Abhanga 3174
Once you have truly committed to a path, retreat is not an option, and the only fear worth carrying is the fear of losing that commitment itself.
The verse
केलें शकुनें प्रयाण । आतां मागें फिरे कोण ॥१॥
होय तैसें होय आतां । देह बळी काय चिंता ॥ध्रु.॥
पडिलें पालवीं । त्याचा धाक वाहे जीवीं ॥२॥
तुका म्हणे जीणें । देवा काय हीनपणें ॥३॥
Literal translation
Kēlem śakunēm prayāṇa — ātām māgēm phirē kōṇa — the prayāṇa (has been) made by śakuna — now who turns back. Hōya taisēm hōya ātām — deha baḷī kāya chintā — let happen as may now — deha as baḷī, what chintā. Paḍilēm pālavīm — tyāchā dhāka vāhē jīvīm — (I have) fallen in (your) pālava — (only) that fear (I) carry in (my) jīva. Tukā mhaṇe jīṇē — Devā kāya hīnapaṇē — Tukā says: this living — O Deva, what (worth) in hīna-paṇa.
What it means
A 4-verse commitment-text using travel-vocabulary. Prayāṇa (a departure-journey, usually a vrata or pilgrimage) once begun under a good śakuna cannot be reversed without inviting bad-omen. The deha itself is the offering (baḷī). The only remaining anxiety is Lord-related fear (the fear of failing in refuge), not worldly fear. Life lived in hīna-paṇa is not worth living.
For someone today
There is a point past which retreat is itself defeat. When you have begun a worthwhile path, the body must be offered to it, and the only fear worth bearing is loss of the path itself. A life lived in hīna-paṇa — small, hedging, half-committed — has no worth in front of Deva.
Where this applies
- Tukārām's prayāṇa-no-return; body-offered; only-fear-the-Lord canonical
- Companion to 3169 (finish-the-sōnga) and 2876 (sant-uvāca discipline)