संत साहित्य · Tukārām · Abhanga 3895 of 4582

Abhanga 3895

Real closeness to God comes from effort that lets go of money, reputation, and ego, and its sweetness can only be known through patient, lived experience, never through haste.

When you catch yourself rushing your devotional practice hoping for instant results.

When you realize you are still holding onto possessions or reputation that keep you from surrendering fully.

When you wonder why a spiritual experience hasn't 'clicked' yet even though you are sincerely trying.

The verse

देव तिंहीं बळें धरिला सायासें । करूनियां नास उपाधीचा ॥१॥ पर्वपक्षी धातु धिःकारिलें जन । स्वयें जनार्दन ते चि जाले ॥२॥ तुका म्हणे यासी न चले तांतडी । अनुभवें गोडी येइल कळों ॥३॥

Literal translation

Deva-grasped-by-force-sāyāsa — destroying-upādhi. Parva-pakṣa — disdained-dhātu-and-jana — became-Janārdana. Tukā: no-tāntaḍī — anubhava-gives-gōḍī.

What it means

A 3-verse bhakti-conquest text. They grasped Deva by force and effort — destroying (their) upādhi. On the sacred fortnights, they disdained metal (money) and (worldly) people — and they themselves became Janārdana. In this, haste doesn't work — by experience, the sweetness will come to be known. The line svayēm Janārdana tē chi jālē (they themselves became Janārdana) — a striking bhakta-becomes-Lord identification (compare 3735 janī Janārdana). The closing anubhava-gōḍī-no-haste is the slow-cooking-of-bhakti-experience doctrine.

For someone today

These seekers held on to God through real effort, and in doing so they let go of the baggage they had been carrying, the attachments and self-image that got in the way. During sacred times they stopped caring about money and about what other people thought of them, and in that release they themselves became one with the divine. Tukaram is clear that you cannot rush this process. The sweetness of it only shows itself through lived experience, not through shortcuts.

मराठी: या साधकांनी परिश्रमपूर्वक देवाला घट्ट धरून ठेवले, आणि असे करताना त्यांनी आपले ओझे, आसक्ती आणि खोटा अहंकार सोडून दिला. पवित्र काळात त्यांनी पैशाची आणि लोक काय म्हणतील याची पर्वा करणे सोडले, आणि त्या मोकळेपणातच ते स्वतः परमेश्वराशी एकरूप झाले. तुकाराम स्पष्ट सांगतात की ही प्रक्रिया घाईने होत नाही. तिची गोडी फक्त प्रत्यक्ष अनुभवातूनच कळते, शॉर्टकटने नाही.

Where this applies

When you want a spiritual practice to pay off quickly and feel frustrated that it isn't happening fast enough
When you are torn between caring what people think of you and staying true to your devotion
When you notice that holding onto money or status is what's keeping you from feeling close to God
When you are in the middle of a sacred season or practice and tempted to cut corners