Abhanga 3824
You do not need to be perfect to seek refuge, honestly admitting your faults while trusting in a compassion that exists precisely to purify the fallen is enough.
The verse
विनवितों चतुरा तुज विश्वंभरा । परियेसी दातारा पांडुरंगा ॥१॥
तुझे दास ऐसें जगीं वाखाणिलें । आतां नव्हे भलें मोकलितां ॥ध्रु.॥
माझे गुणदोष कोण जाणे मात । पावनपतित नाम तुझें ॥२॥
लोभ मोह माया आम्हां बांधवितां । तरि हा अनंता बोल कोणा ॥३॥
तुका म्हणे मी तों पतित चि खरा । परि आलों दातारा शरण तुज ॥४॥
Literal translation
Pray-to-chatura-viśvambhara — listen-dātāra-Pāṇḍuranga. World-says-I'm-your-dās — won't-look-good-if-let-go. My-guṇa-doṣa-who-knows — pāvana-patita-your-Nāma. Lōbha-mōha-māyā-bind-us — whose-bōla-Ananta? Tukā: truly-patita — but-came-śaraṇa-dātāra.
What it means
A 4-verse reputational-leverage prayer. I pray to the clever Viśvambhara — listen, generous Pāṇḍuranga. The world has already celebrated me as your dāsa — now to let go (of me) won't look good (for your reputation). Who knows my qualities and faults? Your Name is pāvana-patita (purifier-of-the-fallen). Greed, delusion, illusion bind us — whose blame is this, O Ananta? I am truly fallen — but I have come to refuge in you, generous one. The argument is sociologically clever: the world already calls me your dāsa — your reputation is at stake. Tukārām is invoking Lord's yaśa (fame) as a lever.
For someone today
Tukaram makes a clever, honest plea to God: the world already calls me your devotee, so it wouldn't look good for you to abandon me now. He admits he doesn't fully know his own good and bad qualities, but he trusts that God's very name means purifier of the fallen. Greed, attachment, and illusion have bound him, and rather than pretend otherwise, he simply says he is flawed but has come for refuge anyway. The lesson is that you don't need to be perfect to ask for help, you just need to be honest and show up.
मराठी: तुकाराम देवाला एक हुशार आणि प्रामाणिक विनंती करतात: जग आधीच मला तुझा भक्त म्हणते, त्यामुळे आता मला सोडून देणे तुला शोभणार नाही. आपले गुण-दोष आपल्यालाही पूर्ण माहीत नाहीत हे ते मान्य करतात, पण देवाचे नावच पतितपावन आहे यावर त्यांचा विश्वास आहे. लोभ, मोह आणि माया यांनी त्यांना बांधले आहे, आणि हे लपवण्याऐवजी ते सरळ सांगतात की मी दोषी आहे, तरीही शरण आलो आहे. यातून हा धडा मिळतो की मदत मागण्यासाठी परिपूर्ण असण्याची गरज नाही, फक्त प्रामाणिक राहून पुढे यावे लागते.
Where this applies
- When someone feels too flawed to ask for forgiveness or help
- When a person has publicly claimed a faith or identity and is tempted to give up on it
- When you feel bound by greed, attachment, or bad habits you can't fully explain
- When you need courage to admit your faults honestly instead of hiding them