Abhanga 3577
Tukaram offers his whole body as a surrender, waving it over God's feet the way one waves an offering, and cries out, take me, this humble one, as your own. He describes coming rolling and prostrate all the way to the ground, giving everything he has. And yet, even after all that, he still asks with longing, when will I actually place my head at your feet? This shows that surrender is not a single finished act, even someone who has already given everything can still be waiting for the moment it truly lands, and that ongoing longing is itself part of genuine devotion.
The verse
सांडियेली काया । वरी ओंवाळूनी पायां ॥१॥
शरण शरण नारायणा । मज अंगीकारा दीना ॥ध्रु.॥
आलों लोटांगणीं । रुळें तुमचे चरणीं ॥२॥
तुका म्हणे कई । डोईं ठेवीन हे पायीं ॥३॥
Literal translation
Sāmḍiyelī kāyā — I have laid-down the kāyā; varī ōmvāḷūnī pāyām — waving (it) over the feet. Śaraṇa śaraṇa nārāyaṇā — śaraṇa-śaraṇa Nārāyaṇa; maja amgīkārā dīnā — take up me, the dīna. Ālōm lōṭāmgaṇīm — I have come in lōṭāmgaṇī; ruḷe tumache charaṇīm — rolling at your charaṇa. Tukā mhaṇe kaī — Tukā says: when; ḍōīm ṭhevīna he pāyīm — will I place head at these feet.
What it means
A 3-verse full-surrender prayer. I've-laid-down-my-body; waved-it-as-offering-over-your-feet; śaraṇa-śaraṇa-Nārāyaṇa, take-up-this-dīna; I-came-rolling-full-prostrate at-your-feet — when-will-I-actually-place-my-head-at-your-feet? The ōmvāḷūnī image: the body itself as the nimbalōṇa offering.
For someone today
Tukaram offers his whole body as a surrender, waving it over God's feet the way one waves an offering, and cries out, take me, this humble one, as your own. He describes coming rolling and prostrate all the way to the ground, giving everything he has. And yet, even after all that, he still asks with longing, when will I actually place my head at your feet? This shows that surrender is not a single finished act, even someone who has already given everything can still be waiting for the moment it truly lands, and that ongoing longing is itself part of genuine devotion.
मराठी: तुकाराम महाराज आपला संपूर्ण देह देवाच्या चरणांवर ओवाळून अर्पण करतात आणि म्हणतात, मला, या दीनाला, आपलंसं करा. ते सांगतात की मी लोटांगण घालत, जमिनीवर लोळत तुमच्या चरणांपर्यंत आलो आहे, माझ्याकडे जे आहे ते सर्व दिलं आहे. तरीही, हे सगळं केल्यानंतरही, ते व्याकुळतेने विचारतात, माझं डोकं खरोखर तुझ्या चरणी कधी टेकेल? यातून हे दिसतं की समर्पण ही एकदाच पूर्ण होणारी गोष्ट नाही, ज्याने आधीच सर्वस्व दिलं आहे तोही अजून त्या क्षणाची वाट पाहत असू शकतो जेव्हा ते खरोखर घडेल, आणि ही सतत लागलेली ओढच खऱ्या भक्तीचा भाग असते.
Where this applies
- When you have already given everything you can to a relationship or a cause and still feel like it hasn't fully landed
- When you keep surrendering again and again rather than expecting one moment to settle everything
- When you feel humbled and small before someone or something greater and want to fully hand yourself over
- When you wonder if your devotion or effort is ever truly received, even after you have poured yourself out completely