illusion.

मराठी: तुकाराम एक निरीक्षण मांडतात. मोक्ष हा देवाजवळ ठेवलेली एखादी वस्तू नाही — खोट्या घाईने माणूस तसे मानून घेतो. जे खरे आहे, तेच शुद्ध बुद्धीने धरता येत नाही; बुद्धी भ्रमित होऊन निघून जाते. अहंकारासाठी तरी काय उरते? — तो पाच ठिकाणी विखुरला जातो. तुकाराम म्हणतात, खोट्याला खरे मानून माणूस ओझ्याखाली कण्हत राहतो. अशा प्रकारे हा अभंग सांगतो की मोक्षाला घाईघाईने गाठण्याची वस्तू समजणे हाच भ्रम आहे.

Where this applies

When you are rushing toward a spiritual goal as if it were a prize to grab quickly
When you feel scattered, pulled in many directions by small wants instead of settled in one clear purpose
When you feel exhausted and cannot figure out why, and suspect you have been chasing something false
When you catch yourself confusing a passing feeling of achievement with real inner peace