संत साहित्य · Tukārām · Abhanga 3785 of 4582

Abhanga 3785

Straining to be pure only tangles you deeper in doubt, and since it is God who moves the whole universe, Tukaram lets go of worry and stakes his life fully on that trust.

When straining to be perfect or pure only makes you feel more tangled up inside.

When back-and-forth overthinking becomes a bigger problem than the original decision.

When you catch yourself fearing something imaginary, the way a rope in shadow can look like a snake.

The verse

सोंवळा होऊं तों वोंवळें जडलें । सांडीमांडी बोलतोंडीं बीजीं ॥१॥ एकसरीं केलीं कळिवरें साटी । आतां नका तुटी पायांसवें ॥ध्रु.॥ संकल्पीं विकल्प पापाचा सुकाळ । रज्जुसर्प मूळ मरणाचें ॥२॥ तुका म्हणे हें तूं ब्रम्हांड चाळिता । मी कां करूं चिंता पांडुरंगा ॥३॥

Literal translation

Sōmvaḷā hōūm tōm vōmvaḷe jaḍale — trying to become pure, impurity got stuck; sāmḍī-māmḍī bōlatōmḍīm bījīm — reject-arrange and talk-mouths at the seed. Ekasarīm kelīm kaḷivare sāṭī — in one stroke I made the body-bundle a stake; ātām nakā tuṭī pāyāmsavem — now don't bring a break with the feet. Samkalpīm vikalpa pāpāchā sukāḷa — in samkalpa is vikalpa, an overflow of pāpa; rajju-sarpa mūḷa maraṇāchen — rope-as-snake is the root of death. Tukā mhaṇe hem tūm brahmāṇḍa chāḷitā — Tukā says: you are the mover of brahmāṇḍa; mī kām karūm chimtā Pāṇḍurangā — why should I worry, Pāṇḍuranga?

What it means

A 3-verse text on anxiety-and-illusion. Trying-purity, impurity-stuck — even-the-rejecting-and-arranging is-at-the-seed-mouth-talk; in-one-stroke I-staked-the-body-on-you, don't-break-the-bond; in-samkalpa-is-vikalpa, an-overflow-of-pāpa — the-rope-seen-as-snake is-the-root-of-death; you-move-brahmāṇḍa — why-should-I-worry? The rajju-sarpa image is the Vedānta classical bhrama-example, here yoked to maraṇa.

For someone today

Tukaram notices that the harder he tries to become pure, the more impurity seems to cling to him, right down to the endless mental back-and-forth of accepting this and rejecting that. So he stakes his whole body and life on Pandurang in one decisive move, and asks that this bond never be broken. He points out that overthinking breeds more overthinking, an overflow of trouble, the way mistaking a rope for a snake in the dark can feel just as deadly as a real snake even though nothing is actually there. Since it is God who moves the entire universe, Tukaram asks why he should carry the burden of worry at all.

मराठी: तुकाराम लक्षात घेतात की जितका जास्त प्रयत्न ते शुद्ध होण्यासाठी करतात, तितकाच अशुद्धपणा त्यांना चिकटत जातो, अगदी हे स्वीकारावे आणि ते नाकारावे या सततच्या मनातल्या हिशोबापर्यंत. म्हणून ते एका क्षणात आपले संपूर्ण शरीर आणि आयुष्य पांडुरंगाच्या पायी वाहतात, आणि हा बंध कधीही तुटू नये अशी विनवणी करतात. ते सांगतात की अति विचार अधिकच विचारांना जन्म देतो, जसे अंधारात दोरीला साप समजल्याने खरा साप नसतानाही तितकीच भीती वाटते. संपूर्ण विश्व चालवणारा देवच आहे, म्हणून तुकाराम विचारतात की मग काळजी करण्याचे ओझे आपण का वाहावे.

Where this applies

Tukārām's rajju-sarpa-root-of-death; brahmāṇḍa-chāḷitā canonical
Companion to laṭika-laṭika-māyā (2865) and ṭhevilē-Anantē-equanimity (2867)