73 B post in English राम म्हणें वाटचालीं ।
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राम म्हणें वाटचालीं । यज्ञ पाउलापाउली ।

धन्य धन्य ते शरीर । तिर्थव्रतांचे माहेर ॥ १ ॥

राम म्हणें धंदा कररितां। सुखसमाधि त्या सदा ।

राम म्हणें ग्रासोग्रासी । तोचि जेविला उपवासी ॥ २ ॥

राम म्हणें भोगी त्यागी । कर्म न लिंपे त्या आंगी ।

ऐसा राम जपे नित्य । तुका म्हणे तोचि जीवमुक्त ॥ ३ ॥

Verbatim Translation :-

One who recites Holy name of Rama in every walk of life, is doing the Yagna at every step taken. His body is the abode of all Holy places || 1||

One who recites the name of Rama while doing all activities, always experiences the Peace . One who recites the Name of Rama does not eat anything even though he has taken a full meal || 2||

One who recites the name of Rama while enjoyments, of during the acts of Giving; does not get affected by one's own acts . One who recites the name of Rama like this , is free of all the bondage in this very birth( while being alive) || 3||

Background Information for understanding the meaning of the Abhanga:-

At the end of the previous post “ My body had become dirty..,” it was said that the next post will be describing how Tukarama Maharaja did his Sadhana .Therefore in this post the Abhnaga chosen is to explain the method of doing the worship.

For this purpose , it is necessary to understand the concept of Worship by Total Surrendering”

There are nine ways of performing the worship and the last and most important form of worship is the “Totals Surrendering to God”. Even if one follows any other form of worship , ultimately this is the worship which leads one to Liberation.

This worship is done at three levels . These are

1. Believing that the real ownership of everything is God's and not ours. And
   living the life with this belief faithfully.

Generally each and every one of us, claim that the things and persons such as our Wife

or son , house etc are ours. It is a claim of ownership in this regards.

Because of this attitude towards all these things, we develop attachment for the same. We

have seen in the earlier posts that this kind of attachment produces Bondage for us.

However if we should understand that we are not the owners but are Trustees. The

trustee has to take care of everything as if the things are owned by him. If we live in

the world with the attitude of a Trustee then this becomes the first step in the

worship of Total Surrender.

2) Believing that all that happens , happens only by the will of God and not anybody
else.
In fact a little contemplation will reveal that Whatever happens in our life, happens
because of the will of the Divine and not because of our will. For example No one
likes to fall sick but one day or the other one definitely falls sick. We really do not
have control over the happenings in our life.

In fact as Sri Ramana Maharshee says , all the work is done by us as per the will of
Divine only. Divine within each and everyone of us gets the things done from us.

Similarly Sri Ramakrishna Paramahansa says that it is very difficult to make the Ego

vanish completely. However it is possible to make it the Slave of Lord.

The above two ways of thinking enables one to diminish one's Ego. Complete loss of

Ego is nothing but the state of Liberation.

Additionally it is important to believe that the God is pervading every-where. This is an important characteristic of God . We have seen the details in the very First post itself.,

3. Living with the experience that all that is there is I and I alone and I am
   all pervading Parabrahman .

This subject is vary vast to explain. Sufficient to say that if we live in the world , with the

understanding at every moment that everything happens by the will of the Divine ; it is

the second step in the process of Total Surrender.

With this background information , we can now interpret the meaning of the abhanga.

Meaning of the abhanga :-

To start with the initial stanzas can be reorganized as given below.

One who recites Holy name of Rama in every walk of life, is doing the Yagna at every

step taken. One who recites the name of Rama while doing all activities, always

experiences the Peace . One who recites the Name of Rama does not eat anything even

though he has taken a full meal .His body is the abode of all Holy places || 1 & 2||

In these stanzas, Tukaram Maharaj is saying that he is reciting the Holy Ramanana while

walking ie. Doing every activity in the life. He is thus continuously doing “Yagna “ The

offering things as sacrifice in the fire . ( This is one form of as a form of worship.) .

By this he is stating that “ he is continuously aware of that the Lord is getting all the

actions done through him ;like a Puppet. And thus all his actions / activities are being

done without any specific expectations or results.

The advantage of this is multifold.

1) Since there are no specific expectations , there is

no feeling of Sorrowfulness id the fruits are bad in the eyes of others.

2) Since there is no expectation of fruits of actions , the actions will not be bindings.
In short, living this way keeps the mind unperturbed all the time.

The meaning of the words “ full meal” is simple. All the information received by our

body through the five sense organs is “ Meal “ for the body which generates the

feeling of Enjoyment and pleasure thereupon.

For example The Ears want sweet songs and words, The every desire for Beauty, The

nose for fragrant smells, tongue for the Taste and the skin desires the pleasure experienced

through touch.

One who has only the memory of Lord in his mind, and always thinks that Lord is

the real doer; will be always happy. That is why all these are addressed as “Meal” in

the abhanga.

Similarly it is clear that while doing any work or action, if one has full faith that :

Lord is the doer and not me” then this act becomes a form of worship through

Sacrifice. Such a person is always loved by everyone, since association with such a

person is always good. In the abhanga Tukaram Maharaj says that such association

is like living in a place of pilgrimage.

The last two-lines of the abhanga summarize the above points as given below.

One who recites the name of Rama while enjoyments, of during the acts of Giving; does not get affected by one's own acts . One who recites the name of Rama like this , is free of all the bondage in this very birth( while being alive) || 3||

By this statement Tukarama Maharaj has given us a Guarantee that that by adopting the

described way of living; one will reach the state of liberatio0n in this very birth itself.

Teachings from this Abhanga :-

Let there be any Saint or Liberated Soul, for example Sri. Tukaram Maharaj Himself,

Samartha Ramadas, Meerabai, Mahatma Kabir, Sri Ramakrishna Paramahansa ; each of

them has described their own experience only.

Therefore it is best to believe these sayings and follow the same . This way of living is

helpful for meaning full living in this world . Let us live that way is the teaching here.

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