83 rd post : पंचभूतांचियें सापडलो संदी ।
Blog address : http: // tukaramasteachings.blogsopt.com

For Marathi Readers a separate post has been added.

पंचभूतांचियें सापडलो संदी । घातलोसें बंदी अहंकारें॥ १ ॥

आपुला आपण बांधविला गळा । नेंणेचि निराळा असतांही ॥ २ ॥

कासया सत्य मानिला हा संसार ।कां हे केले चार माझें तुझें ॥३ ॥

कां नाहीं गेलो शरण नारायणा । कां नाहीं वासना आंवरिली ॥ ४ ॥

किंचित सुखाचा धरिला अभिलाष । तेणें केला नाश बहु पुढे ॥ ५ ॥

तुका म्हणें आतां देह देऊं बळी । करूनि सांडूं होळी संचिताची ॥ ६ ॥

Verbatim Meaning of the Abhanga

I have fallen in the prison made of five elements, because of my Ego || 1||

Though I am separate from this body; because of my love for it ( my body) ; I have tied my neck with it; forgetting my Real Nature || 2||

Why did I assume that this World and living in it is real? And with this assumption , why did I assume that “ This is my house. This is my child etc. why ? || 3||

Why did I not surrender to Narayana and control my desires?|| 4 ||

Alas, I desired for short-living pleasures derived from the worldly objects; and this has caused my own destruction. || 5 ||

Tuka says that now let me consecrate this body of mine, and destroy all the sanchita || 6 ||

Background Information for this Abhanga :-

It is well known that only the Humans have been given the intellect of extraordinary level.

Only Humans are having a unique capability of doing thinking and reasoning. No other specie out of 8400000 species is having this unique characteristic.

All the animals all species spend their lifetime for Food ( Self Protection,),Sleep and Sex for continuance of the specie. Also every specie fears Death.

However only because of the unique blessings for a life with all comforts/pleasures. Medical science and Industry are thus advancing and is striving for this coveted goals of Immortality.

However our scriptures clearly state that our birth as human is mainly to conquer the Death and attain immortality with permanently lasting state of Bliss.

Scriptures also say that this desire to attain permanent state of Bliss arises only in a few individuals. Such individual is called “ Seeker of God “ or : Mumukshu. The state of mind thus attained is called “ MumukShutva”.

What kind of thoughts arise in the mind of such a mumukShu are described in this Abhnaga of Saint Tukaram Maharaj.

Meaning of the Abhanga :-

The first four lines in two stanzas are the realization that comes to the mind when one hears the discourses from some saints.

One major point is that though the Jeeva the Soul is originally free from all the sufferings and is always in the state of Bliss, he has bonded himself in the body and thus has made him limited in all the faculties. The Soul gets attached to the world because of pleasures derived from the external objects and enjoyed thorough the five sense organs. This generated new desires which are nor fulfilled in the single birth and thus cause the soul to pass thorough many births and deaths. In ever birth one experiences more sufferings than pleasures.

The Mumukshu has understood this point but does not know what to do. Therefore he is regretting that he has bonded himself in this prison called body (which is composed of Five Elements) which is slowly deteriorating due to aging. He regrets his own doing.

In the first two lines this feeling of regret is expressed by the question one asks himself.

“ Why I have bonded myself and forgotten my true Blissful state?”

That means that there is now a desire to become free .

In the next lines of the two stanzas such a Mumukshu further asks himself some more questions :-

Why am I assuming that this world is permanent ? ( When I know and experience that it is continuously changing. )

By the use of “the world” one generally means one's own wife, husband, children, other dear ones, own house and other property etc, as well as ones own likings for food , art , literature, movies and other forms of entertainment,and own body too.

Though one understands that all these are going to get destroyed one day or the other, one can not give up attachment and this attachment to these kind of things causes entanglement in the cycle of birth-death.

Tukarama Maharaj says further that he has understood that the only desire for uniting with the God can relieve him from all these attachments. Still he is realizing that by getting attached to these all, he has spoiled his state of real freedom and therefore is asking himself in the abhanaga as to why has he done all this and forgotten his real father /mother the Lord “ Narayana”.

Thus he is now deciding to surrender to Narayana indirectly.

In the next lines he says to himself that by getting attach the to the worldly things ; by doing this specific act he has been wasting his life since he has understood that this has caused him a great loss ( of an opportunity to become free from the cycle of further births and deaths) .

The lat stanza of the Abhanga reflects the final conclusion which describes the action to be taken. This is result is the out come of the earlier reflections .

Here the Seeker( Tukaram Maharaj himself) has decided that “ he will surrender to God , and remove the cause for getting further births thus start his journey for eternal liberation and State of Bliss.”

Teaching of the Abhanga :-

We can check whether we have become seekers and if yes then we should surrender to Him

There are a few Abhangas which clearly describe the method to surrender and these will be discussed in the next post.

Print this Article