Abhanga 3712
Staying in constant, renewed remembrance and asking for firm inner guardianship against a wandering mind is itself the gain, worth expressing openly and without shame.
The verse
चिंतनाची जोडी । हा चि लाभ घडोघडी ॥१॥
तुम्ही वसूनि अंतरीं । मज जागवा निर्धारीं ॥ध्रु.॥
जाय जेथें मन । आड घाला सुदर्शन ॥२॥
तुका म्हणे भोजें । नाचें हो ऐसें न लजें ॥३॥
Literal translation
Chintana-jōḍī — lābha-every-moment. You-in-antara — wake-me-firmly. Wherever-mana-goes — set-sudarśana-in-way. Tukā: by-bhōja-dance — not-ashamed-of-being-thus.
What it means
A 3-verse striking petition. The yoke of chintana — this itself is the gain at every moment; you dwelling in the antara, wake me firmly. Wherever the mana goes, set the divine-discus in-the-way (to block its wanderings). By feast-of-bhakti I dance — let me not be ashamed of being-like-this. The sudarśana-blocking-mana's-wanderings image is striking — the divine-discus as guardian.
For someone today
Tukārām says that simply staying in the habit of remembering God is itself a gain, renewed at every single moment, not something to wait for later. He asks God, who lives within him, to keep him firmly awake and alert rather than letting him drift into forgetfulness. Wherever his mind tries to wander off, he asks for a kind of divine guard to stand in its way and pull it back. And he ends with a wish to dance freely in the fullness of devotion without feeling any shame about how open and unguarded that expression looks to others.
मराठी: तुकाराम म्हणतात की देवाचे सतत स्मरण ठेवणे हाच स्वतःत एक लाभ आहे, जो प्रत्येक क्षणी नव्याने मिळतो, पुढे कधीतरी मिळणारा नाही. ते देवाला, जो त्यांच्या अंतरात वास करतो, विनवतात की त्यांना ठामपणे जागे ठेवावे, विस्मरणात भरकटू देऊ नये. जिथे कुठे त्यांचे मन भटकायला जाईल तिथे त्यांना एक प्रकारचा दैवी पहारा हवा आहे जो आडवा येऊन मनाला परत खेचेल. आणि ते शेवटी अशी इच्छा व्यक्त करतात की भक्तीच्या पूर्णत्वात मुक्तपणे नाचावे, हे उघड आणि बेधडक दिसणे इतरांना काय वाटेल याची लाज न बाळगता.
Where this applies
- When you keep returning your attention to what matters most, over and over, all through the day
- When you ask for help staying alert instead of drifting into forgetfulness or distraction
- When your mind keeps wandering toward something unhelpful and you need a firm boundary to pull it back
- When you let yourself express joy or devotion openly without worrying what others will think of you