संत साहित्य · Tukārām · Abhanga 3504 of 4582

Abhanga 3504

Endless struggle often comes from constantly weighing your own sins and merits, and the simple way through is to accept whatever comes and keep God's Name close.

When you realize you have been repeating the same painful cycle for a long time.

When you stop keeping score of your own faults and virtues and simply keep something sacred close instead.

When restlessness from loss finally settles into a simple resolve to accept whatever comes.

The verse

तुझिया विनोदें आम्हांसी मरण । सोसियेला सीण बहु फेरे ॥१॥ आतां आपणें चि येसी तें करीन । नाम हें धरीन तुझें कंठीं ॥ध्रु.॥ वियोगें चि आलों उसंतीत वनें । संकल्प हे मनें वाहोनियां ॥२॥ तुका म्हणे वर्म सांपडलें सोपें । गोवियेलों पापें पुण्यें होतों ॥३॥

Literal translation

Your-vinōda — our-maraṇa, many-fērē. Now-whatever-you-bring-I-do — hold-Name-at-kaṇṭha. By-viyoga-came-overturning-vanē — bearing-sankalpa-by-mana. Tukā: sōpē-varma-caught — was-entangled-in-pāpa-puṇya.

What it means

A 3-verse realization-text. Your sport has been my dying; many cycles of fatigue; now I do whatever you bring; the easy secret is caught — I was entangled in puṇya-pāpa.

For someone today

Tukaram says that what feels like God's playful sport has, for him, meant endless cycles of struggle and death, round after exhausting round. He resolves that from now on he will simply do whatever God brings, and keep God's Name close at his throat, always ready on his lips. Separation had once sent him wandering restlessly through disturbed places, carrying this resolve in his mind. In the end, he says he has found the easy secret: he had simply been tangled up in constantly weighing his own sins and merits, and that tangle is what needs to be let go.

मराठी: तुकाराम म्हणतात की जे देवाचे लीलाखेळ वाटते ते त्यांच्यासाठी मात्र मृत्यूच्या आणि थकव्याच्या असंख्य फेऱ्यांसारखे राहिले आहे. आता ते ठरवतात की देव जे काही आणेल ते करायचे, आणि त्याचे नाम सतत कंठाशी, ओठांवर तयार ठेवायचे. वियोगामुळे ते एकेकाळी अस्वस्थ होऊन उजाड जंगलांतून फिरत राहिले, मनात हाच निश्चय बाळगत. शेवटी ते म्हणतात की त्यांना सोपे रहस्य सापडले आहे, ते म्हणजे आपण फक्त स्वतःच्या पाप-पुण्याचा सतत हिशोब करण्यात अडकलो होतो, आणि तोच गुंता आता सोडून द्यायचा आहे.

Where this applies

When you feel worn out from repeating the same struggle over and over
When you are tangled up in constantly judging your own past mistakes and good deeds
When loss or separation sends you wandering restlessly with no clear direction
When you finally find one simple practice, like holding a name close, that cuts through all the complexity

Nāma (the Name) Autobiographical