संत साहित्य · Tukārām · Abhanga 3369 of 4582

Abhanga 3369

The audit of desire: even the highest things you could win in this universe are losable. What is unlosable? Only the union itself. Ask for that.

Tukārām's don't-ask-Indra-Dhruva-svarga-immortality; ask-only-ekapaṇa canonical

The verse

काय मागावें कवणासी । ज्यासी मागों तो मजपाशीं ॥१॥ जरी मागों पद इंद्राचें । तरी शाश्वत नाहीं त्याचें ॥ध्रु.॥ जरी मागों ध्रुवपद । तरी त्यासी येथील छंद ॥२॥ स्वर्गभोग मागों पूर्ण । पुण्य सरल्या मागुती येणें ॥३॥ आयुष्य मागों चिरंजीव । जीवा मरण नाहीं स्वभावें ॥४॥ तुका म्हणे एक मागें । एकपणे नाहीं भंग ॥५॥

Literal translation

Kāya māgāve kavaṇāsī — jyāsī māgōm to maja-pāsīm — what to ask, of whom — the one I would ask is right by me. Jarī māgōm pada Imdrāche — tarī śāśvata nāhī tyāche — if I ask Indra's pada — not eternal. Jarī māgōm Dhruva-pada — tarī tyāsī yethīla chamda — if Dhruva-pada — still has this-world's mood. Svarga-bhoga māgōm pūrṇa — puṇya saralyā māgutī yeṇe — svarga-enjoyment, full — when puṇya runs out, return. Āyuṣya māgōm cira-jīva — jīvā maraṇa nāhī svabhāve — I'd ask immortal life — but the jīva has no death by svabhāva. Tukā mhaṇe eka māge — ekapaṇe nāhī bhamga — Tukā says: ask the One — in oneness no breaking.

What it means

A 5-verse text of negation-by-staircase: each higher bhoga (Indra > Dhruva > svarga > immortality) is shown to be either non-eternal, still-worldly, expiring, or unnecessary (the jīva is already deathless). The single thing worth asking: ekapaṇa (oneness) — because only in not-being-two is there no breaking.

For someone today