Abhanga 4020
You do not need elaborate spiritual disciplines, simple shared singing and vigil with fellow devotees can be the practice that soaks the whole self in devotion.
The verse
कोण आमचीं योगतपें । करूं बापें जाणावीं ॥१॥
गीत संतसंगें गाऊं । उभीं ठाऊं जागरणीं ॥ध्रु.॥
आमुचा तो नव्हे लाग । करूं त्याग जावया ॥२॥
तुका म्हणे इंद्रियांसी । ये चि रसीं रंगवूं ॥३॥
Literal translation
What-yoga-tapa-of-ours — Father-knows. Sing-gītī-santa-sanga — stand-jāgaraṇi. Not-our-lāga — tyāga-of-going. Tukā: indriyas-dyed-in-this-rasa.
What it means
A 3-verse jāgaraṇa-with-santas text. What yoga-tapas have we? Let the Father know them. We'll sing in santa-sanga, standing in all-night vigil. We have no clinging (to other paths); we renounce going-elsewhere. Let the senses be dyed in this very rasa. The Vārkarī jāgaraṇa (all-night vigil-bhajan) is the chosen-tapa — replacing classical yoga-tapas.
For someone today
Tukaram admits plainly that he has no formal yoga practices or austerities to show off, and he leaves it to the divine to judge what little he has. His real practice is simpler, singing together with fellow devotees, standing through the night in shared vigil and song. He has no interest in chasing after other disciplines or wandering off to try something else, choosing instead to give up that restless searching entirely. His closing wish is that his very senses, sight, hearing, all of it, become soaked through with this same feeling of shared devotion, rather than staying divided between different pursuits.
मराठी: तुकाराम स्पष्टपणे कबूल करतात की त्यांच्याकडे दाखवण्यासारखी कोणतीही औपचारिक योगसाधना किंवा तपश्चर्या नाही, आणि जे थोडेफार आहे त्याचा न्याय परमेश्वरावरच सोपवतात. त्यांची खरी साधना साधी आहे, सहभक्तांसोबत एकत्र गाणे, रात्रभर जागरणात उभे राहून गाणे. इतर साधनांच्या मागे धावण्यात किंवा दुसरीकडे भटकण्यात त्यांना काही रस नाही, त्याऐवजी ती अस्वस्थ शोधाशोध पूर्णपणे सोडून देतात. शेवटची इच्छा अशी आहे की त्यांच्या इंद्रियांनाच, दृष्टी, श्रवण, सगळे, याच सामायिक भक्तीच्या रसात पूर्णपणे भिजून जावे, वेगवेगळ्या गोष्टींत विभागलेले न राहता.
Where this applies
- When you feel inadequate because you have not followed an elaborate spiritual discipline like others have
- When simple, shared practice such as singing or gathering with others feels more real to you than formal ritual
- When you are tempted to keep hopping between different methods instead of settling into one
- When you want your whole attention, not just part of it, absorbed in something meaningful