Abhanga 3868
Real devotion means letting pride and clever argumentative ego burn away so nothing stands between you and what you truly love.
The verse
सर्व काळ डोळां बैसो नारायण । नयो अभिमान आड मध्यें ॥१॥
धाड पडो तुझ्या थोरपणावरि । वाचे नरहरि उच्चारीना ॥ध्रु.॥
जळो अंतरींचें सर्व जाणपण । विवादवचन अहंतेचें ॥२॥
सकळां चरणीं गळित माझा जीव । तुका म्हणे भाव एकविध ॥३॥
Literal translation
Always-Nārāyaṇa-in-eyes — no-abhimāna-between. Let-thōrapaṇa-fall — if-tongue-doesn't-utter-Narahari. Burn-inner-jāṇapaṇa — vivāda-vachan-ahantā. Jīva-melted-at-all-feet — Tukā: bhāva-ēka-vidha.
What it means
A 3-verse egolessness-prayer. May Nārāyaṇa sit in my eyes always — let no pride come between. May my pretense of greatness collapse if my tongue doesn't utter Narahari. Burn the inner knowingness, the disputatious word of ego. My soul is melted at all (sants') feet — my devotion is single-kind. The line vāchē Narahari uchchārīnā (if-the-tongue-doesn't-utter-Narahari, let-greatness-fall) is a self-imposed sanction against ego.
For someone today
Tukaram prays that God stay before his eyes at every moment, with no pride ever slipping in between them. He is so serious about this that he says his own sense of importance should collapse the moment his tongue stops speaking God's name. He wants the clever, argumentative knowingness of his ego burned away completely, because he has seen how it just leads to disputes and self-importance. In the end, he says his heart has simply melted at the feet of all the saints, and his devotion has become single, undivided, with nothing else mixed into it.
मराठी: तुकाराम प्रार्थना करतात की देव सतत त्यांच्या डोळ्यांसमोर राहावा, आणि त्यांच्यामध्ये कधीही अहंकार येऊ नये. ते इतके गंभीर आहेत की जिभेने देवाचे नाम घेणे थांबले की आपला मोठेपणाचा अभिमान कोसळून पडावा असे ते म्हणतात. आपल्या अहंकाराची चतुर, वादविवादी जाणीव पूर्णपणे जळून जावी अशी त्यांची इच्छा आहे, कारण त्यातून फक्त वाद आणि मोठेपणाचा गर्व वाढतो हे त्यांनी पाहिले आहे. शेवटी ते म्हणतात की त्यांचे मन सगळ्या संतांच्या चरणी वितळून गेले आहे, आणि त्यांची भक्ती आता एकनिष्ठ, अखंड बनली आहे, त्यात दुसरे काहीही मिसळलेले नाही.
Where this applies
- When you notice pride quietly slipping in between you and what truly matters to you
- When you catch yourself arguing just to prove your own cleverness or importance
- When you want your devotion or focus to be undivided rather than mixed with self-interest
- When you feel humbled enough to let your sense of self-importance simply melt away