Abhanga 3784
Tukaram tells God simply: be whatever you are, I am not going to sort through you, weighing your qualities before deciding whether to love you. He has already surrendered with one undivided mind and stays close, chasing after that love hand to hand. He asks why he should keep score of merits and faults in his heart at all, since that is not what real devotion is about. Having given his whole attention to one thing, he says there is nowhere else left for his mind to wander or settle.
The verse
असाल ते तुम्ही असा । आम्ही सहसा निवडों ना ॥१॥
अनुसरलों एका चित्तें । हातोंहातें गींवसित ॥ध्रु.॥
गुणदोष काशासाटीं । तुमचे पोटीं वागवूं ॥२॥
तुका म्हणे दुजें आतां । कोठें चित्ता आतळों ॥३॥
Literal translation
Asāla te tumhī asā — be what you are; āmhī sahasā nivaḍōm nā — we shall by no means choose/sort. Anusaralōm ekā chittem — I have surrendered with one chitta; hātōmhātem gīmvasita — pursued hand-to-hand. Guṇadōṣa kāśāsāṭīm — for what cause guṇa-doṣa?; tumache pōṭīm vāgavūm — should I carry in your belly?. Tukā mhaṇe duje ātām — Tukā says: anything else now; kōṭhem chittā ātaḷōm — where can the chitta touch?.
What it means
A 3-verse exclusive-devotion text. Be-what-you-are — I-don't-sort-or-pick-out; I-surrendered-with-one-chitta and-pursued-hand-to-hand; why-should-I-carry-guṇa-doṣa about-you?; now where-else can-the-chitta-touch?
For someone today
Tukaram tells God simply: be whatever you are, I am not going to sort through you, weighing your qualities before deciding whether to love you. He has already surrendered with one undivided mind and stays close, chasing after that love hand to hand. He asks why he should keep score of merits and faults in his heart at all, since that is not what real devotion is about. Having given his whole attention to one thing, he says there is nowhere else left for his mind to wander or settle.
मराठी: तुकाराम देवाला सरळ सांगतात, तू जसा आहेस तसाच रहा, मी तुझ्या गुणदोषांचा हिशोब मांडून तुला जोखणार नाही. त्यांनी आधीच एका अखंड मनाने शरणागती पत्करली आहे आणि सतत हातोहात त्या प्रेमाच्या मागे राहतात. ते विचारतात की गुणदोषांचा हिशोब मनात का बाळगावा, कारण खरी भक्ती अशी नसते. संपूर्ण लक्ष एकाच गोष्टीला दिल्यावर, त्यांचे मन आता दुसरीकडे कुठेच फिरण्यासाठी किंवा स्थिरावण्यासाठी जागा उरलेली नाही असे ते सांगतात.
Where this applies
- Tukārām's be-what-you-are; chitta-nowhere-else canonical exclusivity
- Companion to tūm-chi-mājhā (2425) sole-refuge texts