Abhanga 3995
You do not need endless arguments or complicated practices to be freed from your past; simply speaking the Name clearly is enough.
The verse
गाबाळाचे ग्रंथीं कां रे पडां सदा । मिथ्या भेदवादा वागवितां ॥१॥
संसारगाबाळीं पडसी निखळ । जालासी तूं खळ तेणें मना ॥ध्रु.॥
साधनसंकटीं गुंतसी कासया । व्यर्थ गा अपायामाजी गुंती ॥२॥
निर्मळ फुकाचें नाम गोविंदाचें । अनंतजन्माचे फेडी मळ ॥३॥
तुका म्हणे नको करूं कांहीं कष्ट । नाम वाचे स्पष्ट हरि बोलें ॥४॥
Literal translation
Gabāḷā-of-granthas — mithyā-bhēda-vāda. Samsāra-gabāḷī — mana-khaḷa. Sādhana-samkaṭa — vyartha-apāya. Nirmaḷa-phukāchē-Name — clears-mala-of-ananta-janmas. Tukā: no-kaṣṭa — speak-Name-clearly.
What it means
A 4-verse anti-effort canonical. Why fall into the jumble of books — carrying false division-disputes? You've fallen into the world's jumble; your mind has become a wicked-one by it. Why entangled in the trouble-of-practices — vain harm. The pure, free Name of Govinda clears the mud of countless births. Don't take any pain — just speak the Name clearly by tongue. The line nirmaḷa fukāchē Nāma — for free — clears ananta-janmas' mala is the canonical Tukārām free-and-effective-Name formulation. Pair with 3890 (no-tapa-tīrtha-mahā-dāna-no-dhana), 3743 (Name-is-everything).
For someone today
Tukaram asks bluntly why you keep tangling yourself in endless books and arguments about who is right, calling it a false and pointless division. You've already fallen into the mess of ordinary life, he says, and all that extra intellectual quarreling has just made your mind hardened and quarrelsome too. He questions why you would also get stuck struggling through complicated spiritual practices, calling that effort wasted and even harmful. Instead, he points to something available to everyone for free: the pure Name of Govinda, which he says can clear away the accumulated weight of countless past lives. His final instruction is refreshingly simple, don't strain yourself with hard labor, just speak the Name clearly with your own voice.
मराठी: तुकाराम स्पष्टपणे विचारतात की तुम्ही सतत ग्रंथांच्या आणि कोण बरोबर आहे यावरील वादांच्या गुंत्यात का अडकता, आणि याला खोटा व निरर्थक भेदभाव म्हणतात. तुम्ही आधीच संसाराच्या गुंत्यात पडला आहात, ते म्हणतात, आणि त्या अतिरिक्त बौद्धिक भांडणाने तुमचे मनही कठोर आणि भांडखोर बनले आहे. ते हेही विचारतात की गुंतागुंतीच्या साधनांमध्ये झगडत का राहता, आणि तो प्रयत्न वाया गेलेला आणि हानिकारकही म्हणतात. त्याऐवजी ते सर्वांना मोफत उपलब्ध असलेल्या एका गोष्टीकडे बोट दाखवतात — गोविंदाचे शुद्ध नाम, जे अनंत जन्मांचा साठलेला मळ धुऊन टाकू शकते, असे ते सांगतात. त्यांची शेवटची सूचना ताजीतवानी करणारी साधी आहे — कष्ट करू नका, फक्त स्वतःच्या वाणीने स्पष्टपणे नाम उच्चारा.
Where this applies
- When you are lost in endless debates or reading trying to find the one correct doctrine
- When a complicated spiritual practice feels overwhelming and out of reach for your daily life
- When you notice intellectual arguing has made you more rigid and combative rather than calmer
- When you need permission to trust a simple, accessible practice instead of an elaborate one