Abhanga 3933
Your body and possessions were never truly yours to begin with, so fighting to keep what you can't hold onto anyway is a waste of effort, Tukaram argues.
The verse
आलिया संसारा उठा वेग करा । शरण जा उदारा पांडुरंगा ॥१॥
देह हें देवाचें धन कुबेराचें । तेथें मनुष्याचें काय आहे ॥ध्रु.॥
देता देवविता नेता नेवविता । येथ याची सत्ता काय आहे ॥२॥
निमित्याचा धनी केला असे झणी । माझेंमाझें म्हणोनि व्यर्थ गेला ॥३॥
तुका म्हणे कां रे नाशवंतासाटीं । देवासवें आटी पाडितोसी ॥४॥
Literal translation
Come-samsāra — rise-go-quickly-śaraṇa-Pāṇḍuranga-udāra. Body-Deva's-dhana — Kubera-wealth — what's-human's. Giver-prompter — taker-prompter — no-sattā-of-yours. Only-nimit-dhanī — mine-mine-went-vyartha. Tukā: why-fight-Deva-for-perishable.
What it means
THE canonical 4-verse anti-mamatā doctrine. Having come into the world, rise quickly: go to refuge in generous Pāṇḍuranga. This body is Deva's money, Kubera's wealth — what is the human's here? Giver and prompter-of-giving, taker and prompter-of-taking — what power of yours is here? You've been made only the nominal-owner — sayingmine-mineyou went in vain. Why for the sake of the perishable do you fight with Deva? The structural argument: (a) body is not yours but Deva's-and-Kubera's; (b) all action-and-prompter is Deva; (c) you are only the nimittyāchā dhanī (apparent-owner); (d) mine-mine is vain; (e) so don't fight with Deva over the perishable. Foundational anti-mamatā text. Pair with 3913 (Lord-the-true-actor), 2922 (karma-non-dual), 3735 (janī Janārdana).
For someone today
Tukaram lays out a clear argument here: since you've entered this world, hurry up and take refuge in the generous Pandurang. Your very body, he says, is not really yours — it belongs to God, it is God's wealth. Every act of giving or taking, and every impulse behind it, comes from God too; you were only ever made the apparent, nominal owner of things. Clinging to mine, mine was always a waste of effort. So why, Tukaram asks, would you keep fighting with God over things that don't last anyway? This is a lesson in loosening your grip on ownership and ego before life forces the lesson on you.
मराठी: तुकाराम इथे स्पष्ट युक्तिवाद मांडतात: जगात आल्यावर, लवकर उदार पांडुरंगाला शरण जा. तुमचे शरीरही खरे तर तुमचे नाही, ते देवाचे आहे, देवाची संपत्ती आहे, असे ते म्हणतात. देणे-घेणे आणि त्यामागची प्रेरणाही देवाचीच आहे; तुम्हाला फक्त गोष्टींचे नाममात्र मालक बनवले गेले आहे. 'माझे माझे' म्हणत राहणे हा नेहमीच व्यर्थ प्रयत्न होता. मग टिकणार नाही अशा गोष्टींसाठी देवाशी का भांडत राहायचे, असा प्रश्न तुकाराम विचारतात. यातून हा धडा मिळतो की मालकीची आणि अहंकाराची पकड सैल करावी, आयुष्याने हा धडा जबरदस्तीने शिकवण्याआधीच.
Where this applies
- Tukārām's THE canonical body-is-Deva's-not-yours; only-nimit-dhanī; mine-mine-vain anti-mamatā doctrine
- Pair with 3913 (Lord-the-true-actor), 2922 (karma-non-dual), 3735 (janī-Janārdana)