संत साहित्य · Tukārām · Abhanga 3358 of 4582

Abhanga 3358

Real devotion directs every part of a person, speech, sight, hearing, and action, entirely toward one purpose, rather than remaining a vague feeling.

When you commit so fully to something that it shapes what you say, look at, and do all day.

When you deliberately stop listening to distracting talk and focus only on what truly matters to you.

When you realize your whole life, not just occasional effort, belongs to the thing or person you value most.

The verse

ध्याइन तुझें रूप गाइन तुझें नाम । आणीक न करीं काम जिव्हामुखें ॥१॥ पाहिन तुझे पाय ठेविन तेथें डोय । पृथक तें काय न करीं मनीं ॥ध्रु.॥ तुझे चि गुणवाद आइकेन कानीं । आणिकांची वाणी पुरे आतां ॥२॥ करिन सेवा करीं चालेन मी पायीं । आणीक न वजें ठायीं तुजविण ॥३॥ तुका म्हणे जीव ठेविला तुझ्या पायीं । आणीक तो काईं देऊं कोणा ॥४॥

Literal translation

Dhyāina tujhē rūpa gāina tujhē nāma — I will meditate your rūpa, sing your nāma; āṇīka na karīm kāma jihvāmukhe — no other kāma will I do with jihvā-mukha. Pāhina tujhe pāya ṭhevim tethe ḍoya — I will see your feet, place there my head. Tujhē-chi guṇa-vāda āikēna kānīm — āṇikāñchī vāṇī pure ātām — only your guṇa-vāda will I hear; enough now of others' speech. Karina sevā karīm chālena mī pāyīm — I will serve with hands, walk with feet. Tukā mhaṇe jīva ṭhevila tujhyā pāyīm — āṇīka tō kāīm deūm koṇā — Tukā says: jīva is placed at your feet — to whom else can I give it?

What it means

A 4-verse total organ-by-organ pledge: tongue (dhyāna+gāna), eyes (pāya-darśana), head (ṭhevṇē), ears (guṇa-vāda only), hands (sevā), feet (chālṇē). Culminates in the jīva-itself given — and the rhetorical clinch: no one else to give it to.

For someone today

Tukaram makes a pledge that gives every part of himself a single purpose, his tongue will only meditate on and sing of the divine form and name, his eyes will only look toward those sacred feet, and his head will bow there with nothing else on his mind. His ears will listen only to praise of the divine, having had enough of everything else people say, and his hands and feet will serve and walk only in that direction, going nowhere without that presence. In the end he says his very life has been placed at those feet, and asks who else could he possibly give it to. It is devotion imagined as complete, organ by organ, rather than a vague feeling.

मराठी: तुकाराम इथे असा संकल्प करतात ज्यात स्वतःच्या प्रत्येक अवयवाला एकच उद्देश दिला जातो, त्यांची जीभ फक्त त्या रूपाचे ध्यान आणि नामाचे गायन करेल, त्यांचे डोळे फक्त त्या पवित्र पावलांकडे पाहतील, आणि त्यांचे मस्तक तिथेच नमेल, मनात दुसरे काही न ठेवता. त्यांचे कान फक्त त्याच्या गुणगानाचे ऐकतील, इतर सगळे बोलणे आता पुरे झाले असे ते म्हणतात, आणि त्यांचे हात-पाय फक्त त्याच दिशेने सेवा करतील आणि चालतील, त्या उपस्थितीशिवाय कुठेही जाणार नाहीत. शेवटी ते सांगतात की त्यांचा जीवच त्या पावलांशी अर्पण केला आहे, आणि विचारतात की तो दुसऱ्या कोणाला देऊ शकतो. ही अशी भक्ती आहे जी एका अस्पष्ट भावनेऐवजी प्रत्येक अवयवामध्ये पूर्णपणे साकारलेली आहे.

Where this applies

When someone commits fully to a purpose, letting it shape their speech, attention, and actions together
When a person decides to stop scattering their focus across many things and directs it toward one meaningful goal
When you choose to listen only to what truly matters and tune out distracting noise and gossip
When someone realizes their whole life, not just occasional effort, belongs to what they love most