Abhanga 4306
Real spiritual experience is not found in words or rituals but in withdrawing the mind from distraction and letting go of body-identification until you become one with what you contemplate.
The verse
नाहीं शब्दाधीन वर्म आहे दुरी । नव्हे तंत्रीं मंत्रीं अनुभव तो ॥१॥
हर्षामर्षा अंगीं आदळती लाटा । कामक्रोधें तटा सांडियेलें ॥ध्रु.॥
न सरे ते भक्ति विठोबाचे पायीं । उपरति नाहीं जेथें चित्ति ॥२॥
तुका म्हणे सुख देहनिरसनें । चिंतनें चिंतन तद्रूपता ॥३॥
Literal translation
No-śabda — warma-far — not-tantra-mantra-experience. Harṣa-amarṣa-waves — kāma-krōdha-shore-abandoned. Bhakti-insufficient-without-uparati-in-chitti. Tukā: sukha-by-deha-nirasana — chintana-chintana-tad-rūpatā.
What it means
A 3-verse bhāva-discipline companion to 4305. No word is master here — the secret is far; the experience isn't by tantra or mantra. Joy-and-sorrow waves strike the body — but we have abandoned the shore of desire-and-anger. Bhakti at Viṭhōba's feet isn't accomplished where withdrawal isn't in the heart. Tukā says: joy comes by body-elimination — by meditation-of-meditation, (one arrives at) the form-of-That. The doctrine: (1) no-śabda-warma-far + not-tantra-mantra (negative-conditions); (2) waves-of-emotion-still-strike-but-kāma-krōdha-shore-left (mid-state); (3) uparati-required-for-bhakti; (4) sukha-by-deha-nirasana + chintana-of-chintana → tad-rūpatā (final-fruit). Pair with 4305 (companion).
For someone today
Tukaram says no mere word can hold the deepest secret, it lies far beyond any technique, and real spiritual experience is not found through rituals or chanted formulas. Waves of joy and sorrow will still hit you, that is normal, but Tukaram has already left behind the shore of desire and anger that used to pull him around. He adds that devotion at Vitthal's feet is not complete until the mind actually withdraws from outer distraction. True happiness, he says, comes from letting go of overidentifying with the body, and by returning again and again to deep reflection until you become one with what you are contemplating.
मराठी: तुकाराम महाराज सांगतात की केवळ शब्दाने खोल रहस्य कळत नाही, ते कोणत्याही तंत्रापलीकडे आहे, आणि खरा अनुभव विधी किंवा मंत्रोच्चाराने मिळत नाही. सुख आणि दुःखाच्या लाटा अजूनही अंगावर आदळतात, हे स्वाभाविक आहे, पण तुकाराम महाराजांनी काम आणि क्रोध ओढून नेणारा किनारा आधीच सोडलेला आहे. ते पुढे सांगतात की विठोबाच्या पायी केलेली भक्ती तेव्हाच पूर्ण होते जेव्हा मन खरोखर बाहेरील विचलनापासून मागे वळते. खरे सुख देहाशी अति ओळख सोडून देण्यातून मिळते, आणि वारंवार खोल चिंतन करत राहिल्याने शेवटी आपण ज्याचे चिंतन करतो त्याच्याशी एकरूप होतो.
Where this applies
- When you realize that reciting words or rituals alone is not giving you real inner experience
- When waves of joy and sorrow still hit you even though you have left old habits of desire and anger behind
- When your devotion feels incomplete because your mind keeps chasing outer distractions
- When you notice happiness growing as you stop overidentifying with your body