Abhanga 4414
Surrendering fully to God, treating that relationship as mother, father, and friend all at once, is what clears past wrongs and brings real rest.
The verse
माय बाप बंधु सोयरा सांगाती । तूं चि माझी प्रीति गण गोत ॥१॥
शरण आलीं त्यांचीं वारिलीं दुरितें । तारिले पतित असंख्यात ॥ध्रु.॥
इतर कोण जाणे पावलें विश्रांति । न येतां तुजप्रति शरणागत ॥२॥
तयामध्यें मज ठेवीं नारायणा । लक्षुमीरमणा सोइरिया ॥३॥
तुका म्हणे देई दर्शनाचा लाभ । जे पाय दुर्लभ ब्रम्हादिकां ॥४॥
Literal translation
Mother, father, brother, kin, companion — you alone my prīti-gaṇa-gōta. Saraṇa-comers — their duritē cleared, asankhya patita tāriyele. How can others attain viśrānti without coming to your saraṇa? Among them, keep me, Nārāyaṇa-Lakṣmī-ramaṇa-sōyariyā. Tukā: give darśana-lābha — these feet durlabha even to Brahmā.
What it means
A canonical all-relations-claim — you-alone-are-my-everything. The feet are durlabha-even-to-Brahmā — supreme-rarity-claim.
For someone today
Tukaram declares that God is everything to him at once, mother, father, brother, kin, and companion, standing in for every ordinary relationship he might otherwise depend on. He notes that everyone who has come to God in surrender has had their wrongs cleared away, countless fallen people rescued, and asks how anyone could find real rest without doing the same. His only request is to be counted among those already saved, and to be granted a glimpse of feet so rare that even Brahma finds them hard to reach.
मराठी: तुकाराम सांगतात की देवच त्यांच्यासाठी सगळे काही आहे - आई, वडील, भाऊ, नातेवाईक आणि सोबती, इतर कोणत्याही सामान्य नात्याची जागा तोच घेतो. जे कोणी शरण आले, त्यांची पापे धुतली गेली, अगणित पतित तारले गेले, असे ते सांगतात आणि विचारतात की शरण न येता खरी विश्रांती कशी मिळेल. त्यांची एकच विनंती आहे - मलाही त्या तारलेल्यांमध्ये सामील कर, आणि ब्रह्मादिकांनाही दुर्लभ असलेल्या त्या चरणांचे दर्शन दे.
Where this applies
- When you feel you have lost your usual sources of support and want to lean fully on God instead
- When you wonder if surrender to God can actually undo past mistakes
- When you feel uncertain of your own worth and want simply to be counted among those who are cared for
- When you long for a moment of real connection with the divine, however rare it feels