The Kirtan of Sant Tukaram Part 4 / Capt. Arun Karkare
51. HAPPINESS & SADNESS.
Tukaram found it very challenging to explain to the mortals as to “how to deal best with these two extreme and opposite states of mind.”He also noticed that the state of sadness outnumbered the state of happiness in mortal’s life journey. The great saint realized that there were far more incidences, circumstances, events, moments, times, hours, days, weeks, months, years and in worst case scenario entire life time went in sadness for an unfortunate mortal! In short, Tukaram found that” in a mortal’s life state of happiness was rare and random whereas the sadness occurred frequently and at time with nagging regularity!” The great saint concluded that “mortals need to be guided as to how bravely to face sadness and not to get crushed or destroyed by it. Life has to be lived till it’s time to go from this world.” The great saint structured his bhajans to sooth the broken minds and fragile hearts of the mortals around him. He highlighted one hard truth that “the whole life is utterly temporary, unpredictable and vulnerable and therefore should not be wasted at all in pitfalls of happiness or sadness instead mind and intellect should be diverted to to do good karmas to attain moksha” In simpler words what the great saint says is to weigh happiness and sadness as two faces of the coin call ‘Life’and take it from then on to deal each with same mental strength of tolerance. He experimented this attitude with full success on his own self. He dealt with all his monumental losses and sadness with same ease and dignity as with his short lived happiness. It is authentically recorded that when Tukaram lost his young wife and son he profusely thanked God-Vitthal for taking away his distractions from him thus giving him more time to think of Vitthal and do some more kirtans! No doubt he paid the maximum price of self sacrifice to find true happiness and became greatest poet & saint ever in last several centuries
Jai Hari Vitthal
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 / Arun Karkare
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52. FEEL & SEE GOD IN DAILY LIFE.
Tukaram fully realized that it was very difficult for a common and ordinary mortal in street to sit down and spend some time in prayers on a daily basis. The usual struggle to earn one’s living took all the energy and time leaving very little to spare to think of God even if one had the desire to do so. The great saint found the easiest way out from the tricky situation. In his kirtans and bhajans he gave a very clear message” we all mortals must feel, think and see God in all our daily work from sunrise to sunset. Dedicate all our actions, reactions, responses and behavior towards other mortals as if we are dealing with God.” It simply means that we would be able to worship, pray and live as per the wishes of God. This approach would reduce all our negatives to near zero. The elements such as anger, hate, animosity, jealousy, lust, selfishness etc would vanish and we will automatically help us to do good karmas. The common man found it very relaxing to hear the soothing kirtans of the great saint. The crimes came down in the villages where ever Tukaram visited. He advised the women to sing silently the bhajans of Vitthal while cooking food, washing clothes at the river banks, or working in the fields. This approach worked just wonderfully. Similarly, people greeted each other with words “Jai Hari Vitthal. The men folk too adopted the similar approach in their minds while at work in the fields and other places.
Today, the irony is that we mortals have the greatest benefit and comforts of every type of gadget and machines to give us high mobility in comfort and yet we do not have time to feel or see God around us. Is it that difficult to adopt the simple teaching of the great saint “Feel & See god in our daily life and its dealings “
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53. I begin with my prayers to Lord Shiva as today happens to be the most auspicious day in the Hindu almanac “Mahashivratri.” May his blessings to the world keep it safe and happy for all us mortals during our life journeys.
ALL EFFORTS END AT GOD’s FEET.
Tukaram came to a miraculous conclusion that all the efforts done in doing good karmas end at God’s feet. So right he was in his assessments indeed. The efforts of all saintly and godly mortals have helped to elevate our lives towards attaining moksha. In fact the great saint has emphasized with crystal clear clarity that all physically and mentally able mortals keep doing efforts to do good karmas till they leave the world. He went on to say that the results of our various efforts end at God’s feet and the outcomes are according to the wishes of God.
DONATE (DAN), MERCY (DAYA) & CONTROL (DAMUN)
Tukaram has narrated a story in one of his kirtans drawn from the mythology to convince his followers that there are few basic efforts to be done in life that can help lead us mortals to attain moksha. The story is as follows;
The universe created by the super creator was divided in three distinct areas , Heaven (SWARAG LOK), Hell ( PATAL LOK) and EARTH(BHU LOK). Gods ruled Heavens, the Demons ruled Hell and the Mortals (Manushya ) ruled the earth. The super creator told each of the created species one single advise as follows, to Gods the creator said “Do not misuse powers, to Demons he advised “Show mercy on others “ and to earthly mortals he said “Donate as much as you can “ . The great saint then went on to explain the logic of these advises as applicable to mortals. He says “just like Gods and Demons are bound by the advises so as we mortals too .He further adds “we have a choice of adopting additional advises as given to Gods and Demon! We mortals have been blessed with enough intellect to change our mind set that will help us attain moksha.” Tukaram succeeded through his kirtans to convince all the mortals of his times that one should not misuse his/her powers of positions, one should show mercy and empathy and one should donate anything and everything in excess of his/her needs .
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54. UNDERSTAND, AGREE BUT NOT PRACTICE
Tukaram could easily see the dilemma faced by ordinary common mortal in following his recommended path to moksha! The great saint was aware that those who heard his kirtans did understand and agree to the substance but had difficulties to follow the advised path. He found that all mortals were extremely possessive of their belongings, relationships and their surroundings. These bonds were emotional as well as physical in nature and hence extremely difficult to break or part with in spite of the naked truth that nothing belongs to us in reality of death. The irony was glaringly visible then and even today. We mortals have to understand Tukaram’s teachings, agree with its contents and implement in our daily lives to get the final result in our favor. To gain some thing we need to lose something. To convince the masses Tukaram told a very hard hitting story in one of his kirtans. The story goes as;
One day a mortal asked his Guru “Sir Can you show me God? Only then I will adopt the path of attaining moksha.” Guru told him to come to the river bank at the break of the dawn. As agreed both met at the river bank. Guru asked his mortal follower to enter the river stream in waist deep water and take a deep breath and dip himself in the water in order to see God. The mortal did exactly the way it was explained but he came up gasping for breath shouting there is no God there! Guru said “repeat your action you will definitely see God!” The mortal repeated the action again but nothing happened. Now Guru said “I will help you now so that in your third attempt you will be able see God!” The mortal felt happy to receive help from his Guru. As soon as he dipped third time the Guru grabbed him by back of his neck and prevented him a little longer than his tolerance level from emerging back to surface. This made the mortal to panic and he pushed his Guru with all the force and freed himself to come up to surface in near suffocated condition. He shouted at his Guru “ sir you nearly killed me and yet I did not see God.” Guru told him to relax and then asked him “Tell me what happened when you dived first and second time?” The mortal replied “well I was thinking of all the worldly things I love and hoped that I will not be drowned accidently in search of God!” Guru smiled and asked again “what happened when you got nearly choked when I forced you a stay a bit longer that you could tolerate?” The mortal replied “I thought of nothing but God and prayed to him to save my life from your clutches!” Guru then told him that” finally you have understood that nothing you loved and cared could come to save your life except God. So now you know you need to feel God’s existence and then when you become absolutely pure in mind and spirit you will see God.”
The moral of the story is that the amount of valuable life time we spend on things we could never carry or bring with could be spent on following the path shown by Tukaram .
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55. BE LIKE A SANDALWOOD( CHANDAN) TREE.
Tukaram found heavenly qualities in sandalwood tree. He noticed that any other plant that grew near or around a sandalwood tree would acquire its smell and overwhelming aroma till its existence in its close proximity! This natural miracle fascinated the great saint’s fertile mind. He thought if a mortal could choose to be in close company of a good and saintly guru then he/she could acquire all the goodness from him which would cause a change for the better and pave the way to attain moksha. To share his notion, the great saint told a very heartwarming story to his disciples through his kirtan. The story goes as follows;
Tukaram said “The sandalwood tree is very much loved by God –Vitthal. The paste(Gandha) prepared by rubbing a sandalwood piece on a stone sprinkled with clean water is sported on God-Vitthal’s forehead. The sandalwood tree felt very grateful and blessed for the quality and status given by God to it. The plants which grew in and around the sandalwood tree were also very thankful to the sandalwood tree as well as to God for blessings that allowed them to grow in the close proximity of the great tree. However, a nearby bamboo tree could not acquire the sandalwood aroma nor the smell like other trees could. The bamboo tree felt un- wanted and isolated. It decided to complain to God-Vitthal about the arrogance and partiality of the sandalwood tree! Bamboo tree pleaded its case “My dear respected God, I adore you for your fairness and I expect justice from you. This sandalwood tree has become very proud, arrogant and partial towards me. I have grown around it just like the other trees but it has not imparted its heavenly smell and aroma like it has done to other trees. Why so?” God heard with great patience, the complaint of the bamboo tree and with a smile he replied” You are as dear to me just like the rest of the plants and trees but the problem lies within you. You have not realized the blessings I have given you instead you are unnecessarily complaining against the sandalwood tree.” Bamboo tree was totally at a loss and further prayed “God please enlightened me for I confess I do not know my strength or weakness at all! I will be ever so grateful.” God said “Bamboo you have been blessed with unlimited strength in your body. You will be straight and upright throughout your life. Your smooth and nodded body will be used by the mortals, for building shelters to live in safely, to demarcate and secured the fields with barricades, for making rafts & crafts to enable mortals cross rivers and oceans and finally last but not the least you will have the honor to carry a dead mortal to his/her last journey. Why you are worried and upset about a small thing like acquired smell?” Hearing God’s words, Bamboo tree was overwhelmed with tears of gratitude. It went happily back to its place near the sandalwood tree and grew happily ever after serving the humanity till today!
The moral of the story is that the great saint tried to convey to ignorant mortals that God has blessed each of us with qualities if used correctly can help us attain moksha . We need to search ourselves first and be sure what we are and what we need to achieve.
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56. BE USEFUL (UPAYOGI).
Tukaram realized that it is a better choice to become useful (Upayogi ) to other mortals than renounced the world( Yogi) for one’s own up lift only. He felt that the precious life given to us by God must be used in doing good karmas that will help the needy mortals. Therefore, great saint felt that he must give this vital message to the humanity around him. He said in his kirtans “that we must be ready to the best of our abilities to help others, be useful to others and do provide food, shelter, money and knowledge so that the needy persons are helped to recover from the bad situation. He was very clear “that one does not have to be rich to be good and useful to others instead one should be ready to develop the right mind set for becoming such a person. It was not as easy as it looked. The great saint had to set an exemplary code of conduct in his own self so that his followers would believe in such a divine doctrine. He was in money lending business. He never charged any interest on the loan given to needy farmers. He never set any time limit on his loans given to poor and needy farmers. Very soon these supreme monetary sacrifices made him bankrupt in his business. He struggled to support his own family but the God’s blessings kept him and his family alive throughout the life time. The people realized his goodwill and pious nature and they showered enough love, affection and respect on him. He sent a true message of ultimate usefulness “share, spare, distribute, giveaway anything and everything that we mortals have in excess”. The kirtans helped people to understand the message and there was far less hoarding of material things in those days. YOGI SE AACHHA UPAYOGI!
Today it is a fact that hoarding of food grains, essential goods and accumulation of ill-gotten money is order of the day! We must pray for another Tukaram to be reborn in this corrupt world to redeem us mortals.
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57. Be like a fresh flower when prey.
Tukaram was very specific when he said “we all mortals should be like fresh flowers when we do Vitthal bhjan or prayers.” He went on to explain that “when ever we pray we offer fresh and full bloomed flowers and not the flowers which have gone dry and faded.” The great saint wanted to convince to his followers that we should be clean in mind and body when we pray. We should be in a happy state of mind and clean our body and sport simple washed clothes (whatever we can afford). The importance of this condition is common in all practiced religions existing today. The English saying “Cleanliness is next to Godliness” is a pointer to what the great saint said seven centuries ago! Of course this applies to healthy mortals and not for sick and injured ones.
Knots in mind.
Tukaram studied the complex nature of mortal’s mind in order to find ways and means to achieve peace and happiness. He found that an average mortal’s mind was full of knots thus preventing him/her from being peaceful and happy. The problems of a mind being full of knots and blockades resulted in unhappiness, disturbed state and indecision for the mortals. The great saint advised his followers to open the knots in their prayers to God and seek the help to simplify their daily problems help untie such knots such as lies, deceit, cheat, steal, loosing temper, abuse, kill, body harm, suicidal tendencies, jealousy, destroy and many such trends and tendencies mortals capable of. When we do self thinking ( Atmachintan)and analyze our faults in front of God we can get rid of them for better life .
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58. IDOL WORSHIP (MURTI PUJA)
Tukaram observed that all most all the mortals around and near him were very much involved in idol worship ( murti puja ). The great saint also noticed that ordinary stones would be picked up then coated with deep orange color paste locally known as “Shendur” and placed under the shelter and shadow of a big tree to attract innocent villagers and passersby to be worshipped as God hanuman or Ganesha or Shiva! The stories were then spread by the goons about the miracles that occurred there to attract more crowds. It was nothing short of a big mony making racket! Tukaram decided to remove this fraud hurting the true believers of Vitthal. In one of his well known kirtans he brought out the futility of such stones being used as God’s image or face by unscrupulous Brahmin priests to make easy money. He gave a very logical explanation and rezoning to convince the masses that “It is an insult to a stone when we coat it with shendur paste and worship it as God. Instead we should give the stone to a sculptor who will chisel, scrape, and cut it and turn it into a beautiful carved figure of a God or Goddess that is pleasing to the eyes and satisfies our mind when we pray.” He brought out this concept to wipe out the blind faith of worshipping a plain orange color coated stone. Later he again corrected the course of idol worship towards good karma theory to ultimately renouncing of big and expensive pujas and prayers practiced by mortals. He finally succeeded to convince mortals that way to moksha is only through good karmas and self realization to purify once own soul at all times throughout the life.
Unfortunately , in 21st century we mortals do believe in all sorts of pujas and prayers and perform rituals in blind faith! Instead we could do donations of all that money for use of humanity.
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59. INTOXICATIONS IN MORTALS
Tukaram had a great blessing from God that he could easily notice fundamental human weaknesses. For example, the great saint realized that “there are four fatal prides a mortal could get intoxicated with and harm him/her during their life which in turn would prevent them from attaining moksha.”
Tukaram mentions them in his famous bhajans and kirtans and explains the fall out and harmful effects on a mortal’s life. They are as follows,
Intoxication and Pride being young.
When we are young and full of vigor we do not care about of our social responsibilities, commitments, respecting elders, charity for a good cause and so many other things. It is a common fallacy that almost every young mortal thinks that youth is eternal! Most of the young mortals do a lot of bad karmas out of intoxication and false pride. Exceptions are always there such as soldiers, sport persons, artists, singers, instrument players etc.
Intoxication and Pride holding a high & powerful position in society
Histories of many centuries have records to prove this fact. There are many stories of a single individual who has been responsible for acts of wars that changed the course of history and so on. In our daily life we see so many powerful mortals misuse there power of position. There are hardly any exceptions worth mentioning in this category!
Intoxication and Pride being rich
The rich think that they can buy even God and perhaps moksha too! Less said the better about abuse of money by mortals.
Intoxication and pride being a person of high and extraordinary intellect.
Tukaram faced this abuse from smart Brahmin community who be little the great saint many a times. He fought against them with a smile and humility. He won in his battle against their domination and managed to salvage the image of underprivileged mortals. He defeated them with his superior intellect and simplicity. We have such people in the society today who do not give fair and just credit where it is due. Instead of sharing knowledge they misguide their juniors to retain their supremacy. Unlike Dyneshwar who gave his knowledge for the upliftment of an ordinary mortal and help attain moksha.
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60. FLOWERS & MORTALS.
Tukaram has made a very heartwarming and realistic comparison between flowers and mortals. The creator has left no stone unturned in the creation of incredible variety of flowers giving them basic rainbow colors and their combinations. The creator did not stop there but gave flowers different sizes, designs, patterns, smell, aroma and essence too. In short flowers are one of the nature’s biggest gifts to the Mother Nature. Similarly no two mortals are same looking out of over 7 billion of the species! The great saint has told an apt story in his kiratan to convince his followers,” In a flower shop, various garlands were prepared and kept ready to be sent to a temple as offerings to God. There were many other baskets full of other flowers to be used for making more garlands. The flowers in the baskets started to talk to flowers in the garlands! They said “how lucky you all are indeed. You will be placed around the neck of the lord and showered at the feet of Vitthal. You are really very blessed.” On hearing this, various types of flowers in the garlands woven with thread and needle replied” Yes we are indeed fortunate in spite of undergoing pains piercing of needle through our hearts and forced to be with many other types of flowers. The end result is we are at the feet of our creator and lucky enough to be around his neck and chest! The flowers in the baskets too started praying to be picked up by the floweriest to be part of the next lot of garlands due to be prepared for next prayers and offerings.
The moral of the story is that we all mortals are like flowers of different faces , color, shape, size, sex, born and raised in the different parts of the mother earth in different environments. But we all should have one goal “ to be part of group those souls who mange to reach at the feet of our creator and finally attain moksha.
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61-62. CULTURE Vs PROSPEIRITY.
Tukaram observed that all most all the mortals had wrongly linked happiness and satisfaction to being rich, prosperity and material well being and not to the cultural richness, being knowledgeable, well mannered, and doing good karmas. There was widespread belief that only money can bring ultimate happiness and satisfaction. To remove this fatal falsie from mortal’s minds he wrote dedicated abhangs and sang them in his kirtans to convey the right message. These two liners became all time greats with masses and are sung with ultimate reverence by 21st century Warkari followers in their kirtans. In spite of knowing fully well that we mortals bring nothing to and take nothing from this world and yet we refuse to see the reality of life that only decency, honesty, good karmas, and good behavior towards people around us bring happiness and satisfaction. To get good night rest and peaceful sleep we need to have a happy mind and carefree outlook on life and not a luxurious bed! A tired farmer takes a good nap under a shady tree during hot afternoons by putting his head on the trunk of the tree. If this was not true then only rich people could sleep well.
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63. GOD & CAT
Tukaram has given a very candid and perhaps practically convincing example of how God chooses to visit his favorite followers (bhaktas)in one of his well known abhangs. The great saint’s observations on mortals behavior and belief patterns must be marveled by we ignorant people. He says in his kirtan” Do not worry as to when and how many times Vitthal will visit you during your life. Just give him unconditional love and devotion and trust him fully forever. He will visit you just like a cat who knows exactly which house to go to drink milk and how to enter it without the owner’s attention and alertness.” Tukaram was so practical about his views and understanding about a situation indeed. The great saint’s intellect and purity of heart was in total unison whenever he talked about his Vitthal. He had also used an ant as a example to talk of God when he says “ Dear God give me the smallness of an ant who only eats sugar and rava and gets to it so easily with peace and ease!.
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64. BLESSING & KARMA
Tukaram realized that the blessings from God can be only of use if we do good karma. As said many a times before in these articles, the great saint tried equally to the best of his ability to educate the innocent, the ignorant, the victims of wrong doings, the suppressed, the enslaved, the poor, the depressed and the deprived as well as all those in the opposite camp to understand a simple point that God’ blessings need to be put in to good use for doing good karmas otherwise we waste our blessings. For example, if we are blessed with ability to have good, plenty and tasty food every day of our life, then we need to have capacity to enjoy, digest and remain healthy. But in fact in reality it is not true at all. We have to do work to digest that food or share it with have not’s. If we are blessed with any talent then we must use it for the humanity at large. An unused blessing is being insulting to our creator.
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65. MORTAL’S DOORS FOR DEMANDS
Tukaram realized that no mortal can ever be self sufficient in his /her life time. He /she have to depend on help from different sources available to him /her. The great saint had to analyze different sources from where demands could be addressed and help needed could be effectively procured. There are four types of sources where most of the mortals put up their demands when in need. They are almost in logical sequence as per practices prevailed then and even today in our country.
Birth Right to demand from parents
Relationship Right to demand from Siblings
Friendship Right to demand from very trusted and close friends
Extended Relationship Right to demand from siblings of the parents.
However, the great saint had to bring out the point that demands may be made but not necessary expected to be met or full filled! God has given every mortal basic intellect to cut the demands to the fundamental needs. One should not make any demand from any available sources out of selfishness or treachery or deceit. A demand free life is perfect life and way to reach moksha. Keep the demands at the lowest low level as we bring nothing, take nothing but we can certainly give away many things and that includes unnecessary demands from our dear near ones!
There is so much to learn and adopt from a mortal who came in this world nearly four and half centuries ago and gave his entire life to up-lift humanity from bad practices.
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66. BEING REALLY RICH!
Tukaram had to redefine the state of being truly rich so that mortals could understand the real meaning of richness. The great saint took pains to explain that material richness is of no consequences except that it drastically reduces one’s chances of reaching moksha. He says what good is richness if it prevents you from breathing god’s name (Vitthal), thinking of God, and doing good karmas. The great saint convincingly spread the word through his abhang and kirtans that the excess wealth has negative effect on a mortal’s life. In all his kirtans the great saint has been consistent to convey that excess wealth is to be avoided in order to live life of simplicity, virtue and devoted to good karmas. He concludes that a mortal who is able to breathe God in each breath is truly rich.
It is a fact so true indeed and valid in today’s times. The society is full of evil of drug abuse, rapes, loot, and fraud and daily murders with guns. The lust for becoming rich in shortest possible time is the objective of the new generation of mortals and they leave no stone unturned to achieve their sinister goal.
TYPES OF DEVOTEES
Tukaram perfectly understood the psyche of devotion and prayers practiced by various devotees of Lord Vitthal. His deep thinking, research and intellect enlightened him to a fantastic conclusion and he incorporated that in his abhangs and kirtans to convey and share that “God too has preferences in accepting devotion from the devotees!
The great saint simplified his explanation as follows; There are four types of devotees in all mortals who only pray for help and blessings when placed in special circumstances during their life journey.
1. Those who only think of God and pray when in some dangerous, difficult, unusual and life threatening circumstance and situation beyond a normal mortal’s capacity.
The great saint sites the classic and very well known example of Drupadi who asked for Vitthal’s ( Kishna’s) help when her modesty was publicly threatened in front of her helpless husbands!
2. Those who only think of God and pray when in great poverty and dire effects of it on the family and self. They pray for blessings of prosperity.
The great saint sites the classic and very well known example of Sudama who calls at the doors of his very close friend Lord Krishna, the king of Dwarka state.
3. Those who only think of God and pray for extension of life span of their dear near ones when they are seriously sick or on death bed due to various causes such as accidents, deceases and injuries in war. The great saint sites the classic and very well known example Kunti who prays to Lord Krishna to stop the battle of Mahabharata between the cousins!
4. Those who have the intellect to understand that nothing belongs to mortals except the unconditional devotion to VItthal and they only think of God and nothing else! Such devotees surrender to God in full totality. The great saint sites the classic and very well known examples of Saints such as Dnyaneshwar Maharaj, Namdev, Swami Samarth, Kabir, Mirabai and other well known saints of India.
God embraces the category- 4 devotees and takes them in his arms and escorts them to moksha. Tukaram left the mortal world the same way.
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67. BEING BORN A MORTAL
Fortunate to be writing this abhang today, the 30th 30th March 2021, because the dates 29th,30th & 31st March are of great significance for those who are the devotees of the greatest saint ever born on this planet. These three days are locally known as “Tukaram Bij Diwas”. During this period the great saint got enlightenment came to understand the true essence and the very purpose of being born as a mortal (either as man or woman).His intellect advised him to renounce everything associated with being a common mortal such as attachment and attraction of human forms of dear near ones, personal material wants, fatal attractions such as lust, jealousy, enmity, dishonesty, robbery and treachery. It was not at all an easy task for an involved family man Tukaram! He had to perform the Herculean task of separating his soul from his human form during him being alive! He was slowly but surely convinced that we mortals are all born again and again to cleanse our soul to a point that it is so pure that God grants it moksha. Tukaram finally did that and left behind all the secrets to attain moksha through his abhangs and kirtans.
BODY & SOUL.
Tukaram managed to study and compare Body and Soul of a mortal by experimenting first on himself. When he analyzed Body he got only negative feedback and impact too. The great saint has put down his brilliant observations in his work such as;
Body is a serious liability rather than an asset as it is very vulnerable and fragile.
Body ailments, pains & aches, body form faults, color, shape, facial looks, ugliness etc all are very hurting and humiliating to a mortal.
Body is constantly changing towards degeneration as year of life passes by thus causing a very great discomfort in the mortal’s mind.
Body’s aging process puts the fear of death in the mind of the mortal although it is an ultimate truth known to every mortal the day he/she is born!
Body breeds more negative factors in life of a mortal than positive.
Body never ever ends its attractions, attachments and wants till death destroys it forever.
Body constantly encourages myths and confuses the Soul from remaining pure.
The above faults fully convinced the ordinary Tukaram to give up the Body in favor of the Soul. The greatest saint was in making now. When Tukarm lost his beloved wife he thanked Vitthal (God) to have reduced his attractions. When he lost his son he once again thanked God profusely to have him freed from family attractions. When he lost business and suffered unprecedented losses in farm productions he kept on praising the God to have helped him to renounce the world and its fragile life. Finally he could feel so close to his Soul and God that nothing mattered or bothered him anymore that would have otherwise!
The extreme choice which the great saint made may not be possible to so many of us but one could consider the midway choice of loving the Soul more than the Body.
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68. Equality at Birth
Tukaram pointed out to masses that all mortals are born as innocent, ignorant, pure and simple human beings. From the first cry we all begin our life journeys. Things change every day for each newly born mortal and we form ourselves into a single unique identity and live life on that basis. During our life time we do different types of karmas to achieve different objectives and goals. The good qualities at birth are slowly but surely lost without we being even aware of it! Why? The great saint took pains to ponder over it and found answers to each of his questions. The innocence is lost at the first instance as we get acquainted with our place of birth, parents and physical situation around us. The ignorance is replaced by types of knowledge, sights, surroundings, culture and environment we are exposed to. The purity and simplicity are lost in turn as we grow out of child hood towards state of adolescence. Tukaram realized that we all miss the opportunity of being guided and corrected at our young and vulnerable age by a saintly person (sage). He felt that there is a great moral obligation on him put up by Vitthal to offer sagely advice and guidance to the humanity and take them towards their moksha. He took upon himself this mission and renounced his own beautiful world of his family. First the great saint corrected everything wrong in him to utter perfection and achieved direct contact with God and then sat down to write his abhangs and sang his way to every heart by doing thousands of kirtans. Being a poet of great talent he could write two liners of deep wisdom that took hundreds of pages to be explained. His two liners stood the test of time of over 4 centuries without losing its contents and concentration. One of his most powerful abhang says” A pat from one single saintly person is far more satisfying experience than being carried over shoulders by thousand foolish persons”.
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69. WISHES OF KUNTI
Tukaram was overwhelmed with extreme admiration for KUNTI ( mother of five Pandavas) when he came to know her story ( through teachings of Dnyneshwar Maharaj) of her devotional feelings for Lord Shri Kishna. He picked up the powerful message of that story which goes as “Kishna was very impressed with devotion ( Bhakti) of Kunti. He said to Kunti “let me bless you with anything at all that you desire from bottom of your heart. It will make me very happy indeed.” Kunti was totally dumbstruck and was not ready to receive such a wonderful response from Lord Krishna towards her constant prayers for peace and happiness for her family. However her pure and simple love for her God and her ultimate trust in God came to her rescue! With folded hands, she said to Krishana “God I know you can give me any thing that I would desire, demand, ask or request for. I have not an iota of doubt on that score but I request you to bless me with pain, sadness, disappointments and setbacks so that I would not forget you ever during my living days on this earth because I fear that comfort, riches, success, luxury and worldly things will take me away from you forever.” These words of Kunti got engraved in the loving heart of the great saint till his end. They became his guiding light and he could easily deal with personal losses such as wife and son’s death, loss of business, loss of wealth and living as neighbor of nasty Brahamin Shatri . In one of his abhangs, the great saint has written; “Vitthala to reach at your feet at the earliest make me forget my parents, wife, children, friends, dear near ones, wealth, desires, needs ,wants and comforts so that I can then only be totally free to worship you ,think of you and my mind will have no confusion about my objectives
It is so true and ironic that we all mortals think of God only when we are in trouble! Why? We are selfish with God too. We could be more magnanimous and pious and pray in best of times and in utter comfort. Be grateful to God for the little mercies we receive daily without praying.
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70. WORSHIPPING GOD /SAGE.
During his search for path to attain moksha, Tukaram reached the cross road where he had to choose between God and a Sage as his guru. Although he was personally convinced that the surest way to reach God’s feet was only through the guidance and advice of sage, he decided to analyze his observation and feelings. He was blessed with the right answer! By worshipping God directly one would be able to get rid of all the material desires, basic wants and be free from fatal attractions (Vasana mukta) but by following a sage a mortal would be able to achieve a total renunciation which will take him /her to God’s feet and finally to attain moksha.
Tukaram also found that there was no difference between God and A sage! In fact in his own humble way he felt that Vitthal was always present at all times by the side his Guru Shri Dyneshwar maharaj. He could feel their presence together. By following Dyneshwar he could renounce the world( Vairagya purti) easily and handover the burdens of a mortal’s life to God! when Tukaram was away for days on his kirtan tours his family was miraculously helped and served by unseen hands of Lord Vitthal. There are factual records of hundreds of miracles that happened in Tukaram’s household without he knowing nothing nor did he ever find out anything!
Tukaram was now sure that total renunciation( Vairagya) is the only way to moksha and complete detachment with every human bond would bring him in God’s orbit under the guidance of a Guru like Dyneshwar ji. The eternal peace and happiness for a soul of a mortal is being in constant and close touch with his/her Guru.Tukaram just did that and became what he is known as today after 450 years after his departure for heavenly abode ( Vaikunth).
There is true story about him becoming sage during his own life time without him realizing it at all. “One day while walking in the village to conduct a kirtan the great saint was approached by an old lady. She said to Tukoba “ If you are going towards the market please buy some cooking oil as I am old and disabled person. Today my son is not present at home.” Tukaram took the empty oil pot and brought her the oil as asked. The lady used the oil for almost twice the normal period that it should have lasted before refill requirement. She looked into the pot to take the inventory of balance of oil left. She was shocked that the pot was as full as before and showed no sign of the consumption has taken place! She went to the house of great saint to report the miracle. She said to him “Tukoba what magic have you done? My oil is not finishing in spite of daily consumption. Tukoba replied with a smile “Aai(mother)Vitthal has blessed you” and walked away. The story was told to all the villagers by the old lady. That night the villagers realized that God is living with them but they failed to realize! Needless to mention Tukaram became a living sage for them and they started to believe his abhangs and kirtans. Rest is history .
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71. MORTAL’S DESTINY IS BLESSED BY THE CREATOR.
Tukaram was enlightened by his guru Dyneshwar that ‘whatever happens in every mortal’s present life is the function of his/her destiny which in turn is the outcome of the sum total of the pluses & minuses of their past karmas done in their life. The great saint discovered that nothing happens without a reason attributed to its cause. He put down his observations in a logical sequence in the abhangs he wrote so meticulously but in very short and simple language so all can understand. Tukaram said a mortal’s life journey follows a carved path from the birth onwards based his /her past karmas. The great saint wrote “The soul gets the best womb it deserves through the designated parents. The quality of house and place is also as per blessings received. The siblings, life partner, friends, livelihood, comforts, money, riches, pains & aches, health, happiness, satisfaction, neighbor & neighborhood, successes & failures etc and finally type of death too are all received by the soul as function of their past karmas in their last life. To a common mortal this was not easily acceptable till they heard the kirtans of the great saint where he vividly explained that “everything a mortal gets, faces, possesses, feels, sees and craves for are the blessings in disguise for we all mortals. We need to count our blessings when tide is against us. A mortal may be miserably poor but if his/her partner is affectionate and full of love then the person is blessed. If you have wonderful siblings who shower love and respect you then you are a happy person indeed. So and so forth. The great saint managed to convince his followers that look at your own garden of life and admire the flowers it has rather than looking at others and feel sad for what you lack.We are accountable, responsible and cause of our happiness or unhappiness. Do not hold the creator for anything as we are only blessed and never cursed by our creator. Jai
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72. REAL RICHNESS
Tukaram realized that the society of mortals had totally wrong notion of being rich. Almost all of them thought that material richness is the only truth and nothing else matters in life time. Tukaram had to cause a revolution their minds that real richness lies in having noble thoughts. The great saint had to put up great efforts in his kirtans to convince his believers that unwanted, excess and unnecessary material richness brings more misery, problems, jealousy and restlessness in mind. It has a negative impact on life. It takes you away from your main goal of attaining moksha. The great saint wrote special abhangs on this subject. The mind should nourish only good thoughts that lead you to doing good karmas. The thoughts generate and initiate initial reaction to do any karma and therefore it follows logically that karmas will be according to the quality of thoughts generated in the our minds. How do one cultivate the art of developing good thoughts in the mind? The great saint had to find a convincing answer to this all important question raised by his followers. He did it so by experimenting it on himself. He had to develop a clear mind set to acquire, accept and nurse good thoughts. He cleansed his mind through his intellect and unshakable trust in his guru Dyneshwar. He renounced all the weaknesses (wants, greed, enmity, jealousy, cruelty, dishonesty, treachery and many other follies associated with a common mortal. Tukaram managed to convince the innocent and ignorant masses that once the mind is under control of intellect the good thought will automatically enter in your mind and that would be the beginning of your salvation through your good karmas.
SAINTS SET THE RELIGION
Tukaram was the first person to bring forth an important view point that had along term effect on the society of mortals. He said “ No saint follows the boundaries, limitations and restrictions set by so called the custodians of a religion but it is the way a saint lives his/her life that becomes a religion which masses follow for their struggle to attain moksha.” Is it not true that Dyneshwar started a way of life that became a religion (Dharma) in itself which was then followed by Tukaram and so many great saints?
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73. TO BE HELPFUL & OF SERVICE TO MANKIND.
Tukaram was fully convinced and sincerely believed that “God is with those mortals who are helpful and give selfless service to others without expecting anything in return.” He preached” SEVA ME BHAGVAN HAI meaning that when you help or give service to a needy person you are in unison with God.” It is so true even today. Our country is facing multiple external threats from hostile neighbors and internal terrorists. Every day we read about soldiers ((Jawans) dying in the fights with enemies. Then we have covid pandemic raging in our towns and villages where doctors, nurses and hospital staff are working round the clock against serious odds to save patients. We have the city police struggling to help keep peace, law and order in the society. The great saint conveyed to all his followers that helping and serving is the greatest religion in the world.
GENUINE FEELING IN MIND TO SEE GOD.
Tukaram was often asked by his believers and followers that “How can we see God?” In his famous abhang he wrote “Mani Nahi Bhav Nahi Dise Dev meaning that if one does not have genuine feelings for God in his/her mind then it is not possible to see or feel God’s presence.” To develop true feelings for Vitthal in one’s own mind one has to adopt the vision that Vitthal is present in all our actions, words, deeds and karmas. Everything must be dedicated to Vitthal during our life time.”
Story associated with Mira Bai’s life.
As we all know Mira Bai was an ardent worshipper of Lord Krishna (Krishna Bhakta). She was always open to charity and help to needy and poor people. One day a woman beggar along with her teen age son came at the door step of Mira’s potential home ( She was the queen of Mewad state in Rajasthan )and gave a cry for some money and food. Mira at once answered the call and came out to give money and food to the beggar. The teen age son of the beggar woman was totally bowled over by the serene and captivating beauty of Mira’s face. He was simply fascinated by her and in excitement begged his mother “ I want to marry Mira!”The bewildered beggar woman was red faced and apologized to Mira for the misbehavior of her son but to her utter surprise Mira agreed to marry her son but on a condition. Mira said to her “I will marry you provided you do seven days of nonstop prayers at the Kishna temple with absolute devotion.” To the young mind the condition imposed by Mira looked like a cake-walk and the young man agreed readily. As agreed Mira brought the young man to the Krishna temple and asked him to commence his prayers and left for her home. The beggar woman decided to wait at the place and made herself comfortable just outside the temple premises. Slowly but surely the week passed and Mira came to the temple to meet the young man and so as his mother too! Mira was calm, cool and collected was sure of the outcome but the beggar woman was totally confused in her mind. Mira called the young man to come out of the temple. There was utter silence and no response at all. Mira and the beggar woman entered the temple and what they saw simply froze them at the spot! The son was in total trance of Hari Bhakti (Krishna prayers). He did not feel presence of any one around him. He was shaken by the mother who said “Come on get up it is now seven days you have completed the promise to Mira bai.” The young man looked up and said “Ma, I do not want anything now in my life except Hari Bhakti. My mind is married to Krshna bhakti. Mira bai knew it all before and the beggar woman left the temple with peace and happiness.
Moral of the story is nothing is mine, yours, ours, theirs or for that matter everything belongs to Vitthal and no one else
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74. LIFE LONG COMPANION OF A MORTAL.
Tukaram had to remind us all mortals as to who is our constant companion during our life time from conception in the womb till we are cosigned to the flame or returned to the grave. The great saint was not at all surprised at the ignorance to the answer shown by almost all the people who attended his kirtans. Tukaram wrote special abhangs to prove and show that it is God who is with us from start to finish during our life journey but we fail to feel his presence due to our own faults, malpractices, ignorance chase of money and involvement in worldly affairs. The great saint pointed out how” God looks after the soul after it is being formed in the womb for the birth. The entire journey is scripted to the minutest details with the accuracy of an astronomical clock followed by the solar system. Tukaram gave many instances of how Vitthal came to the rescue of his worshipers in dire circumstances when near dear ones backed off! One of the famous stories is as follows;
A devotee of Vitthal took his parents on a pilgrimage to Pundharpur. On the way back home the family stopped in front of a rich man’s house gate where there was a large shady tree nearby. The devotee family was poor and needed some water and food so the young man called up from the gate “May we come in request for some food and water?” A ferocious watch dog, sitting on the drive way of the gate, came running menacingly towards the young man and knocked him down flat on his back. Now the young devotee was in dangerous situation with dog sitting on his chest and pinning him down. The young man had only one option that to ask his parents help to nudge the dog away from his chest! So he shouted as hard as he could but the parents were frozen with fear and did not make any efforts or move to save their son from the clutches of the wild dog. Now the young man collected all his wits and prayed to Vitthal for help. The Dog had not yet made any move to bite his neck and at that moment the owner came out and saw this ghastly sight of his dog sitting on the chest of the young man. He simply shouted”Vaghya( Tiger) come here.” The dog immediately jumped off the chest of the young man and ran loving towards his master! To his great relief the young man got up was grateful to God to have saved him in nick of time! But he was equally perturbed and upset that his parents abandoned him in time of his need. Needless to mention that the young man realized that Vitthal (God) came to help in the shape of the dog owner and that love of the parents for him had no depth.
Today the hard truth and reality of life is repeating itself when a covid infected patient is surviving on God’s help and there is no one else except God to see him / her through the end of the journey of life.
Jai Hari Vitthal. 74.
75. SEARCH YOUR SOUL NOT GOD
As great Kabir ji said “Khudaki khoj jaruri nahi par khudhi ko khoj” He was so right indeed. Tukaram said the same thing in a different way, He said “Instead of searching God for getting blessed it is better to adopt godly ways to live life and attain moksha. Self realization and self cleansing of mind is the key to sainthood and that is what all the saints of the world adopted.” The great saint saw it all clear when he followed his guru Dyneshwar maharaj and the way he lived his short life of 21 yrs! Because of this belief Tukaram found all the rituals futile and waste of time and money. The great saint found that a mortal has only two choices as to what to adopt to live life given to him/her by the creator; either to live with daily worries and circumstances around or create a mindset that will overcome them and attend purity of mind through his/her intellect. Tukaram chose the second option that every saintly person adopts “ full and effective control over one’s own mind.” This made things very easy for Tukaram to reach sainthood and reach at Vitthal’s feet.
Stories of Ramakrishna Paramhansa & Vivekananda
Vivekananda followed Tukaram very closely when shaping his life. He preached that even the glory of moksha could be felt in one’s own life time if you challenge your soul to rise to the occasion. He got this guide line (diksha) from his guru Shri Ramakrishna Paramhansa. There are two very thoughtful stories from their lives.
“ Ramakrishna Paramhanse used to daily meditate on the river bank. One day, stranger came near him and disturbed him “Guru ji I want to cross the river to go to the other bank. I see two boats there. Which boat do you recommend so that I can reach in shortest possible time?” The great saint was rather amused as well as annoyed but he politely replied “It is your choice. One of the boats is a rowing boat and other is a sail boat. Normally the sail boat reaches in half the time as the wind is strong on the river front.” After hearing gurudev the stranger said “what if the wind does not blow and the oars break or slip off in water?” Gurudev realized the anxiety of the mortal wanting to cross the river. He advised go with the sail boat as God will never stop the wind from blowing where as manmade oars have no guarantee at all. So trust God and make your journey.” The stranger took the sail boat.
Vivekananda ji was on the tour of USA. He had gone there to address the conference on Religions of the World. At the conference he noticed that various religious book were stacked up and kept on the dais table. He noticed that copy of “Gita” was kept at the bottom by the organizers. When Vivekananda was called upon to come to dais to address the gathering. He greeted the audience in the most perfect and unique manner” my dear sisters and brothers.” that drew thunderous applause from the congregation. But the next comment invited bigger and louder claps from one and all “I represent the philosophy of Hinduism which is apparently represents the policy of foundation of all the religions represented here at Chicago in this conference and perhaps rightly so the copy of “GITA “is placed at the bottom of all the religious booked kept here for the public review!”
After the conference Vivekananda ji was interviewed by the press. Here too an answer by him stunned the press. A reporter asked him “Sir, you are so handsome and good looking gentleman then why do you wear such a odd dress and of saffron color only?” Vivekananda replied with gentle smile “my dear man, here a tailor makes you look like a gentleman where as in my country it is the character and behavior that decides who is a gentleman!”
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76. GET ENLIGHTENED NOT INFLUENCED!
Tukaram was convinced that one should not get influenced by his/her guru instead be enlightened. We should praise and adopt the work of the saintly people and not their faces! This was the right way to overcome one’s weaknesses mainly lust, anger and selfishness (kama, Krodha and Lobha).The great saint found that his guru had exclusively prayed to God to help get rid of these three evils. He saw the clear reasoning in doing so because he was fully convinced that these three elements made the mind a devil’s workshop. Tukaram slowly but surely got rid of the triple propensities from his mind but then there appeared the fourth and most potent and dangerous element of Ego/Pride (Abbhiman /Ahaankar).The great saint realized that” most of us mortals are an easy victim of ego. We succumb to it knowingly or at times unknowingly but it is not at all acceptable to our creator (God). When God sees Ego in the devotee he says “I go!” Tukaram found that ego/self pride is most destructive for a mortal’s mind and also most difficult to get rid of too. The great abhang written by the saint on ego riddance is worth its weight in gold indeed. So we need to get rid of the three devils and the ego in order to facilitate our road to attain moksha.
The human history is proof of it. A single man’s ego has destroyed kingdoms, nations, families and societies at large. There are ample examples in the historical records of various religions and communities where the egos of so called important and influential leaders and Heads led to annihilation of a race, a kingdom and unnecessary wars. If we trace the Indian history from times of Ramayana, Mahabharata, the Muslim and British rules, we will be able see many examples of how a mortal’s ego has caused inconceivable destruction of life, property, culture and heritage.
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77. WHO IS REALLY POOR?
Tukaram brought dignity and reality to the word ’poor’ as applicable to a mortal. He had to correct the definition of poverty as was known and understood by a commoner in the society. The people at large associated being poor as having very little or no money and material needs. To a mortal poverty meant curse and punishment from God for his/her bad karmas of last life! The great saint studied the true meaning and brought out the definitions in words and expressed them in his abhangs. He says “those who could not get rid of their lust, anger and desires (kama, krodha and Lobha) are poor. Those who nurse ego and self pride are poor. Those who flow along and live with society of mortals with blind faith and rituals (andha wishwas /andha shradha)) are poor. Those who do good karmas but develop ego about it are poor. Those who donate, give, help and contribute for good cause but boast about it, have ego about it and talk about it are all poor indeed. In short the great saint bifurcated material poorness from spiritual ( adhyatmik) poverty. The great saint had to remove the serous anomaly in the prevailing psyche of the mortals as to what is poverty and who is really poor in life? In simple thinking process it means we are truly rich not because of our material richness or actual money but because of our riddance from real ills mentioned by the great saint or we are really poor if we have not been able to eradicate all those ills as pointed out by the great saint.
Tukaram accepted the material poverty in exchange and favor of spiritual richness to attain saint hood during his life time and then moksha after his death. We all mortals cannot become Tukaram but we can help ourselves to enlightenment from his works by following his path. This will improve our quality of life in true sense.
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78. Tukaram was often asked by his followers “How you say that you can see and feel Vitthal (God) in everything you do in your day to day life?” Tukaram wrote a simple one liner abhang to answer such an important question by an ordinary and common mortal. He says “ Mani Nahi Bhav Nahi Dise Dev” meaning if you do not think of him then he cannot be seen or felt. He went further to explain” that a mother can feel presence or virtually see her child at all times during her life because she has huge and unlimited love for child. You need to develop deep attachment, desire, wish and love for God.” The great saint sent a very strong and an effective message through his very famous bhajan” Bolava Vitthal, Aaikava Vitthal, Sangava Vitthal, Ghyva Vitthal, Dyawa Vitthal” the sequential meaning would be as follows ; When you speak to others then think that you are addressing Vitthal, when you are listening then think that Vitthal is talking to you, when you are conveying something thing then think you are doing so to Vitthal, when you are receiving something then think that it is coming from Vitthal and similarly when you are giving something to somebody then think that you are giving it to Vitthal. When we mortals practically apply this approach of the great saint in our daily life it gets very simplified. It means that when we are in communication mode using various tools and skills such as ”talking, listening, conveying, receiving and giving we must feel as if we are dealing with God so that we remain decent, meek, unselfish, do no harm nor hurt any body’s feelings.
Today, the technology has brought the communication skills to a level of instant happenings and we are creating mass havocs, disturbances, destruction of life and property all because we have lost God’s presence in our life, mind and thoughts.
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79. INDEPENDECY & DEPENDENCY OF HAPPINESS.
Tukaram made a deep introspection on the subject of true happiness as applicable to a common mortal. After spending considerable time and energy his mind gave him the answer to this otherwise a mystery subject to an ordinary mortal. The great saint says “there are two categories or types of happiness out which a mortal can choose only one and pursue it and achieve it. The first one is worldly happiness through a set of three standard elements mainly circumstances around us, self being as a mortal and our material possessions. This type of happiness is totally ‘Dependent’ on these three things which themselves are constantly changing! The great saint convinced the masses that a mortal’s happiness of this type can never ever be b stable and permanent during his/her life time. He further explained that “we all (souls) are born in some family as a part of the blessings of God according to our past karmas. The mortal families on the earth live as per the above three elements and laws, regulations and ways set up by the society of the region. The great saint went on to explain further that worldly happiness is not the true happiness a mortal should pursue but instead he/she should search and work for total independency in the personal happiness and free himself /herself from worldly dependencies! Tukaram wrote simple and knowledgeable abhangs to show the masses the clear ways to achieve true and long lasting happiness totally independent of worldly elements. Once we overcome our basic weaknesses and worldly instincts by controlling our mind through our intellect and spiritual path shown by saintly Gurus we achieve Independency of our happiness .
In today’s times technology and scientific advances have increased the material comforts to an un imaginable level. Our living circumstances, our self being & personality and our mobility have changed to such an extent that we do have doubts about our creator, life after death and existence of re-birth cycle!
But Covid-19 pandemic has brought back once again the harsh reality to lime light. Realty of futility of wealth, neo richness, technological & scientific advances available are of no real use to an individual mortal in a real need and emergency like covid! Look at where humanity stands toady? All over the world from USA to a poorest nation everyone is helpless. Why? A single virus has brought the entire world to its knees in less than a year! A mortal’s life remains very fragile, vulnerable and momentary in every sense of these words!
We need to have faith our creator indeed.
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80. BELIEF IN CREATOR ERADICATES FEARS OF LOSSES.
Tukaram penned down a classic abhang that gives a loud and clear message to us all mortals that “earlier one believes in our creator-God the faster one loses his/her fears about losses and death too.” Tukaram proved this theory by following the path of developing an unshakable, limitless, infinite and total devotion to his God Vitthal. His prayer to God was very simple” Vitthala you take over the reins of my family responsibilities and make my mind free of the worries of material and physical losses and deaths of dear near ones so that I can concentrate on my work to write my abhangs and do kirtans for the fellow villagers”. What the great saint meant “ that once we all mortals put our trust in God and have total and an unshakable belief in him we need not fear anything at all not even death which is unavoidable in any case!”
Tukaram also faced a direct threat like many others like him who were banned and thus prevented from visiting temples! This was so because the Brahmins were controlling the entries to all the temples and they persecuted the members from so called the lower casts or people belonging to low strata of materialistic society. The great saint started to pray and do his kirtans by standing outside the entrance of the Vitthoba temple! This further irritated and infuriated the temple heads. But they could do nothing about it. The great saint put a simple logic in his message” if we can’t enter the temple then at least Vitthal (God) could come out to meet us. Who will dare stop him?” It is here a miracle happened that stunned the arrogant temple head. Without entering the temple, the blessed worshippers who could not enter the temple for a darshan ( viewing the image) could describe the stone carved image (deity) of Vitthal with perfection and accuracy as if they were inside the temple! The eternal wait of oppressed worshippers ( saburi/pratiksha) had paid off. That is why the saying “ Bhagwan ke ghar me der hai par aandher nahi “ meaning ( God’s blessings may be delayed but never denied). We need to trust him fully and do our karmas. Faith can move mountains.
Why we need to follow philosophy and knowledge of saints such as Dyneshwar & Tukaram ?
The following story should be able convince most of us why we need to adopt, follow and practice the advice and guidance of Tukaram in our lives.
A stable owner decided to do an experiment at his stable. He started raising some colts (baby donkeys) along with his horses in his stud farm. Over a period he noticed the colts had adopted to the behavior and habits of the horses. He also noticed that the stud farm grown donkeys could run faster than other donkeys! In short donkeys could adopt themselves to horses. Now the stud farm owner decided to do the reverse experiment, he stared raising foals (baby horses) with grown donkeys in a secluded area of his farm. To his great surprise, the baby horses did not adopt anything from donkeys they were living with! Horses remained horses but donkeys did change to a large extend to become horse like!
The saints are horses and we all mortals are donkeys and we need to become horse like by being living close to them and in their constant company.
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81. Who is the most blessed mortal?
Tukaram was in the search of the answer for the question foremost in his mind “who is the most blessed mortal and why so? He found the answer in Dyneshwar’s life story and the ways the greatest saint spent his short life time in doing only good karmas. Tukaram realized that it is absolutely impossible for any human being to know the time, place and means the death will embrace him/her. The predictions by astrologers and palmist were either fake or highly vague and totally untrustworthy! Therefore, the great saint realized that one had to believe that past is gone forever, the present is the truth and the future is in the hands of the creator. To the great saint the present meant doing the right karma at the right time at the right place. He managed the three “R” in his life time. He could do so because he controlled his mind by his intellect and full trust in his God (Vitthal). Tukaram in his first ever appeal in his prayers to his Vitthal was “Help me to forget my devotion and love for my parents so that I can singularly think of you and you alone” What a supreme example of ultimate sacrifice for a mortal indeed! We all us mortals fully understand that the parental love specially that of and for mother is the strongest bond fortified by our creator through umbilical cord right from the conception and finally leading to our being as we are from birth to death. Tukaram’s unusual but very powerful prayer brought tears to the eyes of the Lord! No doubt Tukaram attained moksha during his life time because Lord Vitthal personally took him with him to his abode. As recorded in authentic records of history of those times the great saint walked over the hill to the oblivion never to return again to the place of his karma. The following story is the true account of the incident that proves the extra ordinary and super natural powers the great saint had been blessed with, without his knowledge!
The Brahmin priests and pundits were well aware of the abhangs written and completed by Tukaram. They were also disturbed by the fact that the general public was getting influenced by the contents of the abhangs. This was damaging to their ritual business and detrimental to blind faith dictums. So they decided to steal the bounded book copies of abhangs and throw them in the river. But some of them got scared of public rebuke so they changed their approach to destroy the great saint’s work! They challenged Tukaram’s unshakeable faith in Vitthal by asking him to sink his abhang books in the river “Indriyani “by tying stones to each bundle of the books in the public view. Tukaram had no choice but to yield to the pressure from the Village Head and his advisors. The crowds of devotees of Tukaram watched with great dismay this atrocity on the great saint inflicted by the cruel and jealous Brhamin community. As Tukaram walked into the river basin with his life time work tied to the stones to be sunk by his own hands he simply prayed his Vitthal for help. One by one the great saint consigned his work in the river waters and saw it sinking down to the river bed. After all the books gone Tukaram returned to his hut and sat down to rewrite them again! Next day the sun rose in the east as usual, there was knock at the door of the hut. Tukaram opened the door and what he saw simply overwhelmed him totally. There stood a fisherman who had all the sunk books in his hand “Tukaram I saw all these books drifting near the riverside this morning they are wet but the words are not wiped out. You can dry them in the sun light now and rebind the pages. Tukaram at once realized the reason for this miraculous recovery of the books. He thanked the fisherman who then went back to the village head and told him the full story of the recovery of the books. The whole village came to Tukaram’s hut to celebrate the blessing. Needless to mention that a strong message had gone around loud and clear to the opponents to keep away from Tukoba ji.
Jai Hari Vitthal. 81
82. BAD DEEDS (Karmas) HELP INITIATE PANDEMICS
Tukaram too had to search for the answer for the question as to “why from time to time different types of pandemics such as plague cholera, typhoid, measles, tuberculosis, small.pox and other deceases attack the humanity at large with nagging accuracy killing hundreds of the mortals in large numbers in a very short time destroying the vary basic fabric of the human society”. The great saint saw plague pandemic wiping out village after village during his life time. Similarly, he faced the dangerous bursting of cholera (Mahamari) decrease in and around his village. He found a sound answer for such horrible occurrences. His studies and observations led him to conviction that whenever a society of mortals crossed the limits of human decency their bad deeds initiated the destruction through natural causes such as earthquakes, floods, volcanic eruptions and pandemics. In his well known abhang “Pape Yeti Roge Rupe” meaning our sins return back as diseases and expanded and deeper meaning would be bad karmas destroy humanity. How right the great saint was 450 yrs ago can be seen by studying the world history records tracing from Ramayana & Mahabharata through fall of Roman & Egyptian empires and then several dynasties in India & China, fall of Alexander the great, Napoleon and then Hitler followed by the two world wars. The great saint was convinced that the creator cant tolerate ego and pride of the mortals and therefore, from time to time the creator sends a strong message to the human society to behave and mend its ways!
It looks absolutely right and logical in today’s times that covid pandemic has hit every corner of the world and from the riches to rags every mortal has come down on his/her knees in a year’s time only. Money nor knowledge has been able to rescue us nor anyone can help each other in need of the hour . Even the last farewell and dignity has been denied to the dead. It is night mare indeed. Once again the great saint words have come so loud and clear “that life is too fragile, vulnerable and mostly full of futile deeds that takes you away from attaining moksha. We need to mend our ways for better quality of life. For doing good deeds very few people come forward to help. We have to use the gift of our bodies and the organs given there in for performing good deeds and help the humanity.
82. Jai Hari Vitthal.
83. MEANING OF MOMENT.
Tukaram has meaningfully defined “what is moment? in his abhangs. The great saint says the period from the very first time a mortal opens his/her eyes at the birth till he/she shuts his/her eyes at time of death is the true definition of ‘moment” (kshan) . He further explains “the time lapse between the natural blinking of eyes are mini moments. The great saint then sums up as: “a mortal’s life is nothing but a moment of being extremely fragile, unpredictable and open to instant end or termination (death) without any notice what so ever to the owner of the body!” Tukaram had to work very hard on his theory of moment to convince a commoner that a mortal’s body will last only till the moment the creator has destined it for. The great saint finally managed to convince the masses that human body is in possession of the soul only from birth to death and it is a very precious gift from God to mortals to do good karmas to help their souls to attain moksha. Hereafter, the great saint emphasized that a human body is an absolute and ultimate marvel of nature’s creativity and is priceless in every way. He further explained to the ignorant masses that we all have to use our bodies to the best of our abilities for only good karmas and not for bad karmas. The misuse of human form will be our own downfall indeed. So true he was then 450 yrs ago and so valid it is even in 21st century. The vital body organs and parts replacement cost a bomb and it may not be a success in medical terms
Look at how most of the mortals misusing their bodies for, crimes, rape, murders, wars, destruction of environment, wastage of precious natural resources, terrorism, arson ,loot ,shoot the list is endless. Where will this all lead the human race to? Nowhere but to ultimate self destruction of our very existence. What happens then to our efforts to attain moksha? Only those who will keep out of all these evil acts will reach their goal for sure.
83. Jai Hari Vitthal.
84. SIGNIFICANCE OF REMEMBERANCE
While searching the ways and means for the benefit of mortals to attain moksha (eternal peace) Tukaram noticed that people who did good karmas (deeds) are remembered for a long time and some forever and the average duration of being remembered by the society depending upon the quantum of good karams done by the mortal. The great saint traced the history of remembrance right from the characters depicted in epics of Ramayana and Mahabharata till his life time period. He spiritually felt that “if a mortal is remembered for at least 50% of his/her life time period then that person has gainfully utilized the human form for a good cause and purpose!” He was also convinced that those mortals who are always revered, worshipped and remembered on their birth days and death anniversaries have attained moksha! He felt that saints, sages and soldiers (who died for their motherland in wars) (Shahid) are never ever forgotten in the history and minds of common mortals.; In fact they all become role models, great motivators for the generations to follow. The great saint was so very right then in his judgment indeed and even today. We all remember the great saints, sages, brave hearts and all those wonderful men and women who did great work for the society at large. Tukaram himself is alive in him being remembered for last 450 yrs.
I considered myself lucky to have been blessed to write few words about the greatest saint ever born in the world in my own humble way.
84. Jai Hari Vitthal.
85. CURSES DETRIMENTAL TO HAPPINESS.
Tukaram was a very observant orator and reader of the human behavior and therefore he could make out the types of audience attending his public kirtans and bhajans. He divided them into four types as follows;
The first group was those who reluctantly attended the kirtans without any feelings (Bhakti bhava) and therefore wasted their time!
The second group was those who wanted to listen and implement the changes in them for betterment of their behavior but did not have the power of perseverance (intellect controlling mind).
The third group was those who wanted to listen implement and adopt the advice of the great saint in their life but could not choose between Happiness & Peace v/s Worldly life & Material comforts.
The fourth group was those who already had a guru to lead them and they simply loved the the kirtans and bhajans of the great saint dedicated to Vitthal.
In the words of Tukaram the first three groups were under curses or effects of their past sins and were being prevented from doing the right things during their life. The great saint felt that the mortals in these groups needed to be guided by a guru to do more good karmas so that they could be blessed by God to overcome the curses preventing them from achieving mental happiness rather than material comforts and richness. In practical life we all mortals have to realize that we need someone to wake us up from of our deep slumber and make us aware that everything around us is so very imaginary (Mithya) and so very fragile (Kshanbhangur) that we could lose it all in matter of seconds! We all need to be blessed from all these curses that prevent us from seeking moksha and happiness during life time .
85. Jai Hari Vitthal
86. EXPERIENCE v/s IDEA (ANNUBHAV v/s VICHAR)
Tukaram came to the conclusion and rightly so that Experience is of higher value than Idea in the process of achieving moksha. The great saint’s reasoning was so very logical indeed. He says “ideas may crowd our mind but an experience is the most apt example for learning the truth. For a common and an ordinary mortal it was not easy to implement good ideas leading him /her to towards good karmas but it was easy to follow a saintly guru who already had the experiences that could be shared and learnt from! Tukaram applied this principle to himself in his life time as he made Dyneshwar his Guru. The great saint fully studied the Dyneshwari and the spiritual experiences of Sant Dyneshwar maharaj. This changed his life forever and the net end result was the emerging of the greatest saint “ Jagat Guru Shri Sant Tukaram” from an ordinary money lending farmer Tukaram! The great saint has backed the Experience over the Idea in his life time. Had he not followed his guru Dyneshwar, Tukaram would have died as an unknown like million of others. An experience is a great teacher, a motivator, hopes to live on with positivity. The great saint says “An experience has no age nor any religion or faith. The heavenly and super natural experiences felt and faced by many great saintly people from different parts of the world resulted in creating history by one single mortal! Jesus founded Christianity, Gatum Budha founded Buddhism, and Prophet Muhammad founded Muslim faith. Dyneshwar wrote Dyneshwari, which changed the course of Hindu Faith and so on. In short, what the greatest saint of the century meant that nothing can surpass or supersede or replace a spiritual or a miraculous experience of a mortal and it then can becomes a great teacher. In our ordinary day to day life we all mortals must learn from each other’s experiences and correct ourselves in time to save us from losses, bad karmas, sins and hurting the humanity.
86. Jai Hari Vitthal.
87. PAST, PRESENT & FUTURE.
Tukaram derived the right definition of three constant stages that form the integral and main parts of the time span of a mortal’s life on earth. There is a past, present and future of every human being while he/she are living. The great saint defined the “Past “as Experience, “Present” as Implementation and “Future” as Thoughts. He further says “Experience” is a teacher and “Present” is a student and “Future is objective /goal of life! Tukaram was very sure that we only learn from our past experiences while living our daily lives and we need to constantly correct our wrongs and mistakes so as not to repeat them and suffer because of them. So we need to live in present times only. The great saint advises not to look or search into “Future “(Bhavishya) and waste time in doing so instead use your own intellect to control your thoughts and mind and make future happen through your good karmas leaving the fruits or the end reward in the hands of God (Vitthal). The great saint also says “don’t chase your “future” instead make it happen through your good karmas. “ What is the common ‘Future” for all mortals He asks? Obviously the answer is moksha. We all mortals from all walks of life and different backgrounds have a common goal to achieve in our lives that is to attain eternal peace and escape from repeated cycles of birth/death.
Tukaram’s words do make a huge sense indeed in today’s time of despair brought about by pandemic. We are all confused about our future life. Well the best choice is to accept the present state of our lives and plan our future on positivity but the goal remains unchanged. Last one year’s experience of the first phase of the pandemic has taught us that a mortal’s life is very fragile and vulnerable and therefore each day is to be lived with happiness only thanking the lord for the blessings that we are still there to do some more good karmas.
Jai Hari Vitthal. 87
88. SUPPORT & SHELTER (Aadhar & Ashraya)
Tukaram maharaj realized that every mortal needs support and shelter to survive his/her life no matter which geographical part of the world he/she lives in. The great saint also observed that when one mortal asks for support and shelter from another mortal it comes to him/her with a tag of either cost, service to be rendered or both in worst case scenario! Tukoba was well aware of the fact that every mortal was neither in a position nor fortunate enough to afford the tag attached for procurement of support and shelter by the society at large. He had to find a spiritual way to save these unfortunate mortals with dignity and honor and find the way to lead them. The great saint found a paradox in this situation that the rich and the poor both needed support and shelter! The rich mortals had physical support and shelter with all the worldly comforts and yet they did not have happiness and peace in their lives, where as the poor lacked physical support and shelter and yet they were happy and satisfied with their lot but needed God’s blessings to survive daily life! In short, Tukaram realized that a common remedy was needed by both the sections of the society; the rich and the poor. The great saint found the answer in his prayers “we all mortals need to surrender totally to God (Vitthal) and he wrote the wonderful abhang “ Deva maze mann lago tuzya charani” meaning “ God let my mind surrender at your feet”. To rich he says “surrender your ego” and to the poor “wants, need and worries of daily life” The great saint saw extreme richness as well as extreme poverty too and he therefore could see both the sides of one coin “Life” so to say. The common denominator for all mortals is seeking happiness and attaining moksha in the present life. The key of eternal happiness and satisfaction is to surrender our wavering and wandering “Mind “ at Vitthal’s feet using our intellect and path shown by the saints such as Dyneshwar maharaj.
Jai Hari Vitthal. 88
89. Creation of Life on earth.
Tukaram minutely observed and then analyzed the common qualities which every living creature has and as well as what special qualities the human beings are blessed with! The great saint first listed the basic four qualities of every living creature as follows;
Every type of creature needs air, water and food to survive.
Every type of creature has fear of death.
Every type of creature needs sleep/rest.
Every type of creature has capability and necessity to procreate.
The great saint then turned his attention to the human beings to find out all about the special and common qualities the creator blessed them with. He listed fourteen them as follows;
Ability of Speaking /talking/writing to each other.(Communication skills)
Ability of Smiling /crying (expressing joy & sorrow)
Pair of Hands with a set five dedicated fingers to each hand. (ability for performing hand skills)
Practices of Modesty (Lajja/Sharam)
Ability to Think /Invent /Educate/Contemplate. ( Aachar/Vichar )
Ability to Progress.
Ability to experience Happiness/Satisfaction
Ability to do work (Karama)
Ability to judge right /wrong, sin and virtue and what is good and bad.
Ability and use of Intellect /Intelligence to control mind.
Ability to apologize/mend /regret.
Ability to Change for better.
Ability to sacrifice for good cause
Ability and capability to attain moksha by way of sainthood. To be God like by doing good karmas.
The fourteen different qualities bring forth the very point which the great saint tried to convince the common masses as to how important and rare blessing it is for our soul to be born as a human being . The great saint has written several abhangs in praise of the lord for he/she being born as a human being. In all his kirtans we advises his followers to use all the abilities to do good karmas and attain moksha .
Jai Hari Krishna 89.
90. MORTAL’S COMMITMENT TO BODY (DEHA).
Tukaram has brought out the importance of commitment to look after the precious human form /body blessed by the creator to each of us mortals. Whatever is the state of body/form given to us at birth must be kept healthy, and fit, with pure mind and in the state of happiness commensurate with the circumstances and place where we are destined to live during our lifetime. What the great saint meant that” unless our bodies are physically healthy and mentally fit only then we can do good karmas with constant ease and satisfaction.” A healthy body helps to develop sound and pure mind which in turn becomes easy to control by intellect. Once this loop is managed then it becomes easy to have disciplined and addiction free habits. When we mortals achieve all above then automatically decent behavioral pattern follows and it leads us to become a worthy mortal who can then search for a saintly guru to guide him/her to moksh while living his/her life. The great saint gave utmost importance to having a spiritual guru. Tukaram was convinced that” God is our father and Guru is our mother” and it is guru like Dyneshwar who could only guide him to Vitthal’s feet. That is why Dyneshwar is recognized as Dyneshwar Mouli in Maharashtra. Tukaram found four pre-requisites to reach God’s feet and then moksha. He has shared them with his followers,
No attachments with any other mortal.
No attachment with material things.
No reaction to good /bad news.
Full trust in existence of God. (Vitthal)
Ability to talk/converse with God (Vitthal )
Ability to shed tears for God (Vitthal).
Tukaram advises to live a detached family life while you are a family mortal with full trust in God and true feelings of love and affection for the Lord.
Jai Hari Vitthal. 90
