संत साहित्य · Tukārām · Abhanga 4065 of 4582

Abhanga 4065

No amount of cleverness, self-praise, detachment, or effort can fully reveal God; only God's own act of showing himself lets anyone truly know him.

When you rely on your own cleverness or intelligence to feel spiritually accomplished.

When you privately congratulate yourself for how detached or advanced you've become.

When you've worked hard and call yourself devoted, yet sense something essential is still missing.

The verse

काय फार जरी जालों मी शाहाणा । तरी नारायणा नातुडसी ॥१॥ काय जालें जरी मानी मज मन । परि नातुडति चरण तुझे देवा ॥ध्रु.॥ काय जालें जरी जालों उदासीन । परि वर्म भिन्न तुझें देवा ॥२॥ काय जालें जरी केले म्यां सायास । म्हणवितों दास भक्त तुझा ॥३॥ तुका म्हणे तुज दाविल्यावांचून । तुझें वर्म कोण जाणे देवा ॥४॥

Literal translation

Shāhāṇa-not-attained. Mind-praises-feet-not-attained. Udāsīna-varma-distinct. Sāyāsa-called-self-dāsa-bhakta. Tukā: without-you-showing — who-knows-varma.

What it means

A 4-verse 4-fold inadequacy text. What good if I became clever — Nārāyaṇa is not attained. What good if my own mind admires me — your feet not attained. What good if I became dispassionate — your essence is distinct from that. What good if I made great effort — and called myself dāsa-bhakta. Without your showing, who can know your varma?. Four standard-paths-rejected: (1) cleverness, (2) self-praise, (3) udāsīnatā, (4) effortful-self-naming. Only-you-showing-yourself reveals the varma.

For someone today

Tukaram lists four things people rely on to feel close to God, and shows that none of them, by themselves, actually get you there. Being clever doesn't reach God. Feeling proud of your own progress in your own mind doesn't reach his feet either. Even becoming detached and indifferent to the world isn't the same as touching God's true essence, since that essence is something else entirely. And even working hard and calling yourself a devoted servant isn't enough on its own. What Tukaram concludes is humbling: none of our self-driven efforts can fully reveal the divine; only God's own act of showing himself lets anyone truly know him.

मराठी: तुकाराम चार अशा गोष्टींची यादी देतात ज्यांवर लोक देवाच्या जवळ जाण्यासाठी विसंबतात, आणि दाखवतात की त्यातली कोणतीही एक स्वतःहून तिथे पोहोचवत नाही. चतुर असणे देवापर्यंत पोहोचवत नाही. स्वतःच्या प्रगतीचा मनातल्या मनात अभिमान बाळगणेही त्याच्या पायाशी नेत नाही. जगाबद्दल उदासीन आणि विरक्त होणेही देवाच्या खऱ्या सत्त्वाला स्पर्श करण्यासारखे नाही, कारण ते सत्त्व वेगळेच काहीतरी आहे. आणि खूप कष्ट करून स्वतःला दास किंवा भक्त म्हणवून घेणेही पुरेसे नाही. तुकाराम शेवटी नम्रपणे सांगतात: आपले कोणतेही स्वतःचे प्रयत्न देवाला पूर्णपणे प्रकट करू शकत नाहीत; फक्त देव स्वतः प्रकट झाला तरच त्याला खरोखर जाणता येते.

Where this applies

When you're relying on your own intelligence or cleverness to feel spiritually accomplished
When you catch yourself quietly congratulating your own mind for how far you've come
When you mistake becoming detached or unmoved by the world for real closeness to the divine
When you've worked hard and call yourself devoted, yet still feel something essential is missing

Autobiographical