Abhanga 3867
Anything that scatters your focus away from your one true anchor, however clever or learned it sounds, ends up hollow, while staying centered on it is what is genuinely real.
The verse
विठ्ठलावांचोनि ब्रम्ह जें बोलती । वचन तें संतीं मानूं नये ॥१॥
विठ्ठलावांचूनि जेजे उपासना । अवघा चि जाणा संभ्रमु तो ॥ध्रु.॥
विठ्ठलावांचूनि सांगतील गोष्टी । वांयां ते हिंपुटी होत जाणा ॥२॥
विठ्ठलांवाचूनि जें कांहीं जाणती । तितुल्या वित्पित्त वाउगीया ॥३॥
तुका म्हणे एक विठ्ठल चि खरा । येर तो पसारा वाउगा चि ॥४॥
Literal translation
Apart-from-Viṭṭhal-Brahma-spoken — santas-don't-accept. Apart-from-Viṭṭhal-upāsanā — all-sambhrama. Apart-from-Viṭṭhal-stories — vain-himpuṭī. Apart-from-Viṭṭhal-known — vain-vitpitta. Tukā: one-Viṭṭhal-alone-true — rest-pasāra-vain.
What it means
THE canonical 5-verse Viṭṭhalāvāñchōnī (apart-from-Viṭṭhal) exclusive-bhakti refrain. Apart from Viṭṭhal — what is spoken as Brahma — santas should not accept it. Apart from Viṭṭhal — whatever upāsanā — know it as confusion. Apart from Viṭṭhal — whatever stories they tell — know they're vain, growing-poor. Apart from Viṭṭhal — whatever they know — that much knowledge-acquisition is vain. One Viṭṭhal alone is real — the rest is a vain spread. Four-fold negation (Brahma-speech / upāsanā / stories / knowledge), then one-positive-affirmation. Pair with 3743 (Name-is-everything), 3795 (jaḷō-burn-everything-else), 3820 (na-kaḷē-by-anything). One of Tukārām's most direct Viṭṭhal-alone-is-real texts.
For someone today
Tukaram takes a firm, uncompromising stance here, saying that any talk of the ultimate reality that leaves out Vitthal should not be trusted, no matter how learned it sounds. He says any form of worship that bypasses Vitthal is really just confusion dressed up as devotion. Stories and teachings that skip over Vitthal, he says, end up hollow and impoverished no matter how clever they seem. Even knowledge itself, gathered apart from this one focus, amounts to nothing real. For Tukaram, everything else is scattered noise, and only this one anchor is genuinely true.
मराठी: तुकाराम इथे अगदी ठाम भूमिका घेतात, म्हणतात की विठ्ठलाला वगळून केलेले परब्रह्माचे बोलणे कितीही विद्वत्तापूर्ण वाटले तरी त्यावर विश्वास ठेवू नये. विठ्ठलाला बाजूला ठेवून केलेली कुठलीही उपासना ही खरे तर भक्तीच्या नावाखालचा नुसता गोंधळ आहे असे ते म्हणतात. विठ्ठलाला वगळून सांगितलेल्या गोष्टी आणि शिकवणी कितीही चतुर वाटल्या तरी शेवटी पोकळ आणि दरिद्री ठरतात असे ते सांगतात. एवढेच काय, या एका केंद्राशिवाय मिळवलेले ज्ञानही खरे तर काहीच नसते. तुकारामांसाठी बाकी सगळे विखुरलेले गोंगाट आहे, आणि फक्त हा एकच आधार खरा आहे.
Where this applies
- When you are tempted to scatter your focus across many teachings without one true anchor
- When you find yourself impressed by clever words that don't actually lead anywhere real
- When you want to test whether a practice or belief is genuinely grounded or just confused activity
- When you decide to commit fully to one true center instead of collecting many half-hearted pursuits