Abhanga 3568
Stop imagining the future and rest your mind on something real and good right now, and the cravings for what's ahead will fall away on their own.
The verse
न करीं रे मना कांहीं च कल्पना । चिंतीं या चरणां विठोबाच्या ॥१॥
येथें सुखाचिया रासी । पुढें ठाव नाहीं कल्पनेसी॥ध्रु.॥
सुखाचें ओतिलें साजिरें श्रीमुख । शोक मोह दुःख पाहाता नाहीं ॥२॥
तुका म्हणे येथें होईंल विसांवा । तुटतील हांवा पुढिलिया ॥३॥
Literal translation
Na karīm re manā kāmhīm chi kalpanā — don't, O mana, make any kalpanā; chimtīm yā charaṇām viṭhōbāchyā — meditate on these charaṇas of Viṭhōbā. Yethe sukhāchiyā rāsī — here are rāśī of sukha; puḍhe ṭhāva nāhīm kalpanesī — no place ahead for kalpanā. Sukhāche ōtile sājirē Śrīmukha — Śrī-mukha molten-of-sukha, charming; śōka mōha duḥkha pāhātā nāhīm — no grief-delusion-pain to be seen. Tukā mhaṇe yethe hōīmla visāmvā — Tukā says: rest will be here; tuṭatīla hāmvā puḍhiliyā — future-cravings will break-off.
What it means
A 3-verse mana-instruction. Stop-imagining; settle on Viṭhōbā's-feet — here-are-heaps-of-sukha, future-projection-has-no-place; the-Śrī-mukha is molten-of-sukha — no-room-for-grief-delusion-or-pain; here-rest-arrives, future-cravings-snap.
For someone today
Tukārām addresses the mind directly here: stop constantly imagining what's ahead, and instead fix your attention on Viṭhobā's feet. The remedy for a mind that can't stop projecting into the future isn't more analysis — it's giving it something real and joyful to rest on right now, his beautiful presence, free of grief or longing. Once you find that fullness in the present moment, Tukārām says, your restless cravings about the future simply fall away on their own.
मराठी: तुकाराम इथे मनाला थेट सांगतात — भविष्याची कल्पना करत बसू नकोस, विठोबाच्या चरणांवर लक्ष स्थिर कर. सतत भविष्याचा विचार करणाऱ्या मनावर उपाय म्हणजे अधिक विश्लेषण नव्हे, तर सध्याच्या क्षणी काहीतरी खरे आणि आनंददायी असणे — त्याचे सुंदर श्रीमुख, जिथे शोक, मोह किंवा दुःखाला जागाच नाही. एकदा हे वर्तमानातले सुख सापडले की, भविष्याच्या हावांचा फास आपोआप तुटतो, असे तुकाराम म्हणतात.
Where this applies
- Tukārām's mana-don't-imagine; rest-at-charaṇa daily-meditation
- Companion to 2867 (ṭhevilē-Anantē equanimity prayer)