Abhanga 4240
Sustained devotion and constant remembrance of God can settle the heart so deeply that a person is no longer weighed down by sin or merit, like fire that consumes whatever touches it.
The verse
सदा नामघोष करूं हरिकथा । तेणें सदा चित्ति समाधान ॥१॥
सर्वसुख ल्यालों सर्व अलंकार । आनंदें निर्भर डुलतसों ॥ध्रु.॥
असों ऐसा कोठें आठव ही नाहीं । देहीं च विदेही भोगूं दशा ॥२॥
तुका म्हणे आम्ही जालों अग्निरूप । लागों नेदूं पापपुण्य आतां ॥३॥
Literal translation
Sadā-nāma-ghōṣa-Hari-kathā — chitti-samādhāna. Wear-all-sukha-all-alankāra — ānanda-ḍulatasōm. No-memory-where — dēhī-cha-vidēhī-bhōga-daśā. Tukā: agni-rūpa — pāpa-puṇya-don't-touch.
What it means
THE canonical 3-verse jīvanmukta-state text. I always do Name-roar and Hari-story; by this my heart is always settled. I'm wearing all joy, all ornaments; I sway, full of bliss. I exist somewhere — but have no memory of where; being in the body, I'm bodiless — I enjoy the state. Tukā says: we have become fire-form — we don't let merit-or-demerit touch us now. Three claims: (1) sadā-nāma-ghōṣa → chitti-samādhāna; (2) ānanda-ḍulanā saturation; (3) dēhī-cha-vidēhī (body-yet-bodiless) state; (4) agni-rūpa-pāpa-puṇya-doesn't-touch — fire-form leaves no moral residue; whatever falls in is consumed. Pair with 2922 (karma-became-Nārāyaṇa), 2937 (deha-atīta), 2942 (true-samnyāsa = samkalpa-destruction).
For someone today
Tukaram describes what constant chanting of God's name and telling Hari's story has done for him: his heart has become permanently settled and at ease. He feels so full of joy that it is as if he is wearing every kind of happiness and every ornament, swaying in pure bliss. He says he has lost track of where he even is, living in the body yet feeling free of it, simply enjoying that state. His striking closing claim is that he has become like fire itself, so that neither sin nor merit can stick to him anymore, everything that touches fire is simply consumed. The lesson is that sustained devotion can bring such deep inner settledness that you stop being weighed down by the constant tally of your good and bad deeds.
मराठी: तुकाराम सांगतात की देवाचे सतत नामस्मरण आणि हरिकथेने त्यांच्यासाठी काय घडवले आहे - त्यांचे चित्त कायमचे स्थिर आणि शांत झाले आहे. त्यांना इतका आनंद वाटतो की जणू ते सर्व प्रकारचे सुख आणि सर्व अलंकार परिधान करून आनंदात डुलत आहेत. ते म्हणतात की त्यांना आपण कुठे आहोत हेच आठवत नाही, देहात असूनही देहातीत असल्यासारखे वाटते, आणि ते फक्त त्या अवस्थेचा आनंद घेतात. त्यांचा धक्कादायक शेवटचा दावा असा आहे की ते अग्निरूप बनले आहेत, त्यामुळे पाप किंवा पुण्य आता त्यांना चिकटत नाही - अग्नीला जे स्पर्श करते ते जळून जाते. सतत भक्तीमुळे इतकी खोल अंतरीक स्थिरता येऊ शकते की माणूस आपल्या चांगल्या-वाईट कृत्यांच्या सतत हिशोबाच्या ओझ्याखाली दबून राहत नाही हाच यातील बोध आहे.
Where this applies
- When constant worry about your own mistakes and merits keeps you from feeling at peace
- When you experience a rare moment of deep contentment through prayer or devotion and want to understand it
- When you feel weighed down by the running tally of what you have done right or wrong
- When you seek a settled heart instead of one that swings with every circumstance