Abhanga 4401
Honestly admitting you cannot conquer your own mind and desires is what opens the door to asking God to make good on the promise of being everyone's protector.
The verse
कैसा आणूं अनुभवा । होशी ठावा कैशापरी ॥१॥
नाहीं इंिद्रयांसि दमन । नव्हे मन एकविध ॥ध्रु.॥
मज नाहीं संतांचा आधार । नाहीं स्थिर बुद्धि माझी ॥२॥
न जिंकवती सबळ । काम क्रोध शरीरीं ॥३॥
तुझीं ब्रिदें चराचरीं । तैसीं साच करीं तुका म्हणे ॥४॥
Literal translation
How-bring-anubhava — how-known-to-me. No-indriya-damana — mana-not-ēka-vidha. No-santa-ādhāra — buddhi-not-sthira. Can't-conquer-kāma-krōdha-in-śarīra. Tukā: your-bridas-in-chara-chara — make-them-real.
What it means
A 4-verse helplessness-petition. How shall I bring (you) into experience — how shall you become known (to me)? I have no control of the senses — my mind is not single-folded. I have no support of santas — my intellect is not firm. I cannot conquer the strong desire-and-anger in (this) body. Your titles are in the moving-and-still — make them just-as-real, Tukā says. The 4-fold inability: (1) no-experience-of-Lord, (2) no-indriya-damana, (3) no-santa-ādhāra, (4) no-conquest-of-kāma-krōdha. The closing make-your-bridas-real-as-they-are-in-chara-chara is the bhrida-binding-argument.
For someone today
This abhang is an honest confession of failure. Tukaram admits he cannot control his senses, his mind will not settle on one thing, he lacks the steadying company of saints, and desire and anger are simply too strong for him to conquer alone. Instead of giving up there, he turns this weakness into an appeal to God's own reputation: God is known everywhere, in every moving and still thing, as a protector, so Tukaram asks God to make that promise real in his life too. Admitting you cannot save yourself turns out to be the doorway to genuinely asking for help.
मराठी: हा अभंग एक प्रामाणिक कबुली आहे. तुकाराम सांगतात की त्यांना इंद्रियांवर ताबा नाही, मन एका जागी स्थिर राहत नाही, संतांचा आधार नाही, आणि काम-क्रोध इतके प्रबळ आहेत की ते एकट्याने जिंकता येत नाहीत. एवढी कबुली देऊनही ते हार मानत नाहीत, तर आपल्या याच दुर्बलतेला देवाच्या ब्रीदाला साद घालण्यासाठी वापरतात - जगातल्या प्रत्येक चराचरात देव रक्षणकर्ता म्हणून ओळखला जातो, म्हणून तुकाराम विनवतात की हे ब्रीद माझ्याही आयुष्यात खरे करा. स्वतःला वाचवता येत नाही हे मान्य करणे हेच खऱ्या मागणीचे दार उघडते.
Where this applies
- When you feel you have almost no self-control no matter how much willpower you try to use
- When you lack steady companions or community to keep your resolve firm
- When anger or craving keeps overpowering you despite your best efforts to resist
- When you are praying and do not feel worthy, so you appeal to God's known character instead of your own merit