75 th post  with Two abhangas १)बहुतां जन्मां अंती जन्मलासी नरा ।२)बरे झाले आजिवरी । नाही पडलो मृत्यूचे आहारी ।
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अभंग १ ला :-

बहुतां जन्मां अंती जन्मलासी नरा । देव तूं सोयरा करीं आतां ॥ १ ॥

करीं आतां बापा स्वहिताचा स्वार्थ । अनर्थाचा अर्थ सांडीं आतां ॥ २॥

सांडीं आतां कुडी कल्पनेचि वाट । मार्ग आहे नीट पंढरीचा ॥ ३॥

पंढरीस जावें सर्व सुख घ्यावें । रूप तें पहावें विटेवरी ॥ ४॥

विटेवरी नीट आनंदाचा कंद । तुका नाचें छंदे नामघोषे ॥ ५ ॥

Verbatim Meaning:-

You are born as a Human being after roaming in many other forms. Now form a relationship with Lord. || 1||

Leave this running behind wealth and do your own real welfare || 2 ||

Give up wrong Notions about right living and start following the path of PanDharaprpura || 3||

One should visit Pandharapura and enjoy the beauty of Lord there || 4||

The Lord of Pandharapura is standing on a brick, and He is the true source of all the Bliss. Tuka has developed intense liknig for God's holy name and is dancing reciting It || 5||

अभंग २ रा :-

बरे झाले आजिवरी । नाही पडलो मृत्यूचे आहारी ।

वांचोन आलो एथवरी । उरले ते हरी तुम्हां समर्पण ॥ १ ॥

दिला या काळे अवकाश । नाही पावलॊ आयुष्यनाश ।

कार्याकारण उरले शेष । गेलें ते भूस जावो परतें ॥ २॥

बुडणे कोठे पावता थडी । स्वप्नामाजी ओढाओढी ।

नासली जागॄतिची घडी । साच जोडी शेवटी गोड घास ॥ ३ ॥

तुम्हासी पावविली हांक । तेणे निरसला धाक ।

तुमचे भाते हे कवतुक । जे शरणागत लोक रक्षावे ॥ ४ ॥

रवीच्या नांवे निशीचा नाश । उदय होतांची प्रकाश ।

आतां कैचा आम्हा दोष । तू जगदीश कैवारी ।\ ५ ॥

आतां जळो देह सुख दंभ मान । न करी तयाचें साधन ।

तूं जगदीश नारायण । आलो शरण तुका म्हणें ॥ ६ ॥

Verbatim Meaning :_

I am lucky that up-till now I have not become the food for the Lord of Death || 1||

I was saved until now , O ' Hari whatever lifetime is left for me , I am surrendering that to you || 1||

The god of Death has given me the balance time and because of this I am not dead yet || Now I will use the leftover lifetime ,it does not matter that whatever lifetime is gone was a waste || 2||

If one drowns and is saved then his drawing is meaningless. Or if one experiences pains in the dream, on waking up the pain is meaningless, or on eating the sweet food at the end of meal, one gets the happiness of eating a meal.|| 3||

Similarly I am experiencing the Bliss on meeting you. Being afraid, I called you and you listened to my call. Because of this my fear has vanished now. We had heard that Whosoever surrenders to you , you always protect such person. Now I know that it is true. || 5||

The Darkness vanishes when the Sunrise takes place and light shines.. Now You being our protector, all our blemishes are gone || 6 ||

Now I do not anymore need any body pleasures , or happiness derived because of Name and Fame, or of Revenge . I am totally surrendering to you O'Jagadisha ( Lord of the Universe) || 7 ||

INTRODUCTION AND BACKGROUND INFORMATION:-

Both of these Abhangas are appearing almost at the end of “ Tukarama Gatha”

the Collection of All the Abhangas of Sant Tukarama Maharaj. When we read these ones; it becomes apparent that these have been written by Tukarama Maharaj; for the benefit of the General Public who is struggling in this world and is going thorough the cycles of Happiness and Pain.

The Abhnagas clearly show that Maharaj is not taking the position of a Guru. He has written these Abhangas addressing himself only.

However we know that He was a liberated soul knowing the Brahman thorough his own experience. Such personalities have transcended the Death but they remain in the world only for ensuring the welfare of the Ignorant ones.

This is evident from the statement made in the Abhanga titled “ Anu-ReNiyaa ThokaDa … “ the details of which have been posted earlier in the blog. ( Ref Post No 59 ) . Here Tukarama Maharaj states that after attaining the Moksha ( the emancipation of the soul)i.e. Knowing the Parabrahman ; he is living only for the welfare of the ignorant people.

The First Abhanga reminds us that we have been blessed with a very unique human body.

The most important quality of this human birth is the ability to think and then act.

This faculty is not given to any other specie. All the species are given ability to spend the life doing the activities of Eating, sleep , Fear of Death and satisfying the sexual needs to continue the specie.

Sri.Samartha Ramadasa says “ If one uses the Human body for knowing the Self , then only the opportunity given by God of Human birth is meaningful. Spending the lifetime otherwise ( only in pursuit of body pleasures) is a shear waste . Everybody who spends life like that dies ultimately and gets entangled in the cycle of Death and Births.

Only Man can search for the answers of the Questions such as “ What is the real cause of Happiness or Unhappiness? Can one experience permanent Happiness ?

Who is my real creator? What is my relationship with Him? Can I transcend the Death for ever? Finding answers for these and other such questions is the science of Spirituality. Vedanta ( Upanishads) give the answers for these kind of Questions. Also our saints have given precious guidance thorough various books such as “ Tukarama Gatha, Dasabodha, JyaqneshvarI , Bhagawatm etc.

Therefore we can study these books and follow them in our day-today life, to take us towards the goal of Moksha. Many of us have reached the ripe age of 70 or so. Thus one may feel depressed that one did not start to tread on this path earlier.

In the Second Abhanga , Tukarama Maharaj has told us not to worry. He says that it does not matter. You still have enough time . Use it properly.

With this background we can now turn to understand the meaning of both the Abhangas.

MEANING OF THE BOTH ABHANGAS :-

1. Meaning of the First Abhanga :-
   We have seen how our Human Birth is important in the Introduction above. Tukarama Maharaja says that O'Man ; you have got this Human form after roaming in many other forms earlier. Now do only one work. Establish a relationship with God, Make him your Near and dear one. ( In order to achieve this, the scriptures have prescribe Nine types of Worships,). In order to establish the relation with God, all you have to do is give the attachment, renounce some desires.

These desires fall into three categories. 1) Desire for Wealth: This desire is generated because one feels that one can get all the pleasures if one is wealthy.

2. Desire for Sexual pleasure : In fact this desire is needed for continuing the race. But after satisfying this purpose it becomes abiding desire.
3. Desire for Name and Fame.

All such desires cause the generation of their seeds. If any desire is not fully satisfied and if any action was done with a desire for it's fruit, then one is automatically force to take next birth . The cycle thus continues. Desire for Sex may cause next birth as a dog .Bhagavatam has the story of JaDabharata to emphasize the point that one should have good desire only.

This logic however helps us. If one dies with desire of the Meeting the God, i.e. the desire of emancipation, then since Parabrahman is immortal, one automatically becomes immortal.

In the first Abhanga , Tukarama Maharaj is advising us to develop this desire only . And in order to develop this He advises us to start visiting Lords abode at Pandharapura. He further confirms that Namasmarana ( Reciting the Holy Name of God, Remembering Him at every moment )is the practice he followed. He also states that God is the source of all the Happiness and Bliss.

Meaning Of the second Abhanga :-

This Abhanga gives us mental relief from worries:- In the 1^st and 2^nd stanza , Sant Tukarama says that O'God , it is nice that I still am alive . Now whatever lifetime is left for me; I offer it at your Holy feet.

The God of Death has been graceful to me and thus has not taken me to his abode.

Even if I have wasted my life up till now in pursuit of body pleasures, now at least I will not waste it further. I will use the leftover time properly.

Here , we are indirectly being told to take a review of our life spent so far. All of us are aware that the time of departing from this world is not known to anyone.( Though it is a certainty!) . We also know that only in Human birth is the opportunity given to us for attaining MokSha ( Liberation from the cycle of Births-and Deaths. ).

Therefore , with right kind of efforts, we can achieve this goal and become free of the worries about next birth. In Bhagavatam it is stated that King ParikShita achieved the same within 7 days. At least we have more that 7 days time available to us. ( We may assume this and proceed). Important point is “ we should now onward ; waste not a single moment .

In the earlier posts , one point has been very clear that the person who runs behind body pleasures, certainly gets entangled in the unending cycle of Births- Deaths and keep on experiencing sufferings. This happens because all our desires do not get fulfilled in one single birth time. We keep on adding to the storage of unfulfilled desires; and this is the cause of the entanglement.

If we try to make a list of desires these can be : Desire for Name and Fame, for wealth, for enjoying sex , desire for revenge, and so on. The list can never be complete.

But when one wakes-up from these illusions, then one understands that only the desire for God, (Merging with Brahman) is good. This desire alone will make us immortal in the true sense. Once this understanding downs, then one no more needs Name, Fame , Wealth etc. This is because all these are transitory in Nature.

From this point of view Tukaram Maharaj says “ let these desires for Name-Fame etc be burnt. I will not strive for them”.

For the process of awakening he has given three distinct examples in the abhanga.

These are as given below.

1. If one was drowning and got save and reached the banks; then the event of drowening is no more true.
2. If one experiences pain during a dream, the pain is no more present once one is awake.
3. At the end of lunch, after eating last sweet item, one forgets the taste of all earlier eaten items .

Similarly after having the experience of unity with God, one no more feels attraction for any other things in this world. Thus to get an intense desire for this experience is the true awakening.

Such an awakened person , always remembers God at every moment, while performing the different tasks. He establishes a relationship with God. The form of this relationship are many .sometimes it may be like friends( Arjuna and Ramakrishna) , Master and servant( Srirama and Ramadasa) , lovers ( Meeerabai and Lord Krishna) etc.

Once such a relationship is formed; then God takes care of the needs of his Disciple. He protects his disciples. This is the specialty of God. He loves his children.

Tukaram Maharaja says in the Abhanga that even if there are shortcomings in the behavior of the disciple, lord is unmindful of these shortcomings. When Sun rises in the sky, the darkness I vanishes. Similarly all the shortcomings vanish once the relation with God is established.

Based on his own experience , Tukaram Maharaj says at the end of Abhanga that he is grateful to the Lord who is always coming to rescue Tukaram Maharaj in the times of Difficulties. He confirms that this is the reason why he has surrendered himself at the Feet of Panduranga. ( Lord)

Teachings of these Abhangas:-

In order to achieve the real purpose of Human birth i.e. to realize the unity with Parabrahman ; these Abhangas guide us ,by prescribing a way of living.

Similar is the advise of another saint Samartha Ramadas. He says that

Without giving up the duties of a householder, one can achieve the state of Liberation; by following proper thinking.

This proper thinking or the way of living has below given meaning.

Believe in the Lord and do one's duties by

1. Remembering that He is the doer and is getting things done thorough us.
2. Perform every work and duty as a worship to Him.
3. As far as possible recite His name. This ensures that our thoughts remain pure.
4. Knowing that He is the real owner and we are just the trustees of His wealth, be happy with whatever has been provided by Him. Do not aspire for more.
5. Knowing that He is omnipresent ; deal with every being with love and respect.

I think that ,if we follow these points in our life the definitely our living will become meaningful. This is the teachings I have understood from these Abhnaga.

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