Abhanga 3490
One complete act of self-surrender can empty you of ego and let the divine's imperishable light take permanent residence within you.
The verse
एका वेळे केलें रितें कलिवर । आंत दिली थार पांडुरंगा ॥१॥
पाळण पोषण लागलें ते सोईं । देहाचें तें काईं सर्वभावें ॥ध्रु.॥
माझिया मरणें जाली हे वसति । लागली ते ज्योती अविनाशा ॥२॥
जाला ऐसा एका घायें येथें नाहीं । तुका म्हणे कांहीं बोलों नये ॥३॥
Literal translation
At-one-time-emptied-kalivara — gave-thāra-to-Pāṇḍuranga. Care-and-feeding-became-his-sōīm — what-of-sarva-bhāva-of-deha. By-my-dying-vasati-made — avināśa-jyōti-lit. One-stroke-rare-here — Tukā: nothing-to-say.
What it means
A 3-verse one-stroke-inner-installation text. At one moment, the body was emptied; Pāṇḍuranga was given the inside; care became his job; by my own dying, the imperishable-light was lit. Companion to 3464 (no-me-no-mine-here) and 2937 (deha-atīta).
For someone today
This abhang describes one decisive moment of complete surrender: emptying the self entirely and giving the space inside over to Pandurang. Once that happens, the work of sustaining and caring for your inner life is no longer something you have to manage alone — it becomes the divine's task. Tukaram says it was his own ego's dying that lit an imperishable light within him. He calls this a rare, one-stroke change, so complete that nothing more needs to be said about it.
मराठी: हा अभंग पूर्ण समर्पणाच्या एका निर्णायक क्षणाचे वर्णन करतो: स्वतःला संपूर्णपणे रिकामे करून आतील जागा पांडुरंगाला अर्पण करणे. एकदा हे घडले की, तुमच्या आंतरिक आयुष्याची काळजी घेण्याचे काम तुम्हाला स्वतः सांभाळावे लागत नाही — ते ईश्वराचे काम बनते. तुकाराम म्हणतात की त्यांच्या स्वतःच्या अहंकाराच्या मृत्यूनेच त्यांच्यात एक अविनाशी ज्योत प्रज्वलित झाली. ते याला एक दुर्मिळ, एका घावातला बदल म्हणतात, इतका पूर्ण की त्याविषयी आणखी काही सांगण्याची गरज उरत नाही.
Where this applies
- When you feel exhausted from trying to hold your whole life together by yourself
- When you are ready to let go of control instead of managing every detail of your inner life
- When a moment of surrender feels final and complete, not gradual
- When you wonder whether real spiritual change happens all at once or bit by bit