Abhanga 3456
Tukaram refuses to let māyā's old grip continue and resolves, with God as his protector, to give up everything necessary to finally break free.
The verse
आजिवरि होतों तुझे सत्ते खालीं । तोंवरी तों केली विटंबणा ॥१॥
आतां तुज राहों नेदीं या देशांत । ऐसा म्यां समर्थ केला धणी ॥ध्रु.॥
सापें रिग केला कोठें बाळपणीं । होतीसी पापिणी काय जाणों ॥२॥
तुका म्हणे म्यां हा बुडविला वेव्हार । तुझे चि ढोपर सोलावया ॥३॥
Literal translation
Ājivari hōtōm tujhe satte khālīm — until today, I was under your sattā; tōmvarī tōm kelī viṭambaṇā — that long, (you) made viṭambaṇā. Ātām tuja rāhōm nedī yā deśāmta — now I won't let you stay in this deśa; aisā myām samartha kelā dhaṇī — thus I made the dhaṇī samartha. Sāpe riga kelā kōṭhe bāḷapaṇīm — snake-like, your entrance happened in childhood; hōtīsī pāpiṇī kāya jāṇōm — you were pāpiṇī, who knows. Tukā mhaṇe myām hā buḍavilā vevahāra — Tukā says: I drowned this vevahāra; tujhe chi ḍhōpara sōlāvayā — just to skin your knee.
What it means
Continuation of the anti-māyā cluster. Tukārām makes-the-Lord-samartha-as-dhaṇī, then plans-to-drive-māyā-from-the-country. Striking: I've-drowned-my-(own)-worldly-affairs just-to-have-the-pleasure-of-skinning-your-knee — sacrificing-himself-just-to-hurt-māyā.
For someone today
Tukaram admits that until now, he lived under māyā's rule and let it harass and humiliate him for far too long. But now he refuses to let it stay in his life any longer, and to make that stand real, he has made God his powerful protector. He wonders, almost bitterly, how this illusion crept into him so quietly, like a snake, all the way back in his childhood, without him even noticing what it truly was. He says he has given up his own worldly dealings entirely, not for any gain, but just for the satisfaction of finally breaking māyā's hold on him.
मराठी: तुकाराम कबूल करतात की आजपर्यंत ते मायेच्या सत्तेखाली होते आणि तिने त्यांना खूप काळ छळले, अपमानित केले. पण आता ते तिला आपल्या आयुष्यात अजिबात राहू देणार नाहीत, आणि हा निर्धार खरा करण्यासाठी त्यांनी देवालाच आपला समर्थ रक्षक बनवले आहे. ते जवळजवळ कडवटपणे विचारतात की ही माया बालपणीच सापासारखी हळूच त्यांच्यात कशी शिरली, आणि तेव्हा त्यांना तिचे खरे स्वरूपही कळले नाही. ते म्हणतात की त्यांनी स्वतःचे सगळे ऐहिक व्यवहार सोडून दिले आहेत, कोणत्याही फायद्यासाठी नाही, तर फक्त मायेची पकड शेवटी तोडल्याचे समाधान मिळावे म्हणून.
Where this applies
- When you finally admit an old pattern has been ruling and humiliating you for far too long
- When you make a firm decision to no longer tolerate something that has controlled your life
- When you wonder how a harmful habit or belief crept into you so early and so unnoticed
- When you're willing to give up something of value simply to be free of what has held you back