संत साहित्य
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संत साहित्य · Tukārām · Abhanga 3348 of 4582

Abhanga 3348

Honest confession of your own flaws and ingratitude does not disqualify you from grace, since the divine may hold you close at its feet without waiting for you to become worthy.

When you notice you react with irritation instead of gratitude even when someone honors or respects you.
When you search honestly for good qualities in yourself and come up empty.
When you wonder, in genuine humility, why you are loved or cared for despite your visible flaws.

The verse

मज नष्टा माया मोह नाहीं लोभ । अधिक हो क्षोभ आदराचा ॥१॥ धिग हें शरीर अनउपकार । न मनी आभार उपकाराचा ॥ध्रु.॥ मजहून नष्ट आहे ऐसा कोण । नावडे मिष्टान्न बहुमोल ॥२॥ न दिसती मज आपलेसे गुण । संचित तें कोण जाणे मागें ॥३॥ तुका म्हणे देखोनियां काईं । पांडुरंगा पायीं राखियेलें ॥४॥

Literal translation

Maja naṣṭā māyā mōha nāhī lōbha — I, the naṣṭa, have no māyā-mōha-lōbha; adhika hō kṣōbha ādarāñcā — only kṣōbha grows-on-me from ādara. Dhiga he śarīra anupakāra — shame on this anupakāra body; na manī ābhāra upakārāñcā — doesn't recognize ābhāra for favors. Majahūna naṣṭa āhe aisā kōṇa — who is more naṣṭa than me; nāvaḍe miṣṭānna bahumōla — I don't like precious miṣṭānna. Na disatī maja āpalesem guṇa — I don't see my own guṇa; samchita te kōṇa jāṇe māge — what samchita from past — who knows. Tukā mhaṇe dekhōnīyām kāīm — Tukā says: seeing what; Pāṇḍurangā pāyīm rākhiyele — Pāṇḍurangā kept (me) at feet.

What it means

A 4-verse extreme-humility prayer. Tukārām enumerates his negative-traits and concludes with-bewildered-gratitude: seeing-what-in-me, Pāṇḍurangā-kept-me-at-his-feet?

For someone today

Tukaram speaks with startling honesty about his own faults, saying that even honor and respect only stir up irritation in him rather than gratitude. He calls his own body shameful and ungrateful, unable to properly appreciate the kindness shown to him, and admits he does not even care for the finest, most precious food. He confesses he cannot see any good qualities in himself and has no idea what karma from his past has shaped him. And yet, he ends in wonder, asking what Pandurang could possibly have seen in someone like him to keep him close at his feet anyway. It is a picture of grace that does not wait for us to become worthy first.

मराठी: तुकाराम स्वतःच्या दोषांबद्दल आश्चर्यकारक प्रामाणिकपणे बोलतात, ते म्हणतात की सन्मान आणि आदरसुद्धा माझ्यात कृतज्ञता नाही तर चिडचिडच निर्माण करतो. ते स्वतःच्या शरीराला लज्जास्पद आणि कृतघ्न म्हणतात, जे आपल्यावर झालेल्या उपकारांची कदरही करू शकत नाही, आणि कबूल करतात की सर्वात मौल्यवान, स्वादिष्ट पदार्थही मला आवडत नाहीत. आपल्यात काहीच चांगले गुण दिसत नाहीत आणि आपल्या भूतकाळातील संचिताने आपल्याला कसे घडवले हेही आपल्याला माहीत नाही, असे ते मान्य करतात. आणि तरीही, शेवटी ते आश्चर्याने विचारतात की पांडुरंगाने माझ्यासारख्या माणसात असे काय पाहिले की त्याने मला आपल्या पायाशी जपून ठेवले. ही कृपेची अशी प्रतिमा आहे जी आपण आधी लायक व्हावे अशी वाट पाहत नाही.

Where this applies