Abhanga 3887
Tukaram declares God to be closer than kin or friend, the warmth of his own heart, and surrenders to nothing else, delighting simply in that ongoing practice.
The verse
तू आम्हां सोयरा सज्जन सांगाति । तुजलागीं प्रीति चालो सदा ॥१॥
तूं माझा जिव्हाळा जीवाचा जिवलग । होसी अंतरंग अंतरींचा ॥ध्रु.॥
गण गोत मित्र तूं माझें जीवन । अनन्यशरण तुझ्या पांयीं ॥२॥
तुका म्हणे सर्वगुणें तुझा दास । आवडे अभ्यास सदा तुझा ॥३॥
Literal translation
You-are-sōyarā-sajjana-sāngāti — prīti-flow-sadā. You-are-jivhāḷa-jīvāchā-jivalaga — antaranga-of-antara. Gaṇa-gōta-mitra — you-are-my-jīvana — ananya-śaraṇa. Tukā: sarva-guṇa-your-dāsa — love-your-abhyāsa-sadā.
What it means
A 3-verse all-relations-in-Viṭṭhal text. You are our kin, our gentle-companion — let love flow toward you always. You are my heart-warmth, the life-of-life, the inner-form of the inner-being. My clan, relations, friends — you are my life — I am one-pointedly at your feet. By every quality I am your servant — I always love your practice. Compare 3098 (Viṭhṭhal-mājhā-jīva foundational Vārkarī text with 15 relational-identifications); 3887 is a compact-version emphasizing relational-kinship.
For someone today
Tukaram declares that God isn't just an object of formal worship for him, God is his kin, his companion, his closest friend, and he wants that love to keep flowing without interruption. He calls God the warmth of his own heart, the life within his life, closer to him than his own inner being. Everything a person normally looks to for identity and belonging, clan, relatives, friends, he says he now finds entirely in God, surrendering to nothing else. And he confesses that with every part of himself he is God's servant, delighting simply in the ongoing practice of that devotion.
मराठी: तुकाराम सांगतात की देव त्यांच्यासाठी केवळ औपचारिक उपासनेचा विषय नाही, देव त्यांचे सोयरे, सज्जन सांगाती, सर्वात जवळचा मित्र आहे, आणि ते हे प्रेम अखंड वाहत राहावे अशी इच्छा करतात. ते देवाला आपल्या हृदयाची ऊब, जीवनातील जीवन, स्वतःच्या अंतरंगापेक्षाही जवळचा म्हणतात. माणूस सहसा ओळख आणि आपलेपणासाठी ज्यांच्याकडे पाहतो — कुळ, नातेवाईक, मित्र — ते सर्व आता त्यांना संपूर्णपणे देवातच सापडते असे ते म्हणतात, दुसऱ्या कशालाही शरण न जाता. आणि ते कबूल करतात की सर्व गुणांनी ते देवाचे दास आहेत, आणि त्या भक्तीच्या सततच्या सरावातच त्यांना आनंद वाटतो.
Where this applies
- When you realize a spiritual relationship can feel more intimate than family or friendship
- When you're searching for belonging and want to find it in something deeper than social ties
- When you want to describe devotion in the language of close friendship rather than formal duty
- When you find yourself loving the daily practice of devotion itself, not just its results