Abhanga 3782
Tukaram pleads for suffering to stop before it destroys what mercy remains, and asks that craving and inner conflict be healed at the root, for everyone caught in the same struggle.
The verse
न पडो आतां हाडीं घाव । मध्यें कींव नासक ॥१॥
करविली आत्महत्या । जीवा कां द्वंदाचा ॥ध्रु.॥
आशापाशीं गुंतला गळा । तेणें कळाहीन जालों ॥२॥
तुका म्हणे लावूं मुळी । जीवकुळी थोरेसी ॥३॥
Literal translation
Na paḍō ātām hāḍīm ghāva — let no more blow fall on the bone; madhyem kīmva nāsaka — in the middle the pity is being destroyed. Karavilī ātma-hatyā — self-killing has been brought-about; jīvā kām dvamdāchā — why this duality for the jīva?. Āśāpāśīm gumtalā gaḷā — in āśā's snare the throat is tangled; tene kaḷāhīna jālōm — by that I became skill-less. Tukā mhaṇe lāvūm muḷī — Tukā says: apply (cure) at the root; jīvakuḷī thōresī — the great (cure) for the jīva-family.
What it means
A 3-verse interior-prayer with strong language. No-more-blow-on-the-bone (the-bone-already-cracking); the-middle-mercy-is-being-destroyed; this-is-being-made-ātma-hatyā — why-dvamda-for-the-jīva?; āśā-snare-strangles-the-throat — I-have-become-skill-less; apply-the-cure-at-the-root, the-great-(cure)-for-the-jīva-family.
For someone today
Tukaram pleads for the blows to stop landing on a bone that is already cracked, because the small mercy still left inside him is being crushed. He says this ongoing suffering amounts to a kind of self-destruction, and asks why the soul must keep being torn apart by this inner conflict. Craving and false hope have wrapped around his throat like a noose, leaving him unable to act with any real skill or clarity. He asks that the cure be applied at the very root, a remedy strong enough to heal not just him but everyone caught in the same struggle.
मराठी: तुकाराम विनवतात की आधीच तडा गेलेल्या हाडावर आणखी घाव घालू नयेत, कारण त्यांच्यात उरलेली थोडीशी करुणाही चिरडली जात आहे. ते म्हणतात की हे सतत चालणारे दुःख म्हणजे जणू स्वतःचाच नाश आहे, आणि विचारतात की जीवाला या आतल्या संघर्षाने का सतत फाडून टाकावे. आशा आणि खोट्या अपेक्षांनी त्यांच्या गळ्याभोवती फासासारखा विळखा घातला आहे, त्यामुळे त्यांना कोणतेही खरे कौशल्य किंवा स्पष्टता वापरता येत नाही. ते विनंती करतात की उपचार अगदी मुळापासून व्हावा, असा उपाय जो फक्त त्यांनाच नाही तर याच संघर्षात अडकलेल्या सगळ्यांना बरे करेल.
Where this applies
- When you feel like more hardship is landing on wounds that are already too raw to bear
- When constant inner conflict feels like it is slowly destroying you from the inside
- When craving or false hope has you so tangled that you cannot think or act clearly
- When you want a real, lasting fix instead of another temporary patch over the same old wound