Abhanga 3991
Narrowing your longing down to one true desire, held steadily in the heart, matters more than scattering it across many wants.
The verse
सावळें सुंदर रूप मनोहर । राहो निरंतर हृदयीं माझे ॥१॥
आणीक कांहीं इच्छा आम्हां नाहीं चाड । तुझें नाम गोड पांडुरंगे ॥ध्रु.॥
जन्मोजन्मीं ऐसें मागितलें तुज । आम्हांसी सहज द्यावें आतां ॥२॥
तुका म्हणे तुज ऐसे दयाळ । धुंडितां सकळ नाहीं आम्हां ॥३॥
Literal translation
Sāvaḷē-sundara-rūpa-manōhara — stay-eternal-in-hrdaya. No-other-iccha — Name-gōḍa-Pāṇḍurangē. Janma-janma-asked — give-sahaja-now. Tukā: no-such-dayāḷa-found.
What it means
A 3-verse heart-form prayer. Let the dark-beautiful-captivating-form stay eternally in my heart. We have no other desire or attraction — your Name is sweet, Pāṇḍurangē. Birth-after-birth I've asked this of you — give it naturally now. Searching everywhere, I haven't found another compassionate one like you. The image sāvaḷē-sundara-rūpa-manōhara is the canonical Marathi devotional-epithet for Viṭṭhal — dark-beautiful-captivating.
For someone today
Tukaram makes one simple, focused request: let that dark, beautiful, captivating form of Vitthal stay in his heart forever. He is honest that he does not want anything else, no other desire is pulling at him, because just the sweetness of the Name is enough. He points out that this is not a new wish, he has been asking for this life after life, and now he wants it to come easily and naturally. His closing line is a quiet declaration of loyalty, that after searching everywhere he has never found anyone as compassionate as this. The lesson here is about the power of narrowing your longing down to one true thing instead of scattering it across many desires.
मराठी: तुकाराम एकच साधी, केंद्रित विनंती करतात — विठ्ठलाचे ते सावळे, सुंदर, मनोहर रूप त्यांच्या हृदयात कायम राहावे. ते प्रामाणिकपणे सांगतात की त्यांना दुसरे काहीही नको, कोणतीही इच्छा त्यांना ओढत नाही, कारण फक्त नामाची गोडी पुरेशी आहे. ते सांगतात की ही काही नवी इच्छा नाही, जन्मोजन्मी त्यांनी हेच मागितले आहे, आणि आता ते सहज, आपोआप मिळावे अशी त्यांची अपेक्षा आहे. त्यांची शेवटची ओळ एक शांत निष्ठेची घोषणा आहे — सगळीकडे शोधूनही असा दयाळू दुसरा कोणी सापडला नाही. आपली ओढ अनेक इच्छांमध्ये विखुरण्याऐवजी एका खऱ्या गोष्टीवर केंद्रित करण्याच्या सामर्थ्याची ही शिकवण आहे.
Where this applies
- When you are pulled in many directions by competing desires and want to simplify what you truly want
- When you have asked for the same thing for a long time and are ready to simply let it arrive naturally
- When you want to express loyalty to someone or something after comparing it honestly to everything else
- When you need to name the one thing that would genuinely satisfy you instead of chasing many smaller things