संत साहित्य
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संत साहित्य · Tukārām · Abhanga 3986 of 4582

Abhanga 3986

When every effort to fix yourself is exhausted, real relief comes from asking to be accepted exactly as you are.

When shame about your own flaws makes you feel unworthy of love or help.
When you have tried every strategy to fix yourself and nothing has worked.
When you feel crushed by circumstances beyond your control and have no strength left.

The verse

अवघ्यां पातकांची मी एक रासी । अवघा तूं होसी सर्वोत्तमु ॥१॥ जैसा तैसा लागे करणें अंगीकार । माझा सर्व भार चालविणें ॥ध्रु.॥ अवघें चि मज गिळियेलें काळें । अवघीं च बळें तुझे अंगीं ॥२॥ तुका म्हणे आतां खुंटला उपाय । अवघे चि पाय तुझे मज ॥३॥

Literal translation

Avaghyām pātakāmcī mī eka rāsī — avaghā tūm hōsī sarvōttamu — I am one heap of all pātakas — you are entirely sarvōttama. Jaisā taisā lāge karaṇēm angīkāra — mājhā sarva bhāra chālaviṇēm — however (I) am, (you) must do angīkāra — must carry my whole burden. Avaghēm chi maja giḷiyelēm kāḷēm — avaghīm ca baḷēm tujhe angīm — the whole of me has been swallowed by kāḷa — all strength is in your body. Tukā mhaṇe ātām khuṇṭalā upāya — avaghē chi pāya tujhe maja — Tukā says: now upāya is blocked — all-(refuge) is your feet for me.

What it means

A 3-verse destitute-surrender. I-am-rāsī-of-pātakas, you-are-sarvōttama; you-must-take-me-as-I-am, carry-my-bhāra; kāḷa-has-swallowed-me, all-strength-is-in-you; upāya-is-exhausted — only-your-feet remain. Companion to yātī-hīna-mati-hīna (2742) and mī-cha-vikhaḷa (2730).

For someone today

Tukaram admits, without any softening, that he feels like a heap of every fault there is, while God is entirely good. His request is not that he be fixed or improved first, but that he be accepted exactly as he is, whole flaws and all, and that God carry the weight he cannot carry himself. He feels swallowed up by time and by his own limits, with no strength left of his own, so he stops trying to fix himself through effort. When every strategy is used up, he says, all that remains is to fall at God's feet. This is a lesson about the relief that comes when you stop performing worthiness and simply ask to be held as you actually are.

मराठी: तुकाराम कोणतीही सारवासारव न करता कबूल करतात की ते जणू सर्व दोषांची एक रास आहेत, तर देव पूर्णपणे चांगला आहे. त्यांची मागणी अशी नाही की आधी त्यांना सुधारावे, तर त्यांना जसे आहेत तसेच, सर्व त्रुटींसकट स्वीकारावे, आणि जो भार ते स्वतः उचलू शकत नाहीत तो देवाने उचलावा. त्यांना वाटते की काळाने आणि स्वतःच्या मर्यादांनी त्यांना गिळून टाकले आहे, स्वतःचे कोणतेही बळ उरलेले नाही, म्हणून ते स्वतःला प्रयत्नांनी सुधारण्याचा प्रयत्न सोडून देतात. सर्व उपाय संपल्यावर, ते म्हणतात, फक्त देवाच्या चरणांशी लीन होणे उरते. जेव्हा तुम्ही योग्यता सिद्ध करण्याचे नाटक थांबवता आणि जसे आहात तसे स्वीकारले जाण्याची फक्त विनंती करता, तेव्हा मिळणाऱ्या दिलाशाची ही शिकवण आहे.

Where this applies

all-strength-in-your-anga