संत साहित्य · Tukārām · Abhanga 3321 of 4582

Abhanga 3321

True spiritual teaching comes from lived experience, not chasing power, and it is refined by keeping good company and repeating a name you love.

When you want your words about faith to come from lived experience rather than borrowed ideas.

When you are offered power, status, or special ability and need to remember it is not what you are really after.

When you notice that time spent with sincere, devoted people changes how you speak and act.

The verse

बोलिलों ते धर्म अनुभव अंगें । काय पांडुरंगें उणें केलें ॥१॥ सर्व सिद्धि पायीं वोळगती दासी । इच्छा नाहीं ऐसी व्हावें कांहीं ॥ध्रु.॥ संतसमागमें अळंकार वाणी । करूं हे पेरणी शुद्ध बीजा ॥२॥ तुका म्हणे रामकृष्णनामें गोड । आवडीचें कोड माळ ओऊं ॥३॥

Literal translation

What-I-spoke-is-dharma — anubhava in-anga. What-has-Pāṇḍuranga-left-short. Siddhis-attend-feet-as-dāsīs — no-desire-let-anything-be. With-sant-sanga vāṇī-is-aḷankāra; we-sow-in-śuddha-bīja. Tukā: Rāma-Krṣṇa-Nāma-gōḍa; string-māḷa of-loved-puzzle.

What it means

A confident 3-verse self-witness: my-speech is dharma — anubhava in the body — Pāṇḍuranga has left nothing wanting; siddhis attend as handmaidens, sants-company ornaments speech, Rāma-Krṣṇa-Nāma is sweet.

For someone today

Tukaram testifies plainly that what he teaches is not secondhand theory, it comes from what he has actually lived and felt in his own body. He says Pandurang has left nothing lacking in his life, and though every kind of extraordinary power would gladly serve him like a servant, he has no desire for any of that. What actually refines a person's speech and character, he says, is time spent in the company of true devotees, that is the soil where pure seeds get planted. He ends with something simple and joyful, the name Rama-Krishna itself is sweet enough to string into a garland worth wearing.

मराठी: तुकाराम स्पष्टपणे सांगतात की मी जे बोलतो ते उधार घेतलेलं ज्ञान नाही, तर ते माझ्या स्वतःच्या अनुभवातून, शरीराने जगलेलं आहे. पांडुरंगाने माझ्या आयुष्यात काहीच कमी ठेवलेलं नाही, आणि सगळ्या सिद्धी दासींसारख्या पायाशी सेवेला तयार असल्या तरी त्यांची कोणतीही इच्छा उरलेली नाही, असं ते म्हणतात. माणसाची वाणी खरोखर घडते ती संतांच्या सहवासात, तिथेच शुद्ध बीज पेरलं जातं. शेवटी ते साधेपणाने सांगतात, राम-कृष्ण हे नाम इतकं गोड आहे की त्याचीच माळ गुंफावी.

Where this applies

When you want your words about faith to come from real experience rather than something only read or heard
When you are tempted by power, status, or special ability and need to remember they are not the point
When you notice how much good company shapes the way you speak and think
When you want a simple daily practice, like repeating a name you love, rather than something elaborate