Abhanga 3891
Reciting words with closed eyes but no real love is empty, Tukaram says, the true open mantra anyone can use is Rama's Name, while occult rituals only lead toward ghosts, not God.
The verse
झांकूनियां नेत्र काय जपतोसी । जंव नाहीं मानसीं प्रेमभाव ॥१॥
रामनाम म्हणा उघड मंत्र जाणा । चुकती यातना गर्भवास ॥ध्रु.॥
मंत्र यंत्र संध्या करिसी जडीबुटी । तेणें भूतसृष्टी पावसील ॥२॥
तुका म्हणे ऐक सुंदर मंत्र एक । भवसिंधुतारक रामनाम ॥३॥
Literal translation
Closing-eyes-japa — useless-without-prema-bhāva. Rāma-Nāma — uġhaḍa-mantra — escape-garbha-vāsa. Mantra-yantra-sandhyā-jaḍī-buṭī — yields-bhūta-srṣṭi. Tukā: one-sundara-mantra — bhava-sindhu-tāraka — Rāma-Nāma.
What it means
THE canonical 3-verse Rāma-Nāma-uġhaḍa-mantra anti-occult text — close-companion to 3049. Closing your eyes — what are you muttering, when there is no love-state in your mind? Say Rāma-Nāma — know it as the open mantra — by it the suffering of the womb-rebirth is escaped. Mantra-yantra-sandhyā-jaḍī-buṭī (occult-roots-herbs) — by these you will only attain the realm of ghosts. Listen — there is one beautiful mantra — the crosser of the becoming-ocean — Rāma-Nāma. uġhaḍa-mantra (the open mantra) — anti-secrecy doctrine: the real mantra is not a secret formula whispered by a guru, but the simple Rāma-Nāma everyone-can-say. Pair with 3049 (open-mantra Rāma-Krṣṇa anti-occult — same theme).
For someone today
Tukaram questions the value of closing your eyes and reciting words if there's no real love behind it, calling that kind of mechanical muttering empty. He says Rama's name is the true, open mantra, one that anyone can say without needing secret initiation or a special formula, and it's this Name that frees a person from the suffering of endless rebirth. He warns against turning to secret rituals, magical formulas, or occult roots and herbs for spiritual power, saying that path only leads you toward the realm of ghosts, not toward God. The one truly beautiful mantra, he insists, the one that carries you across the ocean of existence, is simply Rama's Name, said with love.
मराठी: तुकाराम विचारतात की मनात प्रेमभाव नसताना डोळे मिटून काय जप करत आहात, अशा यांत्रिक जपाला ते निरर्थक म्हणतात. ते सांगतात की रामनाम हाच खरा, उघड मंत्र आहे, जो कोणीही कोणत्याही गुप्त दीक्षेशिवाय म्हणू शकतो, आणि याच नामाने गर्भवासाची यातना चुकते. गुप्त विधी, जादूटोणा, किंवा जडीबुटीच्या मागे लागू नये असा इशारा ते देतात, कारण त्या मार्गाने फक्त भूतसृष्टी गाठली जाते, देव नाही. खरोखर सुंदर असा एकच मंत्र, भवसागर पार करणारा, तो म्हणजे प्रेमाने घेतलेले रामनाम, असे ते ठासून सांगतात.
Where this applies
- When you're going through the motions of prayer or ritual without any real feeling behind it
- When you're drawn to secret formulas, occult practices, or superstitious rituals for quick spiritual power
- When you feel you need a special guru-given secret to make your practice legitimate
- When you want a spiritual practice open and available to anyone, without hidden gatekeeping