Abhanga 3620
When your own effort and cleverness run out, step back and trust the one who is truly directing things instead of carrying every burden yourself.
The verse
माझिये बुद्धीचा खुंटला उपाव । करिसील काय पाहेन तें ॥१॥
सूत्रधारी तूं हें सकळचाळिता । कासया अनंता भार वाहों ॥ध्रु.॥
वाहिले संकल्प न पवती सिद्धी । येऊं देहबुद्धीवरि नयों ॥२॥
तुका म्हणे दुःखी करिती तरंग । चिंतूं पांडुरंग आवरून ॥३॥
Literal translation
My-buddhi-upāva-stopped — I'll-see-what-you-do. You-sūtra-dhārī-conductor — why-carry-bhāra. Samkalpas-don't-reach-siddhi — don't-let-me-come-to-deha-buddhi. Tukā: waves-make-duḥkhī — chintē-Pāṇḍuranga-restrained.
What it means
A 3-verse puppet-master text. My intellect's means have stopped; you're the puppet-master who conducts everything; my samkalpas don't reach siddhi; let me not fall into body-mind; the waves make me suffer — let me restrain them and remember Pāṇḍuranga. The sūtradhārī image is striking — Tukārām handing-over-all-agency.
For someone today
Tukaram admits his own cleverness has run out of road, so he decides to simply watch and see what God will do next. He pictures God as the puppet master pulling every string, and asks why he should keep carrying a burden that was never really his to carry alone. His own plans and intentions keep failing anyway, so he stops trying to run everything through his own limited, body-bound mind. When restless waves of worry rise up in him, he chooses to calm them by remembering Vitthal instead of getting swept away.
मराठी: तुकाराम कबूल करतात की त्यांची स्वतःची बुद्धी आता थकली आहे, म्हणून ते फक्त बघत राहतात की देव पुढे काय करतो. ते देवाला सूत्रधार म्हणून बघतात, जो प्रत्येक धागा हलवतो, आणि विचारतात की जो भार खरे तर एकट्याने वाहायचा नव्हता, तो का वाहत बसावे. त्यांचे स्वतःचे संकल्प वारंवार फसतच असतात, म्हणून ते सगळे स्वतःच्या मर्यादित देहबुद्धीतून चालवण्याचा प्रयत्न थांबवतात. मनात चिंतेच्या लाटा उठल्या की ते वाहून न जाता पांडुरंगाचे स्मरण करून त्या शांत करतात.
Where this applies
- When you have tried everything you know and your own plans keep falling apart
- When you feel like you are carrying a weight that was never meant to be yours alone
- When your intentions and resolutions keep failing no matter how hard you try
- When anxious thoughts rise like waves and you need something steady to hold onto