Abhanga 3798
Once you give yourself completely to God, no other power controls you, the restless mind can finally rest, and even the fear of time loses its grip.
The verse
आम्ही विठ्ठलाचे दास जालों आतां । न चले हे सत्ता आणिकांची ॥१॥
नावरे तयासी ऐसें नाहीं दुजें । करितां पंढरिराजें काय नव्हे ॥ध्रु.॥
कोठें तुज ठाव घ्यावयासी धांवा । मना तूं विसावा घेईं आतां ॥२॥
इंिद्रयांची वोढी मोडिला व्यापार । ज्या अंगें संचार चाळी तुज ॥३॥
तुका म्हणे आम्ही जिंकोनियां काळ । बैसलों निश्चळि होऊनियां ॥४॥
Literal translation
We-Viṭṭhal's-dāsas — no-other-sattā-prevails. What-cannot-Paṇḍhari-rāja-do — no-other. Where-run-mana — take-rest. Broken-vyāpāra-of-indriyas — his-anga-sanchāra-moves-you. Tukā: we've-conquered-Kāḷa — sat-niścaḷa.
What it means
A 4-verse sovereignty-of-bhakta text. We have become Viṭṭhal's servants — no other power prevails over us. What cannot Paṇḍharirāja accomplish? Where will you run for refuge? Mind, take your rest here. The pull of the senses, the commerce-of-senses is broken — it is his own embodied-presence that moves you. We have conquered Kāḷa — sitting motionless. The closing jinkōnīyām kāḷa baisalōm niścaḷi (having-conquered-Time, we sit motionless) is a striking image of the bhakta's final-rest beyond time.
For someone today
Tukaram declares that once you truly become God's servant, no other power has any real hold over you — there's nowhere else worth running to for safety. He tells his own restless mind to stop searching and finally rest, because the endless pull of the senses that used to drive him has been broken; it is God's own presence moving him now, not his cravings. He ends with a bold claim: having given himself over completely, he has conquered even time itself and sits utterly still and unafraid.
मराठी: तुकाराम सांगतात की एकदा माणूस खरोखर देवाचा सेवक झाला की दुसऱ्या कोणत्याही शक्तीचा त्याच्यावर खरा ताबा राहत नाही — सुरक्षिततेसाठी दुसरीकडे धावण्याची गरजच उरत नाही. ते स्वतःच्या अस्वस्थ मनाला सांगतात की आता शोध थांबव आणि विश्रांती घे, कारण पूर्वी जी इंद्रियांची ओढ त्याला भरकटवत होती ती आता तुटली आहे; आता त्याच्या हालचालीमागे त्याची स्वतःची इच्छा नसून देवाचीच उपस्थिती आहे. शेवटी ते एक ठाम विधान करतात — स्वतःला पूर्णपणे देवाला अर्पण केल्यामुळे त्यांनी काळालाही जिंकले आहे आणि ते पूर्ण स्थिर, निर्भय बसले आहेत.
Where this applies
- When you feel at the mercy of forces or people who seem to control your life
- When your mind keeps restlessly searching for safety or satisfaction in the wrong places
- When you're struggling against cravings or urges that keep pulling you around
- When you're afraid of aging, death, or the passage of time and need a sense of steady ground