Abhanga 3590
Returning again and again to a relationship of loving devotion, rather than abandoning it, is itself what eventually unties the hardest knots.
The verse
इच्छेपाशीं आलों फिरोनि मागुता । स्वामीसेवकता आवडीचे ॥१॥
द्यावें लवकरी मागितलें दान । मुळींचें जतन करूनि असें ॥ध्रु.॥
उपाय हे करीं एका चि वचना । दावूनियां खुणा ठाया येतों ॥२॥
तुका म्हणे गांठी किती तुजपाशीं । जगाच्या तोडिसी चिंतनानें ॥३॥
Literal translation
Returned-to-ichchhā — svāmi-sēvakatā-of-āvaḍī. Give-dāna-quickly — kept-mūḷa-bundle. Do-upāya-by-one-vachana — showing-khuṇā-coming-to-place. Tukā: gāṇṭhīs-with-you — break-jagat's-by-chintana.
What it means
A 3-verse return-to-master-servant text. I've come back to the desire — the loving servitude; give me the gift quickly; do this with one word; you break the world's knots by remembrance.
For someone today
Tukaram says he has come back once again to that loving relationship of master and servant, the desire to simply belong and serve out of love. He asks for the gift he has been requesting to be given soon, explaining that he has faithfully kept the original bundle of devotion carefully intact all along. He asks for just one word, one clear sign, and he will find his way to the right place. He ends by marveling at how many tangled knots God carries and dissolves, simply through being remembered and held in the mind. This is a lesson about the power of steady remembrance, that returning again and again to a relationship of love, rather than abandoning it, is itself what eventually unties the hardest knots.
मराठी: तुकाराम महाराज सांगतात की ते पुन्हा एकदा त्या प्रेमळ स्वामी-सेवक नात्याकडे परतले आहेत, केवळ प्रेमाने सेवा करण्याची, त्याचे व्हावेसे वाटण्याची ओढ. ते विनंती करतात की मी मागितलेली देणगी लवकर द्यावी, आणि सांगतात की मी माझ्या भक्तीची मूळ शिदोरी काळजीपूर्वक जपून ठेवली आहे. ते फक्त एक शब्द, एक स्पष्ट खूण मागतात, आणि तेवढ्यावरून ते योग्य ठिकाणी पोहोचतील. शेवटी ते आश्चर्याने म्हणतात की देव किती गुंतागुंतीच्या गाठी फक्त स्मरणाने, मनात धरून ठेवण्याने सोडवतो. यातून हा धडा मिळतो की सतत केलेल्या स्मरणाची शक्ती मोठी असते, नातं सोडून न देता वारंवार त्याकडे परत येणंच अखेर सर्वात कठीण गाठी सोडवतं.
Where this applies
- When you find yourself returning again to a relationship of loving service rather than walking away from it
- When you have kept your commitment to someone carefully intact even while waiting for something in return
- When a small sign or word from someone you trust would be enough to guide you back to the right path
- When you notice how steady remembrance of someone or something has quietly untangled a difficult situation