संत साहित्य · Tukārām · Abhanga 3344 of 4582

Abhanga 3344

Guard a gift once given, keep your mind steady against competing desires, and ask that the sweetness of devotion remain constant from beginning to end.

When you receive something precious and have to decide whether to protect it carefully or let it slip through neglect.

When distractions and competing wants threaten to pull your attention away from what matters most to you.

When you want a relationship or practice to stay warm and meaningful over years, not just in its first excited moments.

The verse

केलियाचें दान । करा आपुलें जतन ॥१॥ माझी बुद्धि स्थिर देवा । नाहीं विषयांचा हेवा ॥ध्रु.॥ भावा अंतराय । येती अंतरती पाय ॥२॥ तुका म्हणे जोडी । आदीं अंतीं राहो गोडी ॥३॥

Literal translation

Keliyāñce dāna — the dāna once made; karā āpule jatana — keep your jatana (of it). Mājhī buddhi sthira Devā — my buddhi (be) firm, Deva; nāhī viṣayāñcā hevā — no hevā for viṣayas. Bhāvā antarāya — (when) antarāya (comes) to bhāva; yetī antaratī pāya — (your) pāya recede. Tukā mhaṇe jōḍī — Tukā says: in (this) jōḍī; ādīm antīm rāhō gōḍī — from beginning to end let the gōḍī stay.

What it means

A short 3-verse petition by Tukārām.

The petition: Keep-the-dāna-once-given. Make-my-buddhi-firm; no-rivalry-for-viṣayas. When-bhāva-obstructed, your-feet-recede. In-this-jōḍī, let-gōḍī-stay-beginning-to-end.

The ādī-antī gōḍī (sweetness-beginning-to-end) closing is striking — the bhakta-petitions for-consistent-rasa-throughout-the-relationship.

For someone today

Tukārām's petition. The gift (once) given — keep your safekeeping of it. My intellect (be) firm, Deva — there is no rivalry for sense-objects. When obstacle (comes) to bhāva — (your) feet recede. In this joining — from beginning to end, let the sweetness stay. The verse permits the bhakti-petition: consistent bhakti sweetness from beginning to end.

मराठी: तुकारामांची ही विनवणी आहे. एकदा दिलेली देणगी सांभाळून ठेवा. देवा, माझी बुद्धी स्थिर राहो — विषयांची कोणतीही आसक्ती नसावी. भावात अडथळा आला की तुझे पाय मागे सरतात. या जोडीत, आरंभापासून शेवटपर्यंत गोडी टिकून राहावी. भक्तीची ही गोडी सुरुवातीपासून शेवटपर्यंत सारखीच राहावी, हीच या अभंगाची शिकवण आहे.

Where this applies

When someone receives a blessing or opportunity and worries about neglecting or wasting it over time
When a person notices their focus drifting toward competing desires and wants to steady their mind instead
When you sense your connection to something sacred weakening whenever doubt or distraction gets in the way
When someone hopes a relationship or devotion will stay sweet and steady throughout its whole course, not just at the start

my-buddhi-be-firm