84 th post in English with three Hymns.1बहुजन्म केला लाग, दुर्बुद्धी ते मना , देवावरी भार

For Marathi Readers a separate post has been added..

बहु जन्म केला लाग। तो हा भाग लाधलों ॥ १॥

जीव देईन बळी । करीन होळी संसाराची ॥ २ ॥

गेलें मग नये हातां । पुढची चिंता वाटतसे ॥ ३॥

तुका म्हणें तांतड करू । पाय धरूं बळकट ॥ ४॥

दुर्बुद्धी ते मना । कदा नुपजॊ नारायणा ॥ १॥

आतां मज ऐसें करी । तुझे पाय चित्ती धरी ॥ २॥

उपजला भावों । तुझ्या कॄपें सिद्धी जावो ॥ ३ ॥

तुका म्हणें आतां । लाभ नाही परता ॥ ३॥

देवावरी भार । वृत्ति अयाचित सार ॥ १ ॥

देह देवाचें सांभाळी । सार योजे यथाकाळी ॥ २॥

विष्वासी निर्धार । विस्तरारिल विश्वंभर ॥ ३॥

तुका म्हणें व्हावें । ब:ळ एकचि जाणांवें ॥ ४॥

Verbatim Meaning :-

Hymn 1 :-

Because of pursuing the Sadhana for many previous births; I have received this boon .

I will burn this course of worldly life (Prapancha ) by fully devoting to spirituality.

I am worried that if this opportunity of birth as a humanbeing is not used; then I may not get it again.

Tuka says that now without any delay; I will firmly hold the holy feet of Lord Viththala 

Hymn 2 

O'Lord Narayana, let Bad desires and thoughts not arise in my mind.

Please let my heart wish continuously to hold your Holy feet.

This (above) thought which has appeared in my mind because of your Grace; may please fructify by your Grace itself..

Tuka says that he does not get any other benefits; after getting this ( Thought) .

Hymn 3 

It is best to live in this world by renouncing everything and leave everything to God

One should offer oneself to God and use the body for doing righteous works.

Once one has firm conviction; that God is the doer of everything and is also caretaker for us, then He ( Gods) takes care of all.

Tuka says that to have such firm conviction; is itself a great strength.

Useful Information to understand the meaning:-

Of the three hymns, the first one discusses the importance of our birth as Humans , while other two hymns describe the steps to be taken to make our Human birth meaningful. For this reason I have taken these three Hymns here; eventhough some parts have been discussed in the earlier posted hymns.

Another Saint Sri.Ramadas has said that in order to ensure that a specific point is fully understood by the listener, sameis to be repeated  many times. 
Similarly Tukaram Maharaj has described here some important issues/ thoughts once again.

We know that Tukaram Maharaj was a “ Jeevanmukta a liberated soul” . Such Saints always live in our visual world ; in state of union with Parabrahman . In spirituality this state is called “ Sahaja Samadhi”.( Another name is Moksha)

However saints  are always thinking about  the welfare of the rest of the people . Saints generally give the examples of their own experiences while preaching. 

Tukaram Maharaj too gives his own life experiences as an example to drive the specific points at home. This give his preaching a special color and strength of Truthfulness.

EXPLANATION OF THE MEANING OF THE HYMNS.

HYMN 1 :-

In holy book of Srimad Bhagavad Geeta , Arjuna has asked a question to Lord Krishna. He asks O' Lord , please tell me what happens if a person (who is treading the path of Spirituality) dies before reaching his goal of liberation? The Lord has answered that such a Soul takes a new birth as a human being again, in a family which follows the spirituality ; and achieves his goal.

If we look for the information about the ancestors of Tukaram Maharaj, we find that worship of Lord Panduranga was being followed in many previous generations .

Being aware of this fact ; Saint Tukaram says in the first and 3 rd stanza of the first hymn; that he has performed worship of Lord in many previous births. This is the reason why he now feels attracted to the Lord, in this birth .Hence he is worshiping the Lord now. Now he is deeply interested to have Vision of his Lord Panduranga.

We know that every living being generally lives to fulfill his desires . All the actions are mostly done for this sole purpose of fulfilling the desires only and if some desires are left unfulfilled then the being takes new births again and again.

But when true awakening of mind  takes place then such person starts seeking the God. Such a seeker is aware of his past life and mistakes he has made ( in this birth time) , He is also aware that there may be many seeds of unfulfilled desires in his mind ; and therefore he becomes worried about his own future. He thinks that he has lost the golden opportunity of Human birth and is unsure of next birth.

In the second stanza of the hymn ,Tukaram Maharaj has verbalized this state of uncertainty of mind or such worries. He says that he is worried whether he will get next birth as a human being?.

Therefore in the last stanza of the hymn he expresses his firm decision to use this very  human birth to achieve his goal . And for this purpose he says  that now-onwards  he will burn his ways of worldly living ie. renounce everything and perform worship Lord Viththalaa and will hold Lords holy feet very firmly..

In the next Hymns 2 and 3 Tukarama Maharaj has described one easy approach for implementation of the concept of firmly holding holy feet of the Lord and how to burn his ways of living in the world ie .his attachments to the daily activities .( without stopping them) .

Actually we ourselves are holding various objects such as house, wealth, children, wife or husband , knowledge of various arts, tasty food etc in our heart. This is the reason for our getting entangled in the cycle of birth-death.

Upanishads describe the story of a bird inside a cage. It is holding a tube in the cage and is not ready to leave it for the fear of falling. Therefore even though the door is open he remains in the confinement.

Our condition is exactly like this bird, since we keep on holding the objects of the visual world and the pleasure derived from the same.

A right thinking can liberate us. This is the reason why Samarth Ramadas has said in his famous book of Dasabodha that “ Without renouncing the normal life, without doing away with normal possessions, the purpose of life is fulfilled only by proper thought,”

The proper  thought  means  " descriminatiing  between permanent and non-permanent and accepting /holding on the permenent."( In spirituality various names are used such as  Atmanaatm-vivek, Sara-sara-viveks etc)

In the Abhanga Tukarama Maharaj has called it as "burning of worldly life."

When one's mind-set takes the above described form , then it is nothing but holding the feet of the Lord continupusly. 

How to do this is told in the next 2^nd and 3^rd Hymns.

HYMN 2 :-

It is to be noted here that the one who has become seeker of Lord ; has understood that all his desires must become pure. He knows that  impure desires are the cause of one's getting entangled in the vicious cycle of births and deaths. However this is not easy task.

Such a seeker has been advised in the Hymn that he must completely surrender to the God  and  establish a dialog ( like the dialog between a child and it's mother). Such a dialog enables one to talk with God and tell him whatever one wants. We call such a dialog " a Prayer"

When one prays the practice is to ask for somethings in the prayer ; with the firm belief and faith that God is listening to the prayer. This faith is most important since it only helps.

There is a difference between a prayer and a request. When a request is made , same may be accepted or may be rejected.. All depends upon the listener to whom a request is made.

But Prayer is always done with the firm belief and faith that the listener ( God) will definitely listen to it. At the same time one is also clear that God will do whatever is most useful to the person who is praying. 

If the prayer does not produce the expected results, praying person does not get upset ; because he sees God as his father/mother and knows that the mother can not do anything wrong for her child.

Tukaram Maharaj has prayed in the first stanza of the hymn “ O' God please give good pure thinking mind and let my mind not run behind worldly desires.

If in the prayer one is asking for satisfaction of worldly desires, God may grant the same. But this will tie one to the cycle of births and deaths. Therefore asking for such boons in the prayer is an indication of impure mind only.

But if the prayer is made for permanent association with the Lord, then it is a pure desire. This desire will not cause the entanglement in the cycle of births and deaths. Permanent association is same as merging with the God.

Sri.Ramakrishna Paramahansa gives an example of Salt Doll which goes to measure depth of the Sea.. Naturally it merges with the Sea and thus will not come back.

However being in this world , one has to put special efforts to keep this desire of union with God continuously live.

Therefore in the next stanza Maharaj further prays that “ O Lord let my mind continuously remember you , let my mind always dwell on your holy feet “ 

This desirable continuous presence of above thought in the mind, can happen only if God wills for the same. A Weak human mind will not be able to hold such noble thought continuously in the mind.

Hence the prayer further says that “ O Lord please let this thought dwell in mind by your Grace. Please shower this grace on me..”

Then at the end of the Hymn , it is said that “ This is the best benefit I will have. I don’t want anything else in the life.”.

Hymn 3 :-

Above described mind set can be established only if one becomes aware of the doer-ship of God almighty. If one examines the events in one's own life and also looks at the infinite universe ; then one can easily know that He is Omnipotent, Omnipresent, and Omniscient .

In the book of Sri.Bhagavad Geeta Lord SriKrishna says in the 18^th chapter

" ईश्वर: सर्वभूतानां हॄद्देशे॓र्जून तिष्ठती।भ्रामयन्‌ सर्वभूतानि यंत्रारूढानि मायया॥१८-६१॥

The Lord dwells in the heart of every being and makes one work like a machine using His power of illusion.

In the beginning of this hymn, Tukaram Maharaj has said that man should live subsisting on whatever one gets without begging or solicitation. The next two stanzas explain this.

In these two stanzas , he says that firstly one must firmly have faith that the doer is God Almighty and whatever is seen in this world belongs to Him (This includes our body itself.) Once it is clear that the doer-ship is His and we are his instrument to get the things done ; then the man starts living without any expectations from anybody.

Then whatever he does, is executed with full faith that the results will be for his own welfare only. This mind-set causes weakening of our desires ( Such desires like This should happen , this should not etc).  Because of this attitude, one always experiences a feeling of satisfaction and at the same time one is always ready to put his best efforts for doing every task.

For reaching this state of living, we have to continuously remind ourselves about these points.

The best approach is to do a prayer. If we develop a habit of doing prayer everyday; then one automatically remembers that God ( As a mother) is always taking care of us.

In Sri.Bhagavad Geeta ,Lord has also confirmed that He takes care of his devotees who have surrendered to Him.

At the end of this Hymn , Tukaram Maharaj says that having such attitude is itself a great Strength since this strength takes one thru this world successfully to the state of Liberation.

Teachings of these Abhangas :-

Teaching is simple in nature, that one who wishes to really succeed in reaching the goal of Liberation , should totally surrender to God . For this purpose he should pray to God to show him the right path.

Note :- One poem by another Saint , Samartha Ramadas, is very comprehensive. The genre is called KarunaShTake. It has generally eight stanzas. This itself is a prayer and the verbal translation is given below.

Title : O' Lord Srirama please grant me this only boon

Let my thinking become neutral. Let me serve with full respect.

Let love bloom when I praise your Qualities. O' Lord Srirama please grant me this only boon . || 1|||

Let my eyes seen your beautiful face. Let my mind be happy to sing about your noble qualities. Let me have love to tread the path of Worship.O' Lord Srirama please grant me this only boon || 2||

I desire that I should worship you. Kindly fulfill my this desire.

Please dwell in my mind when I recite your name.O' Lord Srirama please grant me this only boon || 3 ||

Let me always have union with you. Let my body be used for doing your work.

Please do not ignore this prayer of mine, O Lord.O' Lord Srirama please grant me this only boon .|| 4||

I do not want wealth and this movement of ( birth-deaths). Let I me not have false pride of my knowledge. Please make me follow the path of worship of forms. O' Lord Srirama please grant me this only boon .|| 5||

I am very much afraid of my getting involved in this visual world. Kindly O Sea of Grace , let my all worries be nullified. Please save me. O' Lord Srirama please grant me this only boon .|| 6||

Let there be no imagination or desires in my mind. Let my mind be not occupied by wrong desires Let my mind not have any doubts. Please break my association with the world which is like a disease. O' Lord Srirama please grant me this only boon|| 7||

I do not know what to ask from you. The wrong desires are not leaving me., Let my mind not have any doubts. Please break my association with the world which is like a disease. O' Lord Srirama please grant me this only boon||8 ||

You have promised that you will never leave your Devotees and those who have surrendered to you, alone. I am also like that. Please save me. Otherwise your promise will be called as a false promise. O' Lord Srirama please grant me this only boon|| 9 ||

|| ॐ ॥

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