संत साहित्य · Tukārām · Abhanga 3458 of 4582

Abhanga 3458

If even a deeply sinful man was saved by accidentally calling out God's name, no one has a real excuse to hold back from turning toward God.

When you feel too flawed or unworthy to begin a spiritual practice.

When you judge someone else as too far gone or too low-status to deserve grace.

When you hesitate to call out to God because you don't feel you've earned the right to.

The verse

कां रे तुम्ही निर्मळ हरिगुण गा ना । नाचत आनंदरूप वैकुंठासी जा ना ॥१॥ काय गणिकेच्या याती अधिकार मोटा । दोषी अजामेळ ऐसीं नेलीं वैकुंठा ॥ध्रु.॥ ऐसे नेणों मागें किती अनंत अपार । पंच महादोषी पातकां नाहीं पार ॥२॥ पुत्राचिया लोभें नष्ट म्हणे नारायण । कोण कर्तव्य तुका म्हणे त्याचें पुण्य ॥३॥

Literal translation

Why-don't-pure-ones sing-Hari-guṇa, go-Vaikuṇṭha-dancing? Gaṇika-no-yātī-adhikāra-yet-taken; Ajāmīḷa-sinful-taken. Infinite-pañca-mahā-dōṣī in-past. Ajāmīḷa-by-putra-lōbha says-Nārāyaṇa — Tukā: that-itself-his-puṇya.

What it means

A 3-verse Vaikuṇṭha-democratization text with the classic Ajāmīḷa-narrative (the sinful man who, calling his son 'Nārāyaṇa' at death, was unintentionally saved by uttering the divine Name). The polemic: if these were taken, why-don't-you-pure-ones sing-and-dance to Vaikuṇṭha?

For someone today

Tukaram asks pointedly why people who consider themselves pure hesitate to sing God's praises and dance their way toward liberation, when even a courtesan, with no social standing at all, was carried to Vaikuntha. He points to Ajamila, a deeply sinful man who was still saved simply by crying out the name Narayana, though he only meant to call his own son. Countless great sinners before him were redeemed the same way. Tukaram's point is direct: if calling out to God even by accident was enough to count as merit and save someone that flawed, there's no real excuse left for anyone else to hold back.

मराठी: तुकाराम थेट विचारतात की स्वतःला शुद्ध समजणारे लोक देवाची स्तुती गाऊन आनंदाने वैकुंठाकडे नाचत जायला का कचरतात, जेव्हा कोणतीही सामाजिक प्रतिष्ठा नसलेली एक गणिकाही वैकुंठात नेली गेली. ते अजामेळाचा उल्लेख करतात, जो अतिशय पापी होता, तरीही तो फक्त 'नारायण' असे नाव मोठ्याने उच्चारून वाचला, जरी त्याचा हेतू फक्त आपल्या मुलाला हाक मारण्याचा होता. त्याच्या आधी असंख्य महापापी अशाच प्रकारे उद्धरले गेले. तुकारामांचा मुद्दा स्पष्ट आहे, जर चुकूनही देवाचे नाव घेणे इतक्या दोषी माणसाला वाचवण्यासाठी पुरेसे ठरले, तर इतर कोणालाही मागे राहण्याचे खरे कारण उरत नाही.

Where this applies

Tukārām's Vaikuṇṭha-democratization canonical
Ajāmīḷa-narrative (classical-Purāṇic)
Companion to 2787 (bhakti-redeems-fallen) and 2843 (5-figure-redemption-list)

Autobiographical