संत साहित्य
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संत साहित्य · Tukārām · Abhanga 3552 of 4582

Abhanga 3552

Feeling that your life has passed without meaning or recognition is a real sorrow worth naming honestly, and the ache of being caught up in worldly struggle is a genuine affliction, not something to dismiss.

When you feel your life has gone by without the meaning or recognition you hoped for
When you sense you've never truly mattered to someone whose attention you long for
When the ordinary weight of worldly struggle feels like a real, persistent ache you can finally admit

The verse

वांयां ऐसा जन्म गेला । हें विठ्ठला दुःख वाटे ॥१॥ नाहीं सरता जालों पायीं । तुम्ही जई न पुसा ॥ध्रु.॥ कां मी जीतों संवसारीं । अद्यापवरी भूमिभार ॥२॥ तुका म्हणे पंढरिनाथा । सबळ व्यथा भवरोग ॥३॥

Literal translation

Vāmyām aisā janma gelā — such a janma went in vain; he Viṭhṭhalā duḥkha vāṭe — this, Viṭhṭhalā, feels (as) duḥkha. Nāhī saratā jālōm pāyīm — not become saratā at pāya; tumhī jaī na pusā — you (yourself) don't ask. Kām mī jītōm samvasārīm — why am I living in samsāra; adyāpavarī bhūmi-bhāra — to this day, bhūmi-bhāra. Tukā mhaṇe Paṇḍharī-nāthā — Tukā says: Paṇḍharī-nātha; sabaḷa vyathā bhava-rōga — bhava-rōga is sabaḷa-vyathā.

What it means

A 3-verse mournful-protest: I-am-still-here-living, but-not-counted-at-your-feet — I-have-become-a-burden-on-the-earth. The bhava-rōga (the disease of being-in-samsāra) is sabaḷa (strong, virulent).

For someone today

Tukaram grieves that his life feels as if it has passed by without meaning, and he tells Vitthal plainly that this feels like real sorrow. He feels he has never truly counted as someone recognized at God's feet, since God doesn't even ask after him. He wonders aloud why he keeps living in the world at all, feeling like nothing more than a burden weighing down the earth. He names the sickness directly, calling the pain of being caught in worldly existence a strong and real affliction, not something to brush aside.

मराठी: तुकाराम दुःखाने म्हणतात की त्यांचे आयुष्य विनाकारण निघून गेल्यासारखे वाटते, आणि हे खरोखर दुःख आहे असे ते विठ्ठलाला स्पष्ट सांगतात. देवाच्या पायांशी आपली खरी गणना कधी झालीच नाही, कारण देवही आपली विचारपूस करत नाही, असे त्यांना वाटते. मी संसारात का जगतो आहे, पृथ्वीवर केवळ ओझे बनून का राहिलो आहे, असा प्रश्न ते स्वतःला विचारतात. संसारात अडकून राहण्याचे दुःख हे खरोखर तीव्र आणि खरी व्यथा आहे, हे ते स्पष्टपणे मान्य करतात, ते झटकून टाकण्यासारखे नाही.

Where this applies

life-went-in-vain