The Kirtan of Sant Tukaram Part 3 / Capt. Arun Karkare
An Experience of God being with you!- A Miracle.
Miracle No 1.
I wish to share two experiences of God’s presence being with me in my need of the hour when things became almost life threatening and serious in real sense for me and my ship ! As a Merchant Navy Captain I have travelled all over the world in various types of ships under my command and I had the privilege of carrying my full family on board for the entire voyages. During one such voyage ( 1976) I had an experience which I would like to humbly call a miracle indeed ! The ship was sailing off the well known island of Cyprus ,on her way to UK & North European ports . I was not all comfortable nor at ease with the rough and seeming angry state of the sea around the area we were sailing. Ship was pitching( Upward/downward movement) and at times rolling heavily from side to side which could serious damage to the cargo and the ship structure too. It had been 48 hrs that I was standing on my feet on the Bridge ( Command/control point) watching every wave that came thundering down over the ship. Each wave seem to more ferocious and higher than the other . In those years there were no weather satellites unlike to- day to monitor meteorological data over the seas for safety of navigation at sea. We had to rely on shore based radio stations for weather reports. The falling barometer indicated more bad weather in the near vicinity and low pressure meant storm near by.
We had three other families on board excluding mine ( Chief Engineer, Chief officer and Radio Officer) . Permissions are given to other officers on turn system but the Captain is privileged by the shipping company to carry his family as and when convenient to him ! We had 4 women and 6 children on board that trip . My daughter Sujata (11yrs)and Sonia ( 3yrs) and other children were okay with ship’s rolling and pitching! It was fun for them but other 3 ladies were petrified with the rough seas. My wife was well versed with all this rough weather situation as she had already made several voyages with me . As the 3rd day of bad weather arrived , things began worsening . My radio officer handed me over an SOS ( Save Our Souls) message sent by the Captain whose ship was only 5 miles away from my ship ! The state of the sea was now very bad and I stared having the apprehension of safety of my own ship and crew and families on board! I ordered the ship crew to secure every loose objects ( chairs , tables , drawers , etc) moving objects in their cabins . It was 10 pm local area time when I called the Chief Engineer on the Bridge. He was very nervous being his first promotion and his family being on board. I had decided to turn the ship back towards Cyprus and take refuge near the island’s lee side ( protected from winds) . I briefed the chief engineer to take all precautions in the engine room during this dangerous manoeuver ( whenever a ship is turn around in very rough seas , the rate of turn and rolling effect has to be carefully calculated in mind by the Captain in a manner that the hydrodynamic forces do not synchronize that the ship capsizes and sinks sideways! Overwhelmed by the huge wave trough that could be as high 50/60 feet in state of force 12 on Beaufort scale ( scale to measure sea state)
It was now getting to 72 hrs that I was glued to the hand rail of the Bridge looking into the darkness that was fully blinding and I could not see anything for judging my life saving action move to turn the ship around. I took the wheel in my hands from the steering Helmsman and closed my eyes to pray for God’s help at this crucial time. ( I prayed to Shirdi -Sai Baba )
Then it happened! . Believe me it did.! I will never ever forget the feeling of the warmth I felt around me as if someone stood behind me and I could feel a surge of power in my arms . I was acting under the total control of the super natural power ,—-“I was turning the wheel with great ease and there it was ,the ship stared to turn around very smoothly and astonishingly before I could recover from my heavenly bewilderment the ship turned safely without any expected /anticipated damage to life and property on board ! It was a miracle for a sailor. It was against all the principles of hydrodynamic forces that I was professionally taught and trained as a mariner.
We sailed for 12 hrs in the lee side of the island and when weather improved we resumed our original course to UK – London port
Miracle No 2.
In the same trip, I was recipient of 2nd miracle . Yes! It is true indeed! My second child Sonia was only 3 yrs old when she made her first trip on board with me. The ship docked in the Polish port of Gydansk . We were enjoying a week end in the port (Sunday no work in docks). At the breakfast time in the lounge , Sonia was running around with her toast piece in her . She was playing near the huge swing door of the dining room when suddenly her right hand index finger came in between the door frame and Time froze for me and my wife . We heard her painful cry and rushed towards the door. She was in the state of utter shock with no crying but tears rolling down only. My heart cried out Oh GOD ! has she lost the finger for ever as I could see the hanging part of the finger.! The blood on the floor indicated huge loss vital fluid. Being a Sunday, everything was closed ,yet God answered my every prayer .With great difficulty we could reach the Hospital and the Surgeon performed a very difficult and an intricate operation and stitched the hanging part of the cut finger and bandaged the wound. We returned to the ship. Sonia was under sedation and painkiller doze so she was fast asleep in the lap of her mother. Tears were rolling down my wife’s cheeks and she was blaming herself for the negligence on her part. My thoughts were drifting around the doctor’s last words before we left Hospital . He said “ Captain , Next 24 hrs are crucial for the baby’s wound if the attachment fails it will show white wound but if it is successful it will show pink color and amputation will not be required. The word “ Amputation “ was ringing loudly in my ears as the night came and we all went to sleep. At midnight I came near Sonia who was fast asleep . I looked at her beautiful face and feared the loss of the finger if the wound is found white in color! I sat and said “ God please be with me when the wound is opened in the morning” I will personally do the Abhishake puja at Shirdi mandir ‘ I will never forget you in my life time. “
Next morning at 8 am we were at the hospital. Yes! It happened indeed , A second miracle in the same trip. The doctor opened the bandage and there was seen the God’s intervention. The wound was nice and red and healing . Sonia did not lose her precious finger
ULTIMATE FAITH IN GOD PAYS
SHRAVAN BHAKTI
Tukaram realized that the poor, common and ordinary villagers specially farmers , potters and other workers could not read , write and communicate easily because of lack of basic education which was monopolized by the rich and so called upper cast community ! The great saint brought Kirtan as the way to spread Dyneshwar’s godly words. The villagers would gather in an open space near a temple and listen with rapt attention Tukaram’s kirtan full of devotional (bhakti)bhajans and abhangs sung in musical ragas . To listen a kirtan with absolute attention and dedication is known as Shravan Bhakti and it surely reaches at Vitthal’s feet on your behalf . Slowly but surely even so called the educated and upper class stared attending the great saint’s kirtans. Even Shivaji maharaj could not resist the attraction of hearing the Amrit Vani of the great saint.
TUKARAM’S ULTIMATE BELIEF
The great saint was convinced beyond any doubt whatsoever;” God’s hunger for devotee’s love is infinite” He showered enough proofs on his devotees of his conviction and ultimate faith in his lord VItthal . In simple explanation and acceptable wisdom it means that all God wants that the devotees should develop ultimate trust and faith him . In return God helps to reach Moksha.
WHO IS THE MOST FORTUNATE & LUCKIEST OF ALL WE MORTALS?
According to the great saint , “One who managed to totally surrender himself/herself at God’s feet during his/her life time “
GOD’S BLESSINGS & WISHES.
We mortals constantly search the answers for good and bad things happening to us throughout our lifetimes. Tukaram has answered this with greatest of ease ;
When something good , nice and happy things happen to us individually or as collectively then those are the Blessings of Vitthal But when something bad , sad and horrible things happen to us individually or collectively then those are the Wishes of Vitthal .But prima facie ,it looks very difficult to accept and adopt in our daily grind! That is why the true answer is found when we listen and follow the words of the great saint. Instead, a lot of precious time, material and money is wasted by we mortals in doing various specialized pujas and intricate ceremonies in order to win God’s favor to grant our wishes and bless us. Many a times it happens to us that we get blessed without asking or praying for it! Now that happens as per past karmas as explained earlier but when sad things happen we think God is angry with us , God is punishing us and we do not accept them as Gods wishes which are due to your past karmas too. We must accept with absolute clarity correct meaning of the words God’s Blessings and Wishes . When you win Rs 1lac lottery on Rs1 ticket it is certainly blessings due to you from your past karma where you may help have out helped out someone from a very bad situation which may not be a financial situation so blessing is received as fruit and a result of your action. Now think of a person who loses his entire family in a car accident where he was the driver of his car . The God’s wishes are simply incomprehensive to his mind and he goes mad with mental pains. But it is related to his past karma only. We can keep lingering on this subject but we have to conclude as follows,
Whether we believe in karma theory , prayers , teachings of Dyneshwar or Tukaram or other great saints our life will have its own share of blessings and wishes of God and such events will form the necklace of moments for us .
Last but not the least God too needs the love of his devotees as the great saint believed.
EFFECTS OF MISTAKES/MISDEEDS IN LIFE OF WE MORTALS
Tukaram maharaj in his young days, fully realized that an ordinary common mortal was a weak minded human being and was very easily open and exposed to committing grave mistakes and misdeeds to satisfy and fulfill personal requirements during his/her life time . He took the difficult challenge of correcting this horrible social fault . Tukaram got the clue from Dyneshwar’s teachings and decided to proceed on the path of correction choosing Kirtan as the mode to spread the ways means to achieve salvation of the soul to reach Moksha. Tukaram brought much needed solace to mankind. He managed to convince humanity that ;
Mistakes/misdeeds must be confessed and regretted by bowing down at the Lord’s feet.
Mistakes /misdeeds should never be repeated in remaining life time
MISTAKES/MISDEEDS-RELATIONSHIP WITH GOD, MORTALS & ANNIMALS
The great saint could convince the difference that lay between the thin lines separating God, Mortal & Animals in this relationship;
God ——makes no mistakes nor commit misdeeds
Mortals—— do make mistakes and commit misdeeds but have been blessed with Mind & Intellect to correct their mistakes by vowing never to repeat them and express their remorse and sorrow for their misdeed at the feet of Vitthal and gain strength to face the punishment .
Animals .——–do not have any ability of Mind and Intellect at all to understand their actions and the consequences .
Tukaram maharaj highlighted the importance of the mortal stage of the soul and the final chance to elevate the karmas to such heights of purity that God will take your soul in HIS arms. During Tukaram’s life several hundred hard core criminals changed their lives for better by following the advice of the great saint.
ONLY THOSE WHO BEND SURVIVE!
Tukaram ‘s saying in Marathi “ Je waktat te wachatat” , in Hindi it would be “ Jo juktehye wo bach jate hye” has a very deep philosophy of life in it and needs careful understanding because it can be very easily misunderstood by we mortals because of our shallow thinking and narrow mind set !In literal sense it would mean those who surrender will only survive! In true sense it means;
Be Humble in life . It pays to be so.
Humbleness is Godliness in you .
To be courteous to one and all ( rich /poor)
Avoid false pride at all cost .
Self respect is necessary and not self pride.
Be a graceful giver when necessary
Be a graceful taker when necessary .
Avoid being selfish. Something God loves in mortals
Be selfless at all times . God will give you Mokha earlier than due
In nature the great saying is well followed as one can see big trees fall in a storm , in floods and in Tsunami . The largest animals suffered early destruction and extinction from earth ‘s surface . Oldest survivals are small creatures. The rise and fall of Ravana , Kavravas , Alexsander , Nepoleaon , Hitler , Osama bin Laden and hundred others show that meekness does mean weakness!
You may recall the Abhang mentioned in earlier series where Tikaram prays to Vitthal to give him eternal smallness like an ant who only eats great food such as sugar and rava ! What he meant was to give him humbleness in life.
We all need to achieve the qualities mentioned above but remember it is easy to read it all in few minutes but it will be almost our life time by the time we reach our goal if at all.
JAI HARI VITTHAL 15
In the name of Hari-Vitthal, I sincerely apologize for not been able to write down anything from 18th Jan till 22nd Jan as me and my wife made a trip to Statue of Unity put up on the banks of river Narmada ,in Gujrat near Kevadia village 100 kms from town of Bharuch . I request that whenever you find time to visit this great monument show casing India’s self reliance in every discipline and in national unity.
TUKARAM’s ADVISE ON FAMILY LIFE & IT’s BURDEN
The great saint was well aware of the problems of family responsibilities and associated short term and long term problems which often came in between him and his God –Vitthal . He had to find some way to give maximum attention to the Lord through his Bhakti –Kirtans . He finally came to a firm conclusion that the only way out was to fully entrust his family’s welfare and safety in the hands of Vitthal meaning do all the essential and commitment karmas for the family meaning providing ‘Roti ,Kapada , Makan and money essentially needed for other sundries linked with life’s existence. He left the outcome of his efforts to Vitthal and devoted his entire remaining life time for uplifting humanity to attend true satisfaction, happiness and peace of mind .
Mortal’s common take on ,
“ PUT BURDEN ON GOD “ by Full Trust in HIM
I am sure it is not all that easy as it sounds or reads ! We could say , How do we disown so easily our family burden (emotional & financial)in hope that God will take care of it all ! No! , it is not so; the great saint explains it beyond any reasonable doubt what so ever that we all do our duties towards our families but simply do not get burdened in anticipation of results of our karmas while performing our duties.
For example ;
When Tukaram observed hundreds of farm workers working in the field leaving their infant children under the shade of the tree, he wondered as to under whose trust or guarantee the children were left under the tree? When he enquired and asked the question to the farm workers ,they replied “ God will look after them “. The simple but thought provoking answer made Tukaram think deeply and found the answer. “ Total and unshakable trust in God will help us all in our lives “ conveyed the great saint in all his kirtans.
As applied or applicable to today’s times ,
Most of us so called successful mortals have a hidden desire that our children should not only adopt our professions but be more successful than us rather excel us in those professions. Many of us also crave , worry , be anxious about their successes and also disappointed , depressed,sad and seriously unhappy of failures or wrong results .Why so ? Most of us are able to provided everything to our wards to be success in their lives but if they don’t come to our expectations then Tukaram’s advise should be able to bring peace to our mind . If the result is in our favor then it is God’s blessing otherwise his wish.
Whatever we worked for to aspire is our karma but result is the final award . If you do audit of your karmas till date then you would know how many were planned by you and how many by destiny and whatever you are today is your full credit or combination of destiny and you. Therefore, for satisfaction and happy living better to trust the lord and live the life fullest.
Some well known sayings of the great saint.
( translation)
Satisfaction is more important and essential in life than just comfort and happiness
Be satisfied rather than just be happy in life.
For achieve purity of mind , behavior and conduct have to be impeccable .
A sword can cut the neck where as word can cut your honor
Mortals should be able see the difference between Love and Lust .
Mortal’s mind must choose between “Body”and “God” because ,
Body gives pains , lust , bad karmas , selfishness and material satisfaction , where as
God blesses us with love , Bhakti , peace ,true knowledge and Moksha.
JAI HARI VITTHAL 16
17. CHOICE : be a YOGI( Devotee) or UPYOGI ( help humanity)
Tukaram had to choose his path ;either become a yogi or upyogi to help humanity . The great saint felt that being yogi will mean being selfish !where as if he makes himself useful by serving humanity he will be able to achieve a selfless and large good karma . What a wonderful thought indeed. He chose the right path with right decision at the right time of his life. He realized that besides the commitments towards his family and business ,he had to divert his energy , time and resources to help the humanity to achieve Moksha ! In his words he says ,”It is better to be a upyogi than a yogi “.
What it means to we mortals ?
Tukaram has simplified it in all his writings and conveyed it through his kirtans. The great saint advises us all to spend our surplus ( after doing all our karmas for essential survival in life) energy , time and resources for uplifting of poor, deprived , incapacitated , starving , injured and uneducated humanity and also help correct those who are on wrong paths leading to bad karmas. He says ,” instead of wasting time in rituals , visiting far flung pilgrimage centers ,donating huge sums to manmade places of worships and reading religious books “it is better to spend precious life time in best possible way to serve humanity.
Following practical suggestions will clarify it further ;
Spend time in visiting patients who long to meet people rather than in a place of worship.
Visit old people’s homes on regular basis to give cheer and comfort to lonely and lost hearts .
Help poor students with their fees , space requirements etc.
Volunteer in community work that is beneficial to large number of people.
Offer help and Serve in disaster affected areas.
Celebrate so called land mark occasions in personal life by donating /sharing with have-nots The list is infinite ,we may think it is easy to do all above mentioned things but it is not ! One needs to follow Tukaram ‘s advise in total sincerity and then dedicate the efforts .
WAY WE LOOK & WAY WE ARE
Every soul desires beautiful face and strong body .We all want to look attractive but more important is how good human beings we are/have been during our lifetime. The great saint conveyed the difference vividly in his message , he says “being a good human being is far more important than having good looks!” Beauty erodes with each passing day where as goodness in us flourishes as we grow old.”
Strength, Beauty and Money are not at all essential blessings to have but it is absolutely necessary to be blessed with good thoughts , honest character and humane qualities .Our eyes , ears and speech are God’s best gifts to we mortals. If we use them wisely and for good karmas we reach at HIS feet . The great saint was fully convinced of these simple secrets of life. Following will explain it further ;
In one of his Abhang he says “ The mighty Ocean ( Samudra) is so vast and big ,all the rivers from land flow into it yet it is salty and its waters cannot be used to quench thrust! Where as a small river gives water to drink , help cultivate barren land to yield grain , vegetables and fruits so we mortals survive !
BELIEF IN GOD
Tukaram used tell his audience ,” Even if you do not have belief in existence of GOD , then at least believe that someone who is running this mighty universe could be called God !
Jai Hari Vitthal 18
19.
OBLIGATION( Aabhar) & INDEBTED ( Runi)
Tukaram has highlighted importance and the meaning of the above words in lives of we mortals. The great saint realized that all of we mortals must accept our unconditional and total obligations towards the following four;
Being indebted to Parents
Being indebted to Soldiers
Being indebted to Farmers
Being indebted to Teachers.
Tukaram could not just ignore the importance of the role of each of these four people in life time of each every mortal . The great saint realized very early in his life that without any one of them being available will make the life very difficult to live normally. He says in his teachings “ we mortals are ever indebted and under obligations to each of these four people and which can never be returned or paid back .
Parents( Mata & Pita) are responsible for birth of our soul in mortal form .
Soldiers (jawans ) protect us from enemies of our land .
Farmers (kisan) grow food for us to survive
Teachers ( Gurus) teach us various disciplines and open doors of knowledge
Tukaram advises that besides God ,we must bow in front of these four people and treat them with greatest reverence and respect. The great saint generously points out contribution of each of these four to humanity and gives them the same status as Lord Vitthal . He has compared parents as (Matru dev Bhav/Pitru Dev Bhav )God like people . He goes on to say “ every soldier who dies in the battle field gets Moksha because of his extreme sacrifice for his motherland “. Every farmer( Aanadata) is dear to God and that is why Vitthal was born as a child-Krishan in a family of farmers. The great saint finally pays the highest tribute to his teacher ( Guru) Dyneshwar maharaj (mouli)who guided himto the feet of Vitthal .
In short the above mentioned four are the pillars of life and whatever we are today is because of them. When any one of them are missing in our lives the effect is seen very clearly and recorded so in our history .
DESTINY/FATE ( Naseeb/Kismat)
Tukaram was always asked by his devotees to explain ‘What is destiny? There is confusion in minds of we mortals too. Brahmins brought out zodiac calendar ( Panchang) and made fate charts( Janampatri) )based on positions of planets on the day and at the time of the birth of a particular mortal to prepare and forecast the destiny of the person ! The great saint had difficult time to explain a simple thing to the humanity at large . He said “ That fate /destiny of a mortal is the result of his karma and nothing more ! “ But there was a rider to Tukaram’s explanation that the end or ultimate result of the karma is in the hand of our creator! (It has been explained in earlier write up)
If we look up our fate charts ( janampatries), we will be able to understand the great saint better and more convinced too. For examples how many events have occurred as forecasted and how many have resulted as a result of our actions ( karmas) . Do a fate/destiny audit and see for yourself and you will understand how true the words of the great saint are.
Jai Hari Vitthal 20
20. Qualities ( Guna)
Tukaram realized that we mortals are born with blessings and wishes of the Lord. The great saint noticed that the children of the same parent had been blessed differently by the creator . Why? He soon found the answer and reason to this natural mystery! He shared the answer with the masses through his kirtans. He says ;
Qualities ( Guna) for the present life state are blessings given to the soul according to its good karmas of the past life . The qualities include physical features of the body form ( Deha)in totality (facial Looks , color of the skin and physical dimension of body form). Then comes the other qualities such as honesty, compassion , piousness, meekness, humility, humble, charity, fair , just and many others .We all see that each sibling is blessed differently. The great saint teaches us to utilize every given quality for the up-lift of others by doing good karmas in life. The great saint showed path to as many followers as he could to use the qualities in one’s own self by applying mind and intellect in unison and put them in practice to serve others.
Talents ( Pratibha)
The great saint explains the difference between talent and quality with ease and simplicity. The talents too are additional blessings but they are latent or hidden in us and they are only noticed and encouraged by others around and near you . Talents such as ability to sing, paint and dance, carpentry , art of carving & sculpture, and may other forms and types of talents must be used for good causes besides for earning living. Most of the kirtankars are good singers and speakers who developed their talents to perfection with hard work. A single talent like ability to sing a song that touches billion hearts and bring tears reaches at God’s feet too; Best example would be the well known singer (India), Lata Mangeshkar’s song “A Mere Watan Ke logo” . Tukaram had sweet voice ( Madhur Vani) and Vitthal would attend his bhajans by coming in disguise of a villager and so Raje Shivaji maharaj .
It can be surmised that we mortals who are blessed with various qualities and talents should consider those as blessings from the Lord and put them in good use for the betterment of humanity at large . This is the best way show your love and affection towards the creator.
INTENSIONS IN KARMA
Tukaram found a close relationship between Intensions and Karma. He says it is very important to understand our intensions prior to performing our karma in that situation because our intensions decide rather are responsible for the final outcome of the result of our karma and the way it is judged by the creator. There are ample examples of the intensions /karma relationship so vividly explained by the great saint . He says;
Any voluntary monetary help given to any person must be without any expectation in return.
Any voluntary service given as help of any kind should have clean and just intensions .
Help must be offered and rendered on its own merit with absolutely clean intensions .
All karmas are to be done with best of the abilities and capabilities, total responsibilities, good and pure intensions and without expecting award , reward and type of results. Best example would be the karma of a Soldier who is ready to die for his country and the second best would be a farmer who keeps sowing his field every season .
Perhaps ,the following story will carry the point home;
In a town there lived a priest (Pujari) and a prostitute . It so happened that their individual homes were in close proximity and they could observe each other regularly. Priest used to conduct daily rituals , prayers and other religious activities to earn his living. Similarly , the prostitute had her customers visiting her place frequently . Priest used to think very low about the lady engaged in oldest profession to earn her living; Whereas, the prostitute had very high regards for the priest and his profession.
However, the prostitute had one strict routine prior to each customer’s visit! She would pray in front of lord Shiva ‘s framed picture in her room and say” Oh God! Please save from this horrible hell and miserable life “ At the end of her day of work ,She would once again say the same prayer.
Life went along for both and due course they both died on the same day but at different times! (Priest died first and then the prostitute). The two souls reached at the feet of the lord . The soul of the priest had arrived earlier than the soul of the prostitute but for some reason no Angel ((Doot) of the Lord took notice of the soul of the priest till the soul of the prostitute too reached at the feet of the Lord. Now ,Angel came out and first invited the soul of the prostitute and then the soul of the priest! The soul of the priest was boiling with anger and despair and pleaded “Oh lord what an injustice ? I recited your name a million times in my prayers while doing my karma of a priest while this prostitute did lowest of the karma all her life and yet you took her in first ,Why ?” God just smiled and explained “ I agree that you took my name a million times while doing karma but that was your need as a profession and it was not your intensions ! whereas , this unfortunate lady took my name before and after her karmas and prayed that God lift me out of this Hell ( Narak). The difference is my name taken by you (Priest) and taken by her( prostitute)had different intensions !
Moral of the story is that we mortals should pray without any tags attached to it just pure prayers (Bhakti ) Intensions in the karma matters indeed.
Jai Hari Vitthal 21
GOD NEVER LEAVES US
Tukaram had to do the most difficult task of convincing the mortals during his life time that “God never leaves us during our life time in our present human form ( Deha) nor when we are in form less state as a soul searching the next womb for the birth and death cycle “ He also was convinced that “God protects those whom the world rejects “. There are umpteen examples that proves this point of view of the great saint beyond any reasonable doubt what so ever. We have cases where human beings found themselves in hopeless situations with no help in sight and yet they survived! There are also stories of miraculous escapes from prisons , concentration camps and survivals in wars and natural disasters. The great saint further explains in his teachings that “It is we mortals who only remember God in times of need and not otherwise. It is far easier to think of Him at all times while dedicating our work (Karma) in his name. “ Tukarm has given wonderful and simple guidance to all we mortals that has stood the ground for centuries.
What has changed since the great saint’s time is the way of life and style of living of all us mortals. The science and technology has influenced our minds to such an extend that some of us have doubts about existence of GOD! But as narrated earlier, even today many persons of great genius, thinkers, renown scientists , doctors ,philosophers , sportsmen and artists have faith in the super power that runs our visible universe. Why ? The common answer is they all feel blessed for what they are and for the work they are doing.
God is in fact is the greatest mathematician, physicist, chemist , Biologist , Physician , Botanist and creator who created visible and invisible elements in the universe . So what Tukaram felt then is valid today too . How can we justify non recognition of God? Corona is invisible yet its existence is accepted by the entire world. God is invisible too but his creation is seen and felt then why not accept his existence . Tukaram wisely says “it is our responsibility towards us to recognize God within us and others around us to live with satisfaction. His teachings clearly point out one fact that “ Any amount strides of any magnitude will never take way the credit from GOD “ and we mortal will be indebted to HIM as long as our souls are in the orbit of Birth/Death cycle.
AVOIDANCE
Tukaram very minutely studied the causes and reasons that contributes reversely to mortals during their transit passage of life on earth . He came to the conclusion that the best and the easiest way out for the salvation and peace of mind is “ Avoidance”. The great saint listed the following practices for avoidance to up lift one’s own self towards good karmas and attending Moksha;
Avoid crossing the acceptable limits
Avoid agitated and angry conversations
Avoid lust ( Moha ) for money , women and world possessions
Look at every other woman with the same respect as you would give to your mother /sister / daughter and other family women related to you
Avoid any expectation from any relationship to be satisfied and happy.
Avoid being unscrupulous in your dealings.
Avoid resorting to Lies to save yourself .
Avoid being unfair to others.
Avoid being selfish
Avoid being unfaithful
Avoid being greedy
The list could be according to your own character and the way you are made up and brought up as a human being . The avoidance can be planned as part of your karmas
JAI HARI VITTHAL 22
22.
Love for Country is love for God!
Tukaram told Shivaji that “God( Vitthal) will always be with you in your battles against tyranny and injustice inflicted by the invaders of the mother land . Your selfless love for the country is truly the most sincere prayer at the Lord’s feet. “ All those who died for their country as part of their karma get Moksha . The following is the true incident from the records of history that proves this point ;
Shaheed Bhagat Singh was sentenced to death by the British for rising against their rule in India. In the early hours of the morning of the day of his hanging, the British Jailor visited the cell to check on the prisoner Bhagat Singh. He was taken aback with what he saw! Bhagat Singh was vigorously exercising, his face was radiant and looked very fit and fine . The jailor said” Mr. Bhagat Singh Why you are exercising now? I hope you are aware that you will be hung today before the sunrise. By the way just tell me , what is the special purpose of you doing the exercising now? “ Bhagat Singh looked at the Jailor with piercing eyes and replied “ We Indians pray to God with fresh flowers .I too want to look fresh and radiant before being hung . After all I am dying for my mother land-India ( Bharatmata ) and for me she is my God and my body is a flower offered in reverence “ The words of the great Indian freedom fighter pierced the British Jailor’s heart like accurately fired arrows and he walked back with heavy heart and hidden admiration.
COLORS OF NATIONAL FLAG ( loving called TIRANGA)
Our national flag has three distinct colors ( Orange-White –Green)and the Ashok Chakra in the centre has blue color. So we could say that there are total four colors used in the flag. But in my opinion there is a fifth color on our national flag which cannot be seen by naked eyes but it can be felt by a loving touch of the flag that is the red color of the blood of our ancient warriors , freedom fighters , soldiers and many other unsung ,unheard ,untraced and unrecorded in historical records who died for their country . It is this RED color that must never ever be forgotten by any Indian no matter where he or she lives on this mother EARTH .
( Above is my opinion based on Tukaram’s blessings on my mind )
SIMPLICITY & SINCERITY IN PRAYERS
The great saint observed that Brahmins and Pundits around gave more importance to pomp and show in prayers (pujas)and rituals conducted in the name of God! There was a distinct financial burden on the common man to follow the recommended ways of prayers ,pujas and rituals to reach near the Lord or procure his blessings for fulfillment of particular wishes or even expressing thanks to HIM! This materialistic approach was not acceptable to the mind of simple living high thinking saint of the century. He decided to rise against these blind practices and looting of the poor devotees. He incorporated ways and means of creating simplicity and sincerity in innocent minds of Vitthal devotees through his melodious and sweet worded Kirtans which are still remembered and sung today with great reverence by many top singers in India. I must mention the name of one of the finest of them all ,Late Shri Bhimsen Joshi . One must listen to his Vitthal Bhajans at dawn in a quiet corner at home or in a garden! It is heavenly indeed.
In the end I conclude ,”use the remaining days for good cause and selfless love for the God and Humanity at large “.
Jai Hari Vitthal 22.
23. AT THE END OF ALL HUMAN ENDEAVOURS ARE GOD”S BLESSINGS.
Tukaram searched the answer for “What lies at the end of all efforts of we mortals during our life time?.” He found the answer for all of us. We get food, shelter and clothing to survive in the present life time as per our efforts but some get it less and some get it more as per our past karmas too. The great saint was convinced that at the end of all our efforts are GOD’s blessings as a reward. He explained this logic in three simple words in Marathi language ( His mother tongue )” Prayatna (efforts) Anti (end) Parmeshwar (God)”meaning “Efforts end at God’s feet”.
The great saint derived that “if all human efforts and struggle of karmas end at Vitthal’s feet then why not put the burden of success ( blessings) or failure( wishes ) of our efforts on God’s shoulders!” He meant that “we mortals should load our mind with worries, problems , successes and failures etc but just do the karmas to live life peacefully and with satisfaction “ The great saint further reasoned “ With such implicit trust in God to help us and look after us we would be free from the burden and load of daily worries( Chinta) “. The following authentic story of an incidence of a miracle in Tukaram’s personal life will make it more clear for all of us.;
Tukaram was very forgetful of anything and everything around him ( in mind & body)when he was left alone ! It was because of his great love and reverence for his Vitthal . The great saint’s wife Jijabai was very worldly wise and practical lady very much involved in day today life of a mortal. One day , She reminded Tukaram of his obligations to honor the souls( Shradha) of his parents. The ceremony required a puja ( ritual)followed by distribution of home cooked food for large number of people in the their village. Tukaram was not rich at all to afford a huge burden of expenditure for a lavish ritual . He said to his wife “ we will call just 3or 4 persons for lunch and hold a small prayer “ His wife agreed to this and told Tukaram to bring few basic things from the market so that food could be prepared . Tukaram left for the market . While walking, he kept singing Vitthal prayers as per his habit . He found himself walking past a wheat growing field where few workers were harvesting the paddy. He walked towards them and said “May I help in your work ?” The workers were happy to have additional hand . The great saint totally forgot his obligation to bring all the essential things from the market for the ritual at home ! At the sunset he rushed home and frantically apologized to his wife for his utter failure. But instead of firing her husband Jijabai coyly and lovingly said “ What a wonderful lunch it was, Tukaram you did a great job today and what a great surprise it was for me and all the villagers . Thank you so much ! “ Tukaram was taken aback and slowly said “ JIja what are you saying? I never did anything today except help a famer in his field “ Jijabai now shouted with anger “ Are you gone mad ? Hundreds came and ate sumptuous meal and went satisfied blessings us all.” Tukaram came out and sat at his place of prayers and started thinking ! Suddenly it dawned on to him that it was his beloved God Vittahl who came in disguise of Tukaram and conducted entire proceedings of the day on his behalf completely fooling Jijabai to the core ! After all Tukaram had put all his burden of efforts on his GOD.
The moral of the story is if we live our life with full trust in our efforts and God the we are helped by HIM . Miracles do happen we have to be aware of them .
Jai Hari Vitthal 23.
24. WHAT IS THE PURPOSE OF BEING BORN AS A MORTAL?
Tukaram was confined ,in fact cornered by His Guru with the question” WHAT IS PURPOSE OF BEING BORN AS A MORTAL?”The great saint was speechless for a while before he replied, “I lived like a normal mortal for while till I read Dyneshwari and the teachings of the king of knowledge Dyheshwar maharaj and then my eyes open to the purpose of being born as a human being .I realized that it is my last chance to seek Moksha . I decided to dedicate my remaining life for uplifting the fellow mortals to reach the similar goal . Do kirtans to spread the teachings of Dyneshwar that help will humanity to reach the feet of the God-Vitthal while continue to live routine family life in the society as a mortal does during his/her life span. “ The reply of the great saint to his Guru stood the test of time and his life time work still stands tall till day.
APPLICATION OF “PURPOSE” IN LIFE
The great saint faced all the practical difficulties, daily constraints , public and family opposition when he started to make extremely sincere efforts to establish his purpose of being born as a mortal. His own wife would not support his quest to reach God , nor she ever believed in blessings of Vitthal ! Yet , Tukaram had to carry out all his family responsibilities towards his wife , children , friends and obligations towards the community and society . He had chosen the most difficult path of reaching his God –Vitthal by staying in the family and yet be aloof from its attractions and burden . Tukaram experienced that attractions and pitfalls were easy to fend off but burden of a family was very difficult to avoid or dispensed with! The great saint concluded that “ It is this “Burden “ which all we mortals have to carry during our life time that was coming in the way to reach the feet of Vitthal “ He stared to search the remedy to get rid of “Burden “from common mortal’s mind . And he was blessed with the answer. He reasoned ‘Why not put the onus of ‘Burden” (load on mind)on the Lord Vitthal so that mortals could be free to pray in peace and happiness!” The answer was doable and practical to the level of application . All it needed was to have full trust in God and leave the results of the karmas in HIS hands.After getting fully convinced ,the great saint applied it in his life in his prayers. Then he wrote about it and finally started to spread it through his kirtans.
The moral of the story is why not trust in our God and put all the burden of worries ( Chinta) on God and continue living life of only good karmas.
IT IS NEVER TOO LATE BUT EARLIER THE BETTER !
Tukaram noticed that most of the mortals had one wrong notion in their minds that “ God is to be remembered only in the old age or when in any trouble “ He realized the dangerous folly in such low thinking of most of the mortals. (Situation is no different even today!)He decided to convince them by preaching that it is” IT IS NEVER TOO LATE BUT EARLIER THE BETTER!” The great saint conveyed through his kirtans the futility of worldly attractions and advised everyone to start trusting and praying the creator as early as you can so that He can bless you with satisfaction in your life and help you to do good karmas . The parents who impart good teachings to their children will appreciate this point because they have no burden of raising bad children! As adult mortals we have our own thinking process and mind set and we know what is good /bad for us and therefore we should be able to choose the best path to live our precious life
JAI HARI VITTHAL 24.
25. WHAT IS TRUE WEALTH OF A MORTAL?
Tukaram thought deeply about this ambiguity of life . The great saint’s clarity can be seen in his analysis of his take on what true wealth is and who is a truly blessed wealthy mortal. The great saint says material possessions such as farm lands, house properties, Gold /silver /diamond jewellery and many other worldly possessions is not the true wealth of a mortal to be proud but having good & clean mind , healthy & strong body, good looks ,sweet tongue (madhur vani),having artistic talents such as ability to sing , paint ,oratory , play musical instruments and do good karmas are the true riches and blessings of God to a mortal . He observed that the so called rich and powerful mortals found peace and satisfaction only after coming in contact with saints and not in their riches! ( It is so true even today . We see all the mortals such as top film stars , sportsmen , corporate honcho, big business owners and even ill-gotten wealthy drug lords in search of a Guru or a saintly ( so called)person who will lead them to happiness and ultimate state of being satisfied ) The great saint has vividly described in his writings the futility of wasting precious life time in accumulating material wealth. Instead he has advised we all mortals to earn enough and adequate wealth with clean and good karmas to sustain our essential needs and also made it clear in no uncertain terms that excess wealth brings worries, pushes us into dark holes and corners of bad karmas , affects our mental and physical health and finally takes us away from our true goal and objective of life –Mokha .
In today’s context, whatever the great saint advised is all so true! Most of the rich and the very rich ( millionaires & billionaires)mortals of the world are a troubled and unhappy lot .Why do they need to commit suicide with all the riches in their hands? There are more mortals who are living hand to mouth but they are facing the life with a smile and work in hope that someday they too will get rich with blessings of the lord. The great saint says ‘Be rich but do share and use the excess for the needy and have-nots.”
IMPORTANCE OF TULSI PLANT FOR MORTALS.
Tukaram has very lucidly described the spiritual , medicinal and environmental importance of the heavenly plant “Tulsi “ ( Botanical name –Ocimum basilicum) in his kirtans. The spiritual status of the plant is simply supreme! It is the most beloved plant of Vitthal and that is why only Tulsi leaves are offered to Lord Vitthal in all prayers. The medicinal value of Tulsi leaves are well known all over the world specially in treatment of throat and chest cough. The environmental value is tremendous . The strong mesmerizing smell of a Tulsi bush keeps the air germ free and insects such as mosquitoes avoid the area around the Tulsi plants .Last but not the list the great saint says says “ Where there is Tulsi there is Vitthal “. So we mortals should keep the Tulsi plant in pot in our flat or have a nice big plant in the centre of the garden of the bungalow. Recite Jai Hari Vitthal with tulsi leaves in the mouth . It is so very soothing indeed.
LINK BETWEEN DIET AND BEHAVIOUR IN MORTALS.
Tukaram on his own observed that diet influenced behavior of a mortal ( Geeta has a full chapter devoted to explain the effects of different type of food and diet on human mind and body.)He explained the effects through his kirtans. A simple and healthy vegetarian ( Satwick)diet gives healthy body and clean mind with clean thoughts generating decent social behavior and sober out look . The good healthy diet keeps vital parameters in safe limits thus keep you away from worries of ill health issues.
In the non-vegetarian food cycle, Tukaram brings out a great paradox worth mentioning that clears the point of view expressed by the great saint. He says,“ Scorpion’s poison is very dangerous to human life ,a lizard eats the scorpion with relish and in turn the chickens eat lizards with equal relish and finally all mortals who are non-vegetarians love to eat chicken daily in their diet ! The message is clear as to where the original poison from scorpion ended!
History has shown all along that all most all the uncultured and cruel races of the world , invaders , crusaders , conquerors , barbarians, colonial powers and short tempered and angry mortals are strictly meat eaters. In animal & Bird world the message is even more loud and clear, the Hunters are meat eaters and the hunted are mostly vegetarians!
Jai Hari Vitthal 25.
26. KNOW THY SELF
Tukaram was once asked by his disciple” Guruji , I am confused about the meaning of good karma and bad karma. Please enlighten me and remove my confusion.” The great saint smiled and replied “ Let your day be so spent that when you retire for the night you will not be ashamed of yourself . And let your night be so spent that when you wake up you will not be ashamed of yourself!” What a wonderful reply indeed. It so true that if a mortal commits a bad karma, deed or an act during the day then he/she will feel guilty or ashamed or low while going to rest for the night ,similarly if a mortal commits a bad karma, deed or an act during the night then he/she will feel guilty or ashamed or low in the next morning. Our mind is very sensitive to both type of karmas the good and the bad because it is our intellect which is constantly awake and at work analyzing the effects of our deeds on us and affected persons. If we do some good karma we feel at ease, happy and satisfied but if it is bad karma we feel insecure, ill at ease and afraid. Daily self analysis of deeds and time spent will help us to change our course of life style for betterment and up-lifting our inner self. The great saint deeply recommends to all mortals to start their day with prayers and end it with prayers thanking our creator for all the mercies blessed on us.
IS IT DIFFICULT TO FOLLOW/ADOPT TEACHINGS OF TUKARAM?
Most of we mortals should be able to answer this question with ease. The great saint has already simplified the answer in all his 250 abhangs ( teachings) explaining that only true will and total trust in God is required to adopt and follow the simple principles of doing good karmas with good intensions and purpose but our bad portion of mind set super imposes itself over the good portion and clouds our thinking process. The tendency of preference for short term gains at the loss of long term benefits are the main causes that prevent us from doing more good than bad!
The choices we mortals make decide the course of lives . The earlier we understand this folly better will be our quality of life. All that glitters is not gold but yet we repeatedly do the same mistake. Education that we opt for only helps us to earn our living nothing else. Tukaram made it clear that all of us are blessed with some special talent but very often we fail to find it and when we find it then it may be perhaps too late as the time runs out on us. JAI HARI VITTAHL. 26
27. ABOUT THE GREATEST SAINT EVER BORN
Tukaram was born on 22nd Jan.1608 at Dehu village in Pune-district . His full name as recorded is “ Tukaram Bholoba Ambile “ His father, Bholoba and mother, Kankai were a well to do farmer family and also had a side business of money lending to other poor farmers. Life became cruel to Tukaram at very young age . He lost his parents at the age of17 yrs! Then came the horrible famine of that time which wiped out his family business of farming and money lending. To add further woes, he lost his eldest son (Mahadev )in those difficult and trying times for him and his family. Tukaram’s mind was loaded with sadness , helplessness and hopelessness. He was in search of a spiritual guide and a Guru who would guide him through this rough passage of life. God gave him that relief and he soon met a spiritual master Babaji Chaytanya who set him on his course and mission of his life . Tukaram had large family of four children ,his wife and other three younger siblings too to care for as his parents died very early . One night ,Vitthal came in his dreams ( Drishtant) and blessed him with a mission to be a social preacher ( Warkari) and help a common mortal to salvage himself /herself from the worldly follies and futile chase of wealth and materialistic pleasures . Tukaram threw himself body and soul in his mission and became the greatest saint of the century and left behind the work of eternal value for mankind of his area and rest of the country. He died ( left for Vaikunth)on 19th March 1650 ( lived for only 42 yrs. )All good mortals are loved by God and He calls them back as soon as their mission is over !
DIFFICULT LIFE & SAINTHOOD
It is very clear that most of the Saints had very sad, difficult and miserable family life in their early part of existence and they also had short span of life. There seems to be some kind of complex equation between good karmas & bad karmas and easy life vs. difficult life of a mortal. The easy , luxurious and comfortable life seem to take us away from spirituality where as sad, difficult and miserable life brings us closer to reality and futility of many unnecessary struggles in a mortal’s life and perhaps really help us to reach Moksha ! Tukaram called his difficult life days as wishes of Lord Vitthal and faced them with full faith in God.
Jai Hari Vitthal 27
28. WHY SAINTS ARE BORN ?
Tukaram was a great social worker, thinker, poet and a teacher of spirituality. But when he was struggling to come out of the world of a mortal and seek God he met his mentor and guide Babaji Chytanya . Tukaram’s mind was crowded with many questions for his guru . One questionthat foremost in his mind was “Why saints are born in the world of mortals? It was not an easy question then and it is so even today! The reply from Guru simply captivated young Tukaram’s mind , “ God can not appear so easily to every mortal and therefore ,saints are born time to time all over the planet earth to guide the mortals towards Moksha. “ Tukaram was convinced that he was born in God’s most favored land where Dyneshwar maharj was born too! God had already blessed the soul of Tukaram at his birth. The great saint recognized his own self and the purpose of his birth (janma). He soon understood that all the saints had their karmas lined up by the creator and the time bound life time for each of them. The great thinker was also clear that that there was no extra time to deviate from the chalked out and chosen path for these representatives of Lord Vitthal. Tukaram was now very clear of his mission in life but he was chained like millions other mortals in family ties and responsibilities . He had to find a middle path to live life like an average mortal but never to deviate from the path of the mission written in his destiny . Tukaram fought his way out and invented the special platform of Kirtan ? Bhajan to achieve his objective . The great saint lived only for 42 years but his work has lasted over four centuries and even today mortals have not forgotten him.
GOD & SAINTS
The great saint noticed that mortals had confusion about “Are saints above ,equal or below God? He had to give a very bold and convincing reply to his followers.And he did indeed, through his shlokas, dohas, bhajans , pravachans and kirtans . He compared a saint ( guide )/guru (teacher)with GOD (Giver , Organizer ,Destroyer) in Hindi ( Bramaha, Vishnu, Mahesh). He preached that to reach at the feet of God one had to follow the route as shown by Dyneshwar maharaj . There has to trust ,belief , conviction and total honesty in our karmas to achieve total surrender at HIS feet. The efforts of the great saint changed the course of life of many mortals of his times and the mortals many centuries that followed after he attended Moksha.
Following is my personal observation based on Covid pandemic and its effect on we mortals;
Do we mortals need another great saint like Tukaram in today’s times?
We mortals have under gone a sea change of transformation in every aspect of the human race, be it looks, body stature , eating habits, living styles, behavior , social dealings , committing crime , standards of scruples , tolerance , humane qualities , and family life ,the list is endless really! What our ancestors were, we can’t even imagine leave alone the comparison. So in my humble opinion I feel that God is really upset with we mortals and he has already sent a corrector with different qualities to brings us all back to realize what is essential and what is non essential to live a satisfied life . The fast moving and ever changing world suddenly stopped to a grinding halt. There was lockdown of the planet earth. So called daily life style went for a toss for all the classes, Upper , Middle and lower . The have ones and the have-nots all came on one common platform consisting of Mask, social distance and cleaning of hands ! The loving hugs and kisses became distant dreams. The isolation with dear near ones was complete and watertight, near yet so far ! Suddenly isolation , zero daily activity and lack of effective line of sight communication etc made us think of real values of life that were lost over years, true value of human life , futility of having excess and perhaps ill-gotten money of many , worldly possessions and most of true value of human relationship! In technological sweep and modern living we mortals had totally forgotten that the life could be so very vulnerable, fragile in every sense and absolutely helpless and one could be so lonely and unimaginably isolated in sickness actually grasping for breath! Yes , corona is likely to leave us shortly leaving us more wiser , humane , polite and tolerant to poor people . Tukaram had taught us all the necessary things of life without anything being threatened .
Jai Hari Vittahl 28.
29.
CREATOR( JANAMADATA ) & MOTHER (JANANI / MA)
Tukaram realized very early in his own life the importance of parents in a mortal’s life. The great saint could see,” how the creator had planned it all while creating mortals on this planet . The lord gave highest status and reverence to “Mother (ma)” . A soul searches and gets the womb as per it’s past karmas ( good/bad). Tukaram went deep to understand the role of a mortal’s mother. He found that the “creator has very thoroughly studied and created “mother” to perfection. In fact, the great saint discovered that Lord Krishna took birth as a mortal and was blessed by two mothers, one who gave birth (biological mother-Devaki)and second (Yashoda) who reared him. God experienced it “what it means to be born to one and reared by another! Tukaram concluded that “for a mortal his/her mother is supreme and God ( Vitthal )too wishes so “ That is why in Hindu philosophy, Mother & Father ( Mata & Pita )are given highest respect and greatest reverence and enjoy higher status than God! Tukaram ,through all his writings confirmed this belief as wish of Vitthal too.
Today we hear a lot of heart breaking stories about the neglect of aged parents by the modern generation of mortals all over the world. The selfishness of young mortals has crossed all the boundaries of decency, civility, kindness and obligation towards our parents in their hour of needs. It took a pandemic to restore some kind of acceptable and responsible behavior towards aged people. Covid also helped to bring back lost family values and ties But at what cost ?The great saint’s words of wisdom and kindness are still valid in all its glory and meaning . Is it not so?
EVERY CREATION HAS AN END
The great saint observed “All we mortals are very well aware of the universal truth that “ Every creation has an end “. Whatever creations we see or feel has to end sooner or later. Everything has a time/date aspect for its creation and end. Yet we all mortals waste our valuable life time to possess, search or lament on their loss. There is no end to our desire for material things . All our karmas and efforts are directed to acquire as many of these so called worldly goodies knowing fully well that coffin has no pockets. We come empty handed and go empty handed. Then why we knowingly do not take prudent way out to happiness and satisfaction by being less greedy and avoid excess and only accept the needs and some reasonable plus for a rainy day “. The great saint promoted simple living and high thinking for all the mortals and in his humble opinion preached the great reward open to us all.
SHARE & CARE
Tukaram practiced what he preached. He was a money lender and a rich farmer till the most destructive famine struck his region and wiped out his farming assets and he could not recover his capital money from his borrowers as the farmers became broke due failed crops. Yet , the great saint shared grain and money with his fellow villagers and needy farmers. He did this as part of his daily prayers to Vitthal -his god. Many of we mortals do share and care but there is enough room for others to join . Recent pandemic helped to bring the point home quickly and effectivelyBut again at what price? It seems we mortals learn our lessons at very high cost indeed.
Why not do all the good karmas when things are happy and peaceful in our day to day life?
JAI HARI VITTHAL 29.
30. THE FIRST THING THAT GREAT SAINT SHARED WITH OTHER MORTAL?
Tukaram ‘s first experience with self realization of the route to reach God’ feet is vividly expressed in his famous saying in Marathi Abhang” Ujayale Bhagya Aata” implied meaning “Luck shines now” for him. He felt that the realization was the greatest blessing from his beloved God Vitthal. He decided to share it with all others with tremendous happiness and satisfaction . The great saint advises all other fellow mortals to share their exhilarating experiences with each other so that others too can be helped to get happiness and satisfaction in their life . Tukaram shared everything that he owned and possessed , grain , wealth , house knowledge , teachings and love for Vitthal. He noticed that an average mortal is basically selfish and loves to hide things that would benefit others .This was mainly due to secret desire to deny others the befits and advantages to other fellow mortals! Tukaram vigorously worked to convince selfish people that the easiest way to reach God was to share , care, helpful and useful to others at all times.The great saint was fully convinced that such attitude and behavior will take every mortal to his/her final goal –Moksha.
DESTINY WORKS ON ITS OWN MERIT.
Tukaram bifurcated the fruits of destiny in two baskets of God , he named one basket as “Blessings of God “ and other as “ Wishes of God.“ The following story will perhaps make it clear ;
A farmer was tilling his land. He suddenly found a large metal pot buried in the field. He lifted it out of the pit and opened it. He was surprised to see hundreds of golden coins and rare jewelry in the pot. The farmer decided to take it home the next day in safe hours of early dawn. He came home and wanted to share the happy news with his beloved wife! He told her his plans of bringing the pot home .This conversation could be easily heard in the silence of the night . The farmer in the adjacent hut heard it all and decided to go to the field earlier than what owner of the pot had planned and so he went and stole the pot and brought it to his own home . The original owner was very up set when he found the pot missing from his field. He came home and tearfully told his wife” Its God wish that we lost the pot to a thief “ In mean time , the neighbor who stole the pot excitedly opened the pot and he nearly fainted after what he saw! A big cobra snake was sitting inside the pot . The neighbor got petrified with the snake’s presence and threw the pot in panic in the premises of the original owner who found the pot in his field. The snake jumped out of the pot as soon as it landed with the big bang and vanished in the darkness. The owner heard the noise of the pot falling in his yard . He came out and to his surprise he found his house courtyard strewn with jewelry and gold coins! He shouted in joy and called his family to help him collect the fortune God had blessed him with! The farmer and his family lived in comfort for rest of his and their life .
Destiny had worked out its own complicated plan to make sure where the fortune was finally destined to reach. The players (mortals) played their part as wished by God and destiny delivered it. The moral of the story is destiny is part of we mortals journey ,things will keep happening but Moksha will come only through our good karmas and not as a gift from destiny . Tukaram understood this early enough in his personal life and did attend Moksha for sure but he helped others too to attend the same .
JAI HARI VITTAHL 30
31. RESPONSIBILITY .( KARTAVYA) V/S ATTACHMENT( MOHA)
Tukaram keenly studied and understood the fragile and temporary value of blood relationship as practiced among the mortals ever since they were created and being born on earth. The great saint realized that each mortal had a life time obligation to each of his/her relative according to nearness and status of relationship. He graded them according to the intensity of the relationship. He gave the first place and highest status of importance to Mother-Child relationship. However, he clearly projected the futility and fragile nature of every relationship in a mortal’s life and gave Mortal-God relationship as the most fulfilling and satisfying relationships of all the bonds. In all his kirtans ,the great saint brought out very vividly the difference between worldly responsibilities towards dear ones and attachment towards them. Tukaram also noticed the wide spread sadness, pathos and grief in mortals whenever they lost ( death) their dear near ones. He had to convince each of them that birth /life/death cycle has to be conquered by good karmas and grief and sadness is part of a mortal’s life . The great saint’s bold but very correct statement that shook everyone to reality of life holds out even today after centuries have past and that is “NO ONE BELONGS TO NO ONE “. He managed to convey most of the devotees that “only God belongs to everyone if you give HIM the place in your heart. It is only Vitthal (God) who accompany each soul from birth to death. We need to search HIM during our life time and stay close at HIS feet (Charan) However following story will carry the point home ;
A devotee of Lord Vitthal used to regularly attend the kirtans conducted by one of the well known disciple of Tukaram .He was confused about one point that “NO ONE BELONGS TO NO ONE “(KOI KIS KA NAHIN ), So he decided to speak to the Preacher ( Kirtankar)at the end of the function . He walked up to the saint and said “ Your preaching(kirtan ) and devotional songs( Bhajans) were heavenly indeed but I do not agree with your statement “NO ONE BELONGS TO NO ONE (KOI KIS KA NAHIN). My family loves me most dearly and I too love them equally”. The preacher heard him patiently and said “Let us go to your home and find out the truth. After reaching your home you will have to act being sick and then pretend dead by holding your breath till all your family members express their sorrow at your demise “. The devotee agreed to stage the act of being suddenly dead! The devotee and the Preacher reached home and as planned the devotee complained of severe chest pain and collapsed . The preacher pronounced him dead. Now started the loud crying and expressions of deep sorrow and irreplaceable loss of the breadwinner! The preacher spoke with a loud voice, “there is way-out , I can make the dead man alive if any one of you offer himself/ herself to drink this glass of milk with poison” ( preacher had asked for a glass of milk in which he mixed a powder supposed to be highly poisonous !) There was a pin drop silence in the room. Each dear near one of the dead man gave a reason why he /she can’t volunteer to drink that glass of milk! The devotee pretending to be dead was listening to every reasoning offered by his wife , children , mother and father and even grand parents ! The devotee now realized how true it is that NO ONE BELONGS TO NO ONE (KOI KIS KA NAHIN). He was to totally wrong to think that his family loved him most dearly But in reality it was not true at all!
Therefore, Tukaram advised that we need to carry out our responsibilities towards family and society honestly and dedicate all those karmas to GOD but have no attachments as they are the main obstacles of distraction between us and God.
JAI HARI VITTHAL 31
32.
IT IS NEVER TOO LATE TO CHANGE OURSELVES FOR BETTER
Tukaram understood the importance of change only after realizing the futility and meager happiness of worldly daily life of a mortal. He made all the efforts to be what he is known for by following generations of mortals .He took the clue from the nature . He saw that the people worshipped the Rising Sun and not the Setting Sun! Every morning brought new hopes to the mortals . The great saint took the task of accomplishing a very difficult mission “to help fellow mortals to achieve Moksha( Eternal Peace in Heaven) through good karmas and living a flaw less life to be satisfied and make other happy too. In all his Bhajan and Kirtans ( Prayers to God) he has tried to show the simple ways to a mortal how to be involved in life and yet to be aloof from getting engulfed in its pitfalls. He also broke the myth that one has to give up his /her duties and worldly commitments to seek God. Tukaram was/is the living God for we mortals for time eternity .
LINKAGE BETWEEN DEVOTION & QUALITIES
Tukaram discovered the strong linkage between Devotion and Qualities possessed by an average mortal . The great saint concluded that those who live with qualities such as , live as per needs eat for body requirement , wear simple and protective clothes according to weather , share with others , care for others , love animals ,love nature ,soft spoken , helpful , peaceful nature , being honest , dignified , respectful to elders , full of love & care for children and many other qualities that are blessed to mortals by God , are the people who are close to devotion for their creator –God .The great saint says that good qualities given to a mortal at his/her birth are blessings that will take that mortal towards Moksha . The devotion to God comes naturally to such mortals. Those who are not so blessed at the birth can choose the path of Change and develop devotion to Vitthal ( God).
GOOD HABITS ARE CLOSE TO GODLINESS!
We all know the saying “Cleanliness is next to Godliness”. Well! Tukaram new it’s full and true meaning in his time. He therefore, preached that keep your thoughts, mind, body actions, karma, and behavior clean and pure . He told the villagers that God will never ever be present in dirty place or impure mind . The place of prayers must be clean in all respect for human beings to sit and pray and the devotees must have clean and pure mind while praying . The great saint further pointed out that those who love Mother Nature live close to God. No doubt the Himalayan mortals are so devotional to God. The sanctity of a place of worship depends on its physical cleanliness and powers of prayers depend upon the purity of hearts that come to worship there!
JAI HARI VITTHAL 32.
33.
TUKARAM WORSHIPPED AS “TUKOBA & VITTHAL AS “VITTHOBA”
It is necessary to explain that why devotees of the great saint of 7th century fondly called him “TUKPBA Maharaj”in their worship of him. The word “Ba “ is a very apt word in Marathi when great honor and reverence is to be expressed for a saintly mortal . For example, Dyneshwar was also known as Dynoba and Vitthal ( God) is also worshipped as Vtthoba ! The word “Ba “ also gives parental status to the saint or the deity Vitthal meaning they become parents of the devotee. We all mortals are children of God and our lives are the mercy of the blessings and wishes of the Lord , “He giveth and He taketh”! This code of the creator is very evident in Geeta :“Not a leaf shall stir without my wishes” says Lord Krishna when he addressed Arjun to motivate him to fight against wrong and injustice . The reverence and affection felt by the devotees towards the great saint Tukaram earned him the name Tukoba .
ABOUT SAINTS.
The saints of mortal community living on this earth are very exceptional persons with extra ordinary qualities . They have no sense of belonging to any land , religion , other mortals , material world , wealth , physical or mental attractions or foods . They live very close to their souls and they dedicate every move , karma and action to their creator and expect nothing in return what so ever. Tukoba saw these qualities in his Guru as well as in his mentor Dynoba. In the modern world it is impossible to find a single mortal of that quality but there are exceptions in every century that come and goes into history . There are few great people who keep working for the humanity in a quiet manner without any exposure to publicity . Those are the saints of 21st century who need to search them out follow them . In India Warkari pratha has kept up the good work of Tukoba and those who are exposed to that experience are very satisfied people. I am happy to say that I listen to the kirtans of Tukaram followers receive a lot of peace and solitude and I try to share it with you all .
FEELINGS ( BHAVA)
We mortals are blessed with a very powerful tool called “Feelings”. It has neither boundaries nor limits but it has a mechanism that allows us to control and convert our behavior , instincts , desires and karmas for a good cause. In worshipping God, feelings of the devotee are of paramount importance . The great saint realized this at very early stage of his life. Prayers without true feelings for Vitthal are totally useless and waste of time . This was the only one single folly that took Tukaram away from indulging in rituals promoted by Pundits , Shastris and Brhamins of his times. He noticed mortals developed wrong notions of reaching Moksha !He did his level best to convince the masses ( educated and non educated )that way to reach at the feet God was to have true feelings for HIM and pure intensions with no expectations for doing good karma .While practicing rituals and following blind faith we do not show true feelings of belief in God nor in good karmas and that is why we all fail in achieving true peace and satisfaction .
ATTITUDE ( Ahenkar /false pride)
Tukoba has amply made it clear in all his kirtans that we all mortals need to throw away our attitude at the earliest in life so that it becomes easy to adopt other virtuous ways that help us to do karmas and bring satisfaction . The false pride affects our speech , behavior , thinking process and the way we look at others and their life . The great saint was troubled , insulted , abused and harassed throughout his life till he proved that he was actually God in a mortals ‘ body!
JAI HARI VITTHAL 33.
34.
PURE MIND ( Nirmal mann) & GOD
We mortals of 21st century never tried to understand what is purity of mind means and how it influences our actions , thoughts, behavior and peace of mind ! The great saint of 7th century Tukoba maharaj discovered the importance of purity of mind and wrote the way to achieve it but before that he realized that mortals with pure and clean mind be able to see God in true form and also feel HIS presence around them and I their personal life. Tukaram achieved the purity of mind so early in life that he could talk to Vitthal on daily basis. Namdev ,another great saint used to offer and share daily meals with Vitthal and of course the ignorant and mortals with impure minds called him madman ! Tukaram says “ God is very close to you but you have to have a very good Mind –Sight and not eyesight to see him . Vitthal can be seen by those mortals who have highest degree of pure mind. That is why when God blesses us with a miracle we can only see or feel the effect or outcome of the miracle but we don’t see HIM . The 21st century mortals have made the environment of the earth so impure that we are grasping for clean air and searching pure water to quench our thrust But the impure minds of billions of mortals of today are responsible for committing host of unimaginable and ghastly crimes . Where is the place for God to enter our minds? Tukaram ‘s advise could still be followed and we could salvage our lives but alas! It looks an impossible dream .However ,there are some people in this country who have salvaged their life by following the great saint . I bow before them. In Tukaram’s opinion “ It does not matter where you live but what matters is with whom you live “.
Prevention of good karmas
The great saint faced an uphill task while trying to uplift the society from various pitfalls and prevent them from doing bad karmas . In his words he says “ to prevent anyone from doing good work is a sin (pap) “. In our daily life we see that anyone who wants to good work for the poor , downtrodden and have-nots he or she faces hundreds of hurdles to get the good work done ! This happens when we dealing with impure minds among us . The great saint says “ help those who are engaged in doing good karmas “ If we cannot do good work due to our short comings then at least help those who are doing it “
JAI HARI VITTHAL 34.
35. WHAT MATTERS IS “HOW YOU LIVED YOUR LIFE” AND NOT “HOW LONG YOU LIVED”!
Tukaram got the clue to eternal happiness when he noticed that “Dyneshwar lived only 22yrs and out of those total years he spent 6 years(from 16yrs to 22yrs) for writing down “ Geetaai-mother of Geeta “ The great work became famous and is known as “Dyneshwari” which has lasted for 750 years and still continues to inspire thousands of we mortals to follow the path to Moksha. The quality of life lived by mortals has a huge edge over the duration of their lifetimes We mortals very often receive blessings from our elders ,”May God give you a long and happy life” knowing very well that those are hollow words ! Instead we should follow what Tukaram says “My beloved God (Vitthal) please help me to become a good human being during my life time and give me blessings to carry out good karmas till end ” .
LOOKS DO NOT MATTER BUT CHARACTER MATTERS.
Among all the gifts blessed by God to we mortals the most fragile and vulnerable to destruction are our looks(Face) and physical structure ( Body) .A single mishap or an accident can ruin it all for ever leaving us totally devastated for life time . And yet we love , adore and admire our looks and physique knowing fully well that each passing years fades them away to insignificance and non consequential to our lives . Tukaram spent his energies and time to teach we mortals the very futility of having beauty of face and body ,instead he preached “Face and Body is as per your past karma and soul is born accordingly in the present life but what matters is how we use our present form and for what purpose “. There is an absolutely absurd notion in we mortals that good looking people (with good face and physique) are naturally blessed , they achieve easy success and happiness in life, they are intelligent , they are achievers , they are talented and they are rich ! This is totally false. The great saint has emphatically stated in his glorious work that “ what matters is your character and your behavior towards others”
TECHNOLOGY & SOUL
In 21st century , the advanced technology and improved medical techniques can help change faces and bodies of we mortals but not the character nor the behavior! In fact in my humble opinion the technology has taken away more from the humanity at large than it gave in many ways . Today ,We are more like robots and auto machines totally devoid of all basic expressions and instincts of love , emotions , affections , human warmth, creativity , fine arts , and so many priceless blessings of God . Technology has brought all the horses and donkeys in one stable. It is helping mortals to do good and bad karmas on equal and common base line with no discretion and no discrimination and last but not the least it is destroying at a faster rate than creating. One can see now the ill effects of media technology on minds of common mortals . Tukaram must be pained to see it all from there.
JAI HARI VITTHAL 35
36. In Loving Memory of my sister –in- law “Dr. KRISHNA”
Today happens to be the 1st death anniversary of my sister –in-law , Krishna ( wife’s youngest sister) whom we lost due to cancer . She was an eminent gynecologist based at Udaipur in the state of Rajasthan ,India. She was an absolute devotee of lord Krishana and followed the theory of good karma in its minutest aspect. She lived a simple and satisfied life and raised a very high quality family of her own . Knowing her personally so well for last 57 years , I am fully convinced that her soul has attended Moksha. I offer my fondest and humble tribute to her soul.
INTELLECT and CHARACTER OF A MORTAL.
Tukaram was baffled by the fact that although an average mortal created by God has been blessed with sufficient intellect to be able to understand a good and bad karma and yet most of them continue to choose the path of bad karma to achieve only short term happiness! He soon realized that intellect could not directly control a mortal’s character nor the behavior but instead it could only support the mortal to carry out acts or karmas opted for! The great saint decided to remove this serious obstacle by some serious soul searching . He was well aware that “a mortal is blessed with highest quality ‘Intellect “ than any living species created by God and that a mortal has fantastic intellect to invent , discover and create anything. He contemplated “where is the blockade in we mortals for not using intellect to reach Moksha ?” His unshakable trust in Vitthal provided the answer that became the foundation of his message to us all mortals as to how to reach Moksha. The great saint came to the conclusion there is a latent and invincible organ called “Mind “ (CHITTA) in all of us which constantly wanders and wavers taking away our attention, disturbing our focus and blunting our thoughts . It is this “Mind” that has to be brought under total control of our intellect so that we can do better use of greatest blessing .
History of Bad Deeds
History of crimes and relevant records show that all criminal minds had high degree of intellect to commit those ghastly crimes such as well known robberies like “The Great Train robbery in UK, Murders of political figures all over the world, High profile kidnappings, Espionage & Deceits, Rapes, Genocide and many other crimes that exist in the society of mortals.
INTELLECT and QUALITIES in MORTALS
The great saint during his quest for discovering ways to reach Moksha fell upon a very important fact of life that intellect and qualities are two different types of blessings . A mortal may be blessed with high intellect but may lack many qualities which in turn would eclipse the intellect . The human beings are the first on the list of the creator to have been blessed with highest IQ but not the qualities which are seen in other forms of life. For example, for “Loyalty , affection, obedience and trust “Dog” comes first on list. A blind man trusts a dog more than a fellow mortal. Is it not true? But what is true as per great saint is “ Intellect can be used to control Mind which in turn can instill good qualities in us which we may lack or need to acquire to build a good character and behavior
Jai Hari Vitthal 36.
37. CHANGE (PARIVARTAN)
Tukaram realized at very early stage during his quest for uplifting the quality of life of an ordinary mortal that the most difficult task is to cause any change for better in a mortal’s life. At the same time the great saint was also ware of the fact that any change must be timely otherwise it is ineffective to the cause. This added more woes to his humanitarian work for the fellow mortals. Therefore, the great saint preached the reverence and importance of timely change in us all mortals. He says in his kirtan “ability to adopt and accept timely changes for better is the surest way to reach Moksha in shortest time. The good karmas should never be delayed, postponed, avoided, abandoned nor obstructed by any one of us all mortals “ In Hindu philosophy there is an apt saying “ Jo Kal Kare SoAaj ,Jo Aaj Kare So Abb” meaning “what you wanted to do yesterday, do it today and what you want to do today ,do it right now”!
The words “timely change “has a great and prudent message for us all. Tukaram has warned us all mortals through his valuable advice “that the life is fragile, vulnerable and most unpredictable and hence do all the good changes in your personal life and in lives of people around you”. The following story is from the great epic of Mahabharta that brings the point home;
Lord Krishna was once asked by his great disciple and devotee Arjun “ who is the most charitable person between Karna or Yudhishtir ?” ( Those who know the epic story will know that Karana was Arjun’s illegiimate brother and Yudhistir was his legitimate eldest brother. Both were known for their charitable nature!) Lord Krishna planed a cleverly planned plot to answer the question asked by Arjun. As per plan , they both disguised as two poor old men and visited the houses of Yudhishtir and Karna . First they went and knocked at the door of Yudhishtir and asked “We need some dry provisions to make our own meals and we also request some fire wood to cook the food. We are asking for dry wood because there is no dry wood available due heavy rains in the forest area. “ Yudhishtir immediately gave adequate amount of provisions but failed to provide dry wood for cooking sighting the reason that there is no spare wood of any type in his house! So the two men left without the dry provisions saying that it was of no use to them. Now they approached house of Karna and knocked at the door . Karna opened the door to them and asked with reverence (“ How can I help you?) Both old men asked the same things ,provisions and dry wood . Karna got the adequate quantity of provisions gave it to them but he was baffled for short while about the second demand of dry wood. But he had presence of mind and he thought “what good is his spacious sandalwood bed for if he cannot break it for a good cause at this time when those poor men need it to survive and cook their meals !” Karna told the two men to sit and wait till he brings the wood for them . He went to his bedroom and broke the sandalwood bed in nice small pieces for easy use and came down with the conveniently stacked wooden pieces easy to carry!. He handed them over to his needy visitors who happily went away with a satisfied mind . As soon as the old men came out in open they came back to their origin as Lord Krishna and Arjun . Now Krishna asked Arjun “Have you got the answer to your question?” Of course Arjun had no choice but to agree that Karna was far more charitable indeed. Karna had changed in the right manner at the right time for the right cause. The moral of the story is we all mortals to need to change as Karna did .
Jai Hari Vitthal 37.
38. EQUALITY IN WORSHIP & DEVOTION.
While in search of the path to reach at God’s (Vitthal)feet , Tukaram noticed that the Brahmin Community had an iron chain hold on the common and poor devotees which he opined as totally unjustified and unreasonable . The great saint observed that many were prevented from entering temples and places of worship thus keeping them away from their prayers of devotions and worship of Vitthal. He was deeply pained and sad and decided to effectively deal with this atrocity .He stared to send strong messages and signals of relief through his sweetly sung and recited Bhajans and Abhangs through regularly conducted community kirtans in open spaces of the villages and small towns where simple , innocent and poor people lived . The great saint’s efforts brought magical relief and happiness to a common mortal who could afford high cost of rituals recommended by Brahmin pundits sitting in temples. Tukaram made it very clear that God does not want nor appreciates man made rituals but HE loves and blesses only good karmas done by the mortals . This irked the temple owners and operators and they all rose against Tukaram and his efforts. It all changed when Shivagi Raje ( king of Maratha kingdom)gave full support to Tukaram in his quest for enlightenment .
The great saint encouraged community kirtans ,bhajans , dohas and reciting of his abhangs which carried all the knowledge and wisdom of reaching at God’s feet with equality in worship and devotion. Tukaram succeeded to convince the masses of mortals that “ Not a single penny ( paisa )is needed to be spent for worshipping Lord Vitthal but only time with undivided attention is all that is required “ Today it is very unfortunate to see that blind faith and rituals have sprung up with vengeance and millions of rupees are spent on them . The coffers of all types of places of worship of different religions are overflowing with funds and donations which are apparently used for wrong causes and reasons! Most of the unrest in the world is due to such money easily available to bad elements of society. I pray that someday, somehow another soul like Tukaram would be sent down to this mortal world to salvage us all mortals .
WHAT’s in the NAME?
The great saint observed that many mortals named their children after the names of God , famous saints and well known historical personalities. In one of his kirtan’s, he brought out a well thought point that “A name must match the character and behavior of the mortal”. It would be highly ironical to know a person who is named after the greatest saint Dyneshwar is actually a big crook of the town ! It is logical to understand that some names have attended unparallel exclusivity of highest order so those names should be either be avoided in use or used with great reverences and matching karmas .
Jai Hari Vitthal 38.
39.
GOD , SOUL & MORTALS
Tukaram has lucidly depicted the beautiful relationship and the bond that exist between the three distinct identities God , Soul and a mortal . The great saint was convinced that each soul is guided and escorted by God in each of the life cycle as a mortal right from birth to death till the soul attends Moksha . Therefore, the great saint spread a clear message through his kirtans that “Every mortal has God in his /her soul and we all mortals have to accept this fact and deal with each other .This conviction made the task easier for the great saint when he started his kirtans . He would tell all his followers “ No one is small or big , no one is superior or inferior, no one is rich or poor but we all owe our present state to our individual karmas ( good/bad) of the last life . he advised that every mortal to treat each other with respect , dignity , honor , compassion , love and serve with good karmas beneficial to everyone around .
Today , all of us mortals have lost fundamental good as a result the whole world is in turmoil state of public unrest , fear , crimes and lack basic human dignity in day to day life on our planet otherwise a beautiful and peaceful creation of God for the mortals .
Birth, Life & Death Cycle.
At birth, Soul brings along with it the fruits of the karmas (mixed basket of good and bad) to live in a chosen human body form for a predetermined time span. During the life span, soul enjoys or suffers according to blessings and wishes of the creator. Every soul that is born is blessed with adequate intellect to improve and increase the count of good karmas during the living span. At death soul carries its own mixed basket of good and bad karmas done during its life time and is once again accompanied by God to be reborn again if necessary. We all mortals bring nothing to handover, nothing to take over and nothing to carry over! The great saint posed a valid question to his devotees,” Then why suffer so much of anxiety , despair , disappointments , sadness, pains , shed tears , fight , quarrel , have jealousy, enmity, be mean , be destructive , be disruptive and negative in our uncertain span of life time? Tukaram was so right and fundamentally logical in his thoughts that he had to find answers to these unreasonable secrets of mortals . He spent his life time and before leaving this mortal state he gave answer to each of the questions posed by his devotees and followers to their supreme satisfaction. The great saint’s stupendous work still serves the humanity even after seven long centuries. No doubt TUKOBA will be here forever till universe lasts!
SOUL – searching a must for every Mortal.
We all mortals practice theory of conducting audit of many things for betterment , improvement and fault finding etc ,then why not do audit of our karmas by doing some serious soul searching so that we can get the benefits of a true audit! The soul searching will help prevent crimes , and bring quality to daily life . It will influence our intellect to control our sick minds and net result would be more mortals will be able to do more good karmas than otherwise. Retreats from regular worldly affairs are certainly beneficial provided they are conducted in true spirit of soul searching.
WHO BENEFITS FROM TUKARAM’s KIRTANS?
Tukaram’s followers and devotees have cleverly answered this question as follows,
There are four types of followers,
1. Those who come to hear but are asleep while kirtan is on !
2. Those who come to hear are awake but not attentive to words being said!
3. Those who come to hear are listening but their minds are in doubt !
4. Those who come to hear are totally engrossed in the kirtan and are determined to improve their well being by practicing the ways shown by the great saint
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40.
MORTAL’S LIFE IS A STAGE
Tukaram’s search for the way to achieve “moksha” resulted in his discovery that we all mortals have to play different roles during our journey from the day we are born till we die. He analyzed that further and explains to us that “while we play our different roles at various stages of our lives one common denominator is to do good karmas in doing those roles. The roles for every mortal form a common pattern; first role we play is we are born as a child to a set of parent. Then we become siblings of others, followed by becoming some body’s husband /wife, then in turn we become either father or mother of a child and if we live long enough we may become grandfather /grandmother too! In short according to our life span we keep changing our roles till our end. In each role there are society parameters set for responsibilities, accountability, conduct, behavior, character and we are expected to play our role well by doing good karmas while earning our living wages . The great saint noticed the catch and follies of each of the role as child , sibling , worker and a parent. The great saint observed that “There are serious and fatal attractions attached to each role and each mortal must steer clear of those in order to achieve moksha”. Tukaram fully understood the scenario of multiple roles of a mortal in one single life time and decided to search for remedy to irradiate the follies, pitfalls and fatal attractions leading to bad karmas in each role. The great saint wrote simple and easy ways to train we all mortals at all the stages of roles to apply our intellect to control devil in us –our mind and prevent us from doing bad karmas while performing our roles. That is why in his kirtans, bhajans , dohas and shlokas he has teachings foe every role and stage that mortal undergo during their life time . We all mortals benefit from the great saints teachings at all stages of life while in different roles.
BE LIKE SUGARCANE.
Tukaram was born and lived his entire life in sugarcane growing belt of Maharashtra state of India. In sugarcane plant he saw a message that he conveyed in his great teachings to mortals. Tukaram advises us all mortals to be like sugarcane. He says “Sugarcane is consistently sweet throughout its existence in spite of its rough and merciless journey from planting stage till is turned into sugar !To explain it further , the great saint describes “the journey of the sugarcane plant from the time it is planted in the field , then chopped off from its roots , then bundled into hips and loaded on the trucks and dragged to the factory , then squeezed to near pulp and then cane juice processed in a boiling pot to turn it into white sugar ! In spite all this, sugarcane retains all its original sweetness!”. The moral of the story of sugarcane’s journey to become sugar is that “we all mortals must never let goodness part from us no matter how bad the environment and circumstances around us are”
WOMAN IS MOST SUPREME
Tukaram has paid greatest tribute and respect to womanhood. He specifically conveyed to all his devotees and followers that even God( Vitthal) has placed the woman species at the highest platform of respect because it is not possible for even God to be born as a mortal without having the protection of the womb of a mother! The great saint has repeatedly said in his kirtans that we all mortals can never ever repay the debts of our mother in our life time. The great saint sights the following well known debts of a mother to her child;
Life support from conception till delivery
Supply of quality blood of adequate group irrespective of a match
Sharing breathing and an uninterrupted supply of Oxygen while in womb
Formation of body bones that last for centuries after we are dead
Giving kick start to life –First Cry of The Baby before umbilical chord is cut.
And yet it is so sad that in 21st century we male mortals inflict unimaginable wounds, scars and commit atrocities on our mothers, wives, daughters and sisters. How the hell we ungrateful male mortals can think of attending in our life time Mokha ?
Jai Hari Vittahl 40.
41.
LISTENING (SHRAVAN) QUALITY IN A MORTAL
Being the Kirtankar with a great repute and of highest standards ( Preacher), Tukaram maharaj was always curious to learn about his mixed audience of sincere and not so sincere listeners .He says” there are four types listeners in my congregation , one that listens but are half asleep. Second that listens but also chats with person sitting next , third that listens but has enough doubts to adopt or implement a change for good and finally the fourth that listens , adopts , implements and spreads the essence of my kirtans! It would be wise for us all mortals to be in class four of the great saint if we want to attain moksha in this life. In 21st century, we all are a distracted and disturbed lot with no peace of mind. There is no time slot in our daily routine for a simple meditation nor for saying a silent prayer dedicated to our creator . We seriously need to change it at our earliest .
MOST MISUNDERSTOOD MORTAL
While” mother” has been singularly given the highest place of honor in the society by all the preachers in all the religions practiced by the mortals ,”father “seems to get the place of the most misunderstood mortal in the society ! Tukaram is an exception indeed who gave a place of great honor to fatherhood . The great saint specially mentions the name of Shri Vitthala Pant ,(father of Saint Dyneshwar ) in many of his well known kirtans. The great saint identifies the sacrifices of a father , the struggles to earn adequate money to feed his family , the capacity to absolve the abuses of the society , to stand up to the great expectations of his children to rise in life and last but not the list the efforts required to to keep his family safe and sound in difficult times . The great saint further points out that “ a father can never shed tears to relive his pains , sorrow , sadness , disappointments , losses and many negative feelings . He has to show his braveness , and manliness in times of distress , disasters , dangers and even while facing death. A father has to stand steadfast in all adversities and face the situation head on.” Being born in a farmer ‘s family he noticed that “the an ox ( Bull) works far harder and in adverse conditions of winter , summer and rainy season in the open field along with the farmer in the open field while a cow stays in far greater comfort of a shade ! Some where Tukaram’s simple innocent mind found similarity between a father plight and a bull’s plight .It seems quite apt in a way . The cow’s milk replaces the mother’s milk in near perfect way while nursing a child so cow gets a valued status too. Tukaram concludes that a mortal is a silent sufferer in the role of a father and deserves equal respect and love from the society.
DO WE NEED A SAINT TO BE BORN TO SALVGE US IN TODAY’s TIMES?
In my humble opinion ,YES ! We do need Tukaram to be reborn to salvage us all from this treacherous world infested with druggists, thugs , thieves , mafias , political hoodlums , rapists . maniacs , psychopaths and hard core criminals . I am not at all a negative personality , in fact many of us are still able to live near normal lives even today is only because of the 10% of decency is out witting 90 % of indecency prevailing in all the countries of the world !
I pray that we will soon change for better after been taught a great lesson by COVID -19 as to fragile is life and the mortal relationships are .
Jai Hari Vitthal 41
42. TUKARAM‘s QUESTION TO HIS GURU DYNESHWAR MAHARAJ.
At the initial stage of his quest to reach at the feet of his beloved God ,VITTHAL , he was baffled by one question that is “why every mortal born has to complete his /her journey through a slotted pattern of life . He noted that no matter where the mortal was born he/she lived a very carved out life founded by the human society. There was no escape for any one from any strata of society(rich or poor) but live a typical worldly life of a family (close or extended relationship),do a job for earning living , feel sad for personal losses and elated for gains and pleasures , have friends and foes as per relationship , show love , hate, jealousy, appreciation and many such trends while living in the society till death . There was no room or time for showing love for the creator ( God). How could anyone escape from such a imprisonment of personal freedom and thoughts? ,was the question that was haunting the mind of the great saint . Dyneshwar simplified it for Tukaram “ You live like others do but do not attach your mind to any of the worldly things and dedicate your every karma and action to Lord Vitthal and expect nothing in return from any mortal you deal with “ The great saint took that so seriously that when he lost his first wife he profusely thanked God for reducing one of his fatal attraction! Similar was the reaction when he lost his riches , farms and his young son too. We mortals could think it as extreme cruelty on part of Tukaram the mortal But cruelty it was only to himself as an mortal but total submission to will and wishes of Lord Vitthal . The great saint’s famous abhang is based on his ultimate dedication to his beloved God –Lord Vitthal where he says “ See Vitthal , breathe Vitthal , Eat Vitthal , drink Vitthal , live Vitthal , smile Vitthal, cry Vittahl in short there is no karma and action without the God being with you at all times till you breathe even then he is with you ! This was the state of mind of the great saint when he started to sing his kirtans.
We need to believe in his every word if we wish attend moksha in least no of births and deaths cycles.
Jai Hari Vitthal 42.
43. MORTAL’s OUT-LOOK TOWARDS LIFE & WORLDLY AFFAIRS.
Tukaram was once asked by his Guru “as to why he dislikes the worldly and routine family life of a common mortal?” Tukaram’s reply was simple but had a very deep meaning in it . The great saint replied” The mundane and routine life that a mortal lives takes more out of him /her than it gives back to them “. The guru asked Tukaram to make his reply more explicit which he did. He said “from the day we mortals are born till we die we are bound by society made social rules and set of parameters inculcated in our mind set and out-look prevents us from causing a change for better by changing our out –look and the way we do our daily family routine .” The great saint further emphasized” that it is absolutely necessary to detach and free our minds from getting chained in things which are ultimately useless to us and take us way from God and attaining moksha. “ . How right he was then and how right and valid his teachings are today in 21st century. The only way to reach God’s feet is to do good karmas only and dedicate them to Vitthal and further do not expect any reward or awards in return.
Life is very fragile, unpredictable and cruel to we all mortals .
Throughout his life , Tukaram enlightened all the people within his reach “that a mortal’s life is very vulnerable , fragile , unpredictable and can be very cruel, pathetic and sad in literal sense. Therefore it is imperative that and prudent foe every mortal not to waste the precious life in trifle things and mend our ways for a better change so that we work towards attending the moksha .
Jai Hari Vitthal 43.
44.
HOW DIFFICULT IS IT TO ADOPT TUKARAM’S GUIDANCE?
The foremost question in the mind of Tukaram was always as to “how difficult would it be for an ordinary mortal to adopt his advise and implement it in his/her daily life ?” He made up his mind to show the easiest and most practical way for the worldly involved and ordinary mortals of his times. The great saint was fully aware of his social responsibility that he must guide the fellow mortals towards attaining moksha and save them from birth /death cycle . It was an uphill task for the great saint to convince humanity at large to give up worldly possessions , pleasures and possessions earned from ill-gotten money by doing bad karmas . But Tukaram had great faith in his God & Friend (Vitthal )so he went ahead with his mission “Singing kiratns in his sweet melodious , affectionate and soothing voice carrying the message of love and ultimate trust in God. The great saint managed to convince many millions that one could be involved in his /her daily life but do not get attached o anything as we all have to go empty handed !
Is it not a fact of life ?
Jai Hari Vitthal 44.
45.
CLEAN MIND.
Tukaram once asked his guru “what is the most important and essential prerequisite a mortal should have to be accepted by God?” Promptly came the reply from the guru “a clean mind”. Guru further told him a story that fully convinced Tukaram. The story is as follows,“There lived a farmer and his family comprised of his wife and a two years old male child. The farmer was very fond of his son and used to pick him up in his arms as soon as he returned in the evening after toiling in the field. One day when he came home as usual the child came running towards him to be picked up! But the farmer brushed him aside shouting “why are you so dirty and unclean today? The bewildered child started crying loudly for his mother. The farmer’s wife rushed towards the child and picked him up in her arms. She angrily told her husband “why are you so harsh today to your child”? The farmer replied “Why is he so unclean and dirty today? Please wash him and put clean clothes on him so that I can take in my loving arms! The mother did just that and son was back in his father’s lap feeling happy and secured”. The Guru then told Tukaram that “God only likes those mortals who have a clean mind”. Tukaram carried this valuable message from his Guru in his kiratns to convince we all mortals that “ it is very important and essential for everyone to work towards developing a clean mind at the earliest part of their life time so that God accepts them at the earliest and blesses them to do good karmas.
CLEANSING OF MIND
Tukaram’s immediate mission was to find out the simplest , easiest and practical ways as to how to do cleansing of the mind while carrying out daily routine life of a mortal . The great saint fully realized the practical obstacles that hampered the process of cleansing the sick mind . In his kirtans , he tackled each obstacle faced by the mortals that prevented the process of cleaning of the mind towards purity. It was long and difficult journey for the great saint. He found that most mortals were victims of those habits that gave them quick riches , instant pleasures and immediate gains at the cost of sinful deeds and a life style of bad karmas . Tukaram convinced most of the mortals that short term gains earned through sick and unclean mind will give very short lived happiness and satisfaction in true sense where as by cleansing our mind we get moksha .
NOTHING BELONGS TO US.
Every one of us is fully aware of the fact that nothing belongs to us really and yet we pretend that our possessions are going to be with us eternally! Why can’t’ we accept the reality of a mortal’s life that “we came with nothing and we carry back nothing”. When we all attend the funeral and last rites of our beloved ones there is one foolish thought that blocks the mindset to face the reality that one day we would brought there for sure. And yet after returning from the sad reality we all are back at our games of life! Why do we not learn that even our own forms ( physical being –body) is on a time charter from our creator! Tukaram tried to convince the humanity at large but it seems he did fail in his noble mission because had he succeeded the proof would be a a happy and safe world to live with no crimes and no negativity what so ever .
Jai Hari Vitthal 45.
46.
WORDS OF WISDOM FROM GOD.
“Gita” as spoken by Lord Krishna to the warrior Arjun at the battlefield is the single most document that accounts for God’s best advice to we mortals as to how to do right karma at the right time at the right place. Had Mahabharata not occurred we would have been deprived of Gita ! But if there was no Dyneshwar ever born, then knowledge of Gita would not have been available ever to mankind. What a loss it would have been indeed! The words of wisdom by Krishna were meant to simply motivate Arjun to pick up arms for the right cause at the right time and at the right place but Dyneshwar saw a huge sustainability in those words of God that had almost infinite potential for mortals to help choose right path to attain moksha .Dyneshwar simplified Gita so that common mortal could understand the knowledge and message in it . So he chose simple words to explain the very essential essence of the Gita that would guide any common mortal to live clean life leading to clean and good karmas which in turn result into attaining moksha. There is nothing static in the dynamic world created by God. So in comes Tukaram who picks up Dyneshwari and simplified it further into melodious and rhythmical bhjans sung in the kiratans. It worked like magic for mortals . They got drowned in the ecstasy of the words “ Jai Hari Vitthal and Jai Jai Ram Krishna Hari”.
SIMILARITY IN WORDS OF WISDOM OF KRISHNA AND TUKARAM .
The great Maratha king Shivaji was fascinated by the Kirtans of Tukaram . He used to disguise himself as a commoner of the village and attend the kirtans of the great saint . He wanted to take advise from Tukaram as to how to protect local Hindus from Moghul invaders . Shivaji was looking for a guidance as to how save temples , culture and traditions of Hindu community from total destruction . Tukaram advised Shivaji in no uncertain terms to raise and lead a strong and motivated army of Mavalas ( local people)to fight the enemy . The great saint almost repeated the same words as said by Krishna to Arjun . The effect on Shivaji was the same as on Arjun . Shivaji never again looked back and led the marathas against moguls with great effect.
Jai Hari Vitthal 46.
47.
PRESEVING “NATURE” IS WORSHIPPING
Tukaram was very nature loving saint. He strongly promoted conservation of forest, prevention of cutting of young and healthy trees for cooking and construction work in those times. Through his daily kirtans in various villages, he would convey his concern for the Nature. Following heartwarming story would perhaps drive the point home; One day Tukaram was travelling through Kokan (Mango country). It was mango season and the trees were in full bloom with golden color (Alphonso-Hapus) mangoes. The great saint spotted a dozen children throwing stones at the trees loaded with the juicy fruit. He requested them not to throw stones that will cause scars to the tree trunk and branches. The some of the senior children recognized the great saint and apologized to him for doing wrong act! However, Tukaram requested all the children to sit down under the cool shade of the green mango tree. He then said “Year after year, this tree gives us sweet mangoes throughout its plant life , it gives us relief from the heat of the sun light and it protects us from the heavy down pour in the monsoon rains, In return it asks us only a small favor of minimum care and protecting it from unwonted destruction. It is our duty to protect every plant , every tree and the green grass so that we all can be healthy and live in beautiful surroundings.” The children swore in front of the great saint never to hurt a tree during their life time! Tukaram says”to help preserve nature , to nurse nature and to love nature is as good if not better than worshipping Vitthal in a manmade temple. ” The greatest thinker and philosopher of India Swami Vivekananda has the same message for we all mortals. At his Rock Temple at Kanya Kumari no flowers are offered at the feet of his statue. There is a strong message engraved “Do not offer flowers to me, they are meant to be left on the plants as per the wishes of their creator”
Jai Hari Vitthal 47.
48.
GOD LIVES IN SOUL NOT IN STONE STATUE!
During his long, tiresome and arduous travels on his feet Tukaram traversed hundreds of miles to reach out the people and lead them towards God’s feet and help attain moksha during their present life. The great saint noticed a visible fault in the approach of the common mortal to attain moksha . Tukaram noticed that rituals and temple based worshipping was a preferred route adopted by every mortal. He noticed that this was mainly due to the wrong influence of Brahmin priests who had turned worshipping of god into a virtual business of great profit. They planned different types of prayers and rituals (pujas) for obtaining variety of blessings from God! Tukaram also observed that poor and less fortunate mortals could not perform these expensive rituals. He decided to step in to eradicate these absurd and meaningless notions once for all. It was an uphill task to change these malpractices but Tukaram managed to stem and reverse the tide through his bhjans and kirtans. He said “ Do not search God in manmade stone statues ( Murties) find him in your own self (soul).Vitthal is omnipotent and is present in every one of us mortals . We need to reach out to him through good karmas.”
At this point, I wish to share a true experience of one of my cousin who has been a Vitthal worshipper for many years . The following story is exactly the way I was told byArjun.
“One day me and my wife decided to visit (unplanned) Pandharpur Vitthal Mandir. We took the first bus available from Nagpur bus stand . We reached Pandharpur bus stand at an unearthly hour of 1AM! There was no transportation available. We were both worried when suddenly a Tonga ( horse driven carriage)came towards us. The driver (Tongawala)was an old man with white beard and looked concerned about us . He said “ I am on my way to home .Can I help you to drop you at the dharamshala (Charity place) of the mandir where you could rest and then you can go for the Vitthal darshan in the morning.” We accepted the gracious offer and sat in his Tonga. We reached the dharamshala. As we got down from the Tonga and asked him for the fare to be paid for the ride he just smiled and said “I was on my way home so I just gave you a ride up to this place on the way.” Then he simply drove away and vanished in the darkness of the night with a promise that he will pick up us in the morning and take to the Vitthal mandir! We rested and in the morning were ready to visit the temple. We were waiting at the gate of the dharmshala for the Tonga. About half an hour later a three wheeler scooter rickshaw driver who was watching us from the road side came near us and said “what are you waiting for? I can drop you at the temple” We told him that we were waiting for the Tonga. He was amused and said” last Tonga that operated here in Pandharpur was almost 20 years ago! Which Tongawala could drop you here last night?” We were shocked to hear his words but in seconds we recovered from the shock and it dawned on us that God came in the disguise of a Tongawala and helped us in our need of the hour! Arjun and his wife sat in the rickshaw wondering was there any need now to visit the temple at all!
Arjun( my cousin) has been an absolute devotee of lord Kishna from hi searly childhood .We all mortals must believe in miracles that happen to us . I have already shared mine before but some miracles may be so personal that one need to share with God only.
Jai Hari Vitthal 48.
49.
DONATION
Tukaram has explained in minute details the importance of donation in the life time of a mortal. The great saint encouraged to people to donate anything in excess, things we do not use after acquiring them, things we do not need but we possess them because we have wealth and so on. To donate in the name of God is also considered as a noble act or a good karma that helps you to attain moksha. Tukaram has classified and simplified the meaning of each type of donations and their effects on the mortal. He was able to understand and analyzed each act/type of donation that mortals could do in their entire life time.
As per the judgment of the great saint following are some well known donations by those mortals who are convinced that we bring nothing when we are born and we take nothing when we die;
Donation for charitable purpose (Dharmarth Dan)
Mortals of different faiths give money to their charitable trusts or funds to help out the have not’s from various situations. This type of donation gives the donor society honor , respect and love of the people.
Donation in cash ( Roak dan)
Cash rich mortals give cash for immediate relief for needy people. This type of donation gives the donor a sense of elevated feeling of helping others and brings fame and name to him/her in the society
Donation in kind (Vastu Dan)
Whenever, we give away anything in kind it give s us a unique feeling of peace at heart for helping a needy fellow mortal. This type of donation helps us to reduce our false attachments to material things and teaches us to part with things we do not need and we also learn to sacrifice personal needs.
Donation of labor ( Shrama Dan)
When we do not have cash to part with or we are not sufficiently well off to donate anything at all then the least one can do is to physically work for a good cause. The sweat and blood energy spent by the donor keeps our body healthy and clean. In return the recipients of your labor simply adore and admire you for ever.
Donation of Knowledge (Vidya Dan)
When we have no other capabilities except to share knowledge and wisdom with other around us we do one of the greatest and highly valued donation of knowledge which can make others more capable and able to earn their own living and improve their living conditions for ever. This helps the donor to attend an enviable status of a Guru in the eyes of mortal. The status of Guru is at par if not higher than God itself! In fact, Tukaram did nothing but donated his knowledge of how to reach at God’s feet and attain moksha. His kirtans were the mode through which he donated his Gyan (knowledge)
Donation of Food( Aana Dan)
To share food and water with a hungry and starving mortal is the greatest act of humanity in the eyes of God. It excels any other donation that a mortal is capable of. The donor gets the feeling of feeding God itself in a mortal. It is a virtue unparalleled for sure!.
Giving away of daughter in a marriage ( Kanya Dan)
This donation is only to bring out importance and high light the dignity and honor of a female’s parents who help bring up a decent girl child to become an ideal mother of tomorrow. The donor parents feel a great sense of pride and happiness that they have helped God’ procreation plan for the mortals!
Donate Blood ( Rakta Dan)
The blood transfusion technique was not there in Tukaram’s time.
It goes as a great tribute to modern mortal’s ability to develop the technology of safe blood transfusion and I am sure God has taken note of this donation and has made it as one of the most virtuous act on the part of the donor.
Donation of Vital Organs ( during life time or at death )
This type of donation is also possible now days only because of technological progress in medical sciences. Here too , I am sure God will have special blessings for the souls who did such a donation in their life time on earth
Jai hari Vitthal 49.
50. Today is a very special day .It is “International Women’s Day” being celebrated and observed with a lot of dignity and honor of the women of the world. There was no such declared and dedicated day to glorify, honor and respect womanhood in Tukaram’s era but it is a well known historical fact that the greatest saint and king of human Wisdom& Intellect Saint Dnyaeshwar (also known as Jnaneshwar) maharaj had written down words of respect and love with greatest reverence for his mother Rukmini Bai and sister Mukta Tai. The importance of different roles played a woman mortal during her life time has been mentioned by him in his immortal Dnyaneshwari writings. What he said about womanhood in 13th century was further brought up by Tukaram 4 centuries later in his abhangs and sung in his kirtans. He opined that for a soul to be born as a female in birth/death cycle is a blessing from God because it is a superior human form for a mortal where the soul could perform more good karmas without much efforts there by attaining moksha mush earlier. It is an undisputed and unarguable fact that a male mortal commits /is capable and vulnerable to committing unimaginable crimes, atrocities, rapes, murders, create wars. A male mortal is born within with selfishness, cruelty, lust, uncontrollable wants, and many in built social drawbacks. The great saint also points out the superiority quotient blessed to a soul born as a female mortal. Throughout her life, a woman in the role of a mother only gives but never asks anything in return. She lives the life of generous giver, sacrifices herself for the family, and never ever wants to be recognized for her goodness dished out through of her life time.
I personally pray that if I have to be reborn again as a mortal I would like to be blessed by God to be given a female human form so I would be closer to attaining moksha
Jai Hari Vitthal 50.
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