Abhanga 4044
Real devotion means dancing joyfully with love before others, leaving the outcome entirely to God, and giving up worry, craving, and your own pride completely.
The verse
राम कृष्ण ऐसीं उच्चारितां नामें । नाचेन मी प्रेमें संतांपुढें ॥१॥
काय घडेल तें घडो ये सेवटीं । लाभ हाणी तुटी देव जाणे ॥ध्रु.॥
चिंता मोह आशा ठेवुनि निराळीं । देईन हा बळी जीव पायीं ॥२॥
तुका म्हणे कांहीं उरों नेदीं उरी । सांडीन हे थोरी ओवाळोनी ॥३॥
Literal translation
Rāma Krṣṇa aisīm uchchāritām nāme — uttering names like Rāma-Krṣṇa; nāchena mī preme samtāmpuḍhe — I will dance with prema before sants. Kāya ghaḍela te ghaḍō ye sevaṭīm — what will happen, let it happen at end; lābha hāṇī tuṭī Deva jāṇe — gain-loss-breaking — Deva knows. Chintā mōha āśā ṭhevuni nirāḷīm — placing chintā-mōha-āśā aside; deīna hā baḷī jīva pāyīm — I'll give this baḷi-jīva at feet. Tukā mhaṇe kāmhī urōm nedīm urī — Tukā says: I won't let any urī remain; sāṇḍīna he thōrī ōvāḷōnī — I'll cast off this thōrī (greatness), ōvāḷōnī (sacrificially-circling).
What it means
A short 3-verse resolve by Tukārām.
The resolve: Uttering-Rāma-Krṣṇa-names — I'll-dance-with-prema-before-sants. End-result: lābha-hāni-tuṭi — Deva-knows. Setting-aside chintā-mōha-āśā, I'll-give-baḷi-jīva-at-feet. No-residue-left; I'll-cast-off-greatness ōvāḷōnī.
The ōvāḷōnī sāṇḍīna thōrī image is striking — I-will-circle-(the-Lord)-sacrificially and-cast-off-my-greatness. The bhakta's-sacrifice-of-pride-itself becomes-the-offering.
For someone today
Tukārām resolves to dance with love before the sants while uttering names like Rāma and Krṣṇa, and then cast aside everything else. He says: let happen whatever will happen in the end — gain, loss, or ruin — God alone knows. Setting worry, delusion, and longing aside, he will lay this sacrificed life at God's feet. He says he won't let anything remain held back — he will cast off his own sense of greatness, offering it up as if waving a lamp in sacrificial devotion.
मराठी: तुकाराम इथे संतांसमोर प्रेमाने नाचण्याचा आणि उर्वरित सर्वस्व सोडून देण्याचा निर्धार व्यक्त करतात. राम-कृष्ण अशी नामे उच्चारत ते संतांपुढे भावविभोर होऊन नाचतील. शेवटी जे घडायचे ते घडो — लाभ, हानी किंवा नुकसान — देवाला माहीत. चिंता, मोह आणि आशा बाजूला ठेवून ते हा बळी दिलेला जीव देवाच्या पायी अर्पण करतील. काहीही शिल्लक ठेवणार नाहीत — स्वतःचा मोठेपणाही ओवाळून टाकून देतील.
Where this applies
- When you are holding back from expressing joy or devotion because you are worried what others will think
- When you are calculating risk and reward instead of committing fully to something you believe in
- When pride or self-importance is the last thing standing between you and real surrender
- When you want to let go of outcomes and just give something your whole heart