Anuraniya Thokada

 

Anuraniya Thokada – Sant Tukaram

Just 2 days back I was mentioning how the juncture is reached where the drive for living for personal gratification is nearly exhausted and the only sensibility appears to be devoting life for service. This morning I was having a casual phone call about complex family matters with a dear sister-in-law and in the course of our conversation she casually quoted Sant Tukaram’s words “ uralo upkara purata”. She said it in the context that this strategy is not appropriate for young people who are just beginning their lives. They should not be drawn into solving other people’s problems! Indeed wise words I needed to hear! It is one thing at my stage to arrive at the thought and sentiment and quite different for those who are eyeing the world with their own personal hopes and dreams. Point noted from her. 

Although she had recalled Sant Tukaram’s well known words in a context opposing the original intention, after our phone call my mind glided back to the original abhang from where these lines were taken. I listened to Pandit Bhimsen Joshi’s rendering of this song. It had been a while since I had heard this one. And it was the first time I gave deeper thought to the words. I couldn’t help but marvel at how the Indian classical music of the genre that Panditji devoted his life to, so seamlessly blended the art and skill of classical vocal music with the most profound philosophical declarations of mystics from ancient eras. The value of these treasures is impossible to estimate and yet they are so easily accessible to a common man. If only more people would be aware of their enormous significance!

 I felt embarrassed that it took me so long to look closely and find the pearl in this oyster! And there are so many such oysters strewn across. 

अणुरेणियां थोकडा ।
तुका आकाशाएवढा ॥१॥

Anuraniya Thokada
Tuka Akasha Evadha

Tukaram Maharaj opens this abhang with a starkly paradoxical statement. I am insignificant when compared to the smallest particle in the universe! I fall short of the smallest thing one could find. Smaller than an electron, photon, neutron or whatever they know of. 

And at the same time, I am vast like the sky. Endless. Immeasurable.Infinite. 

How is this possible? Modern science would waste no time to label any person making such a statement as being crazy. Out of their mind! Delusional!

But Tukaram Maharaj was far from that. After a life of intense devotion to Vitthala, the deity symbolizing the transcendent reality, Tukaram had achieved the elusive state of Self Realization and become one with that Reality.

अणुरेणियां थोकडा could be understood in two contexts. In the state of Transcendence the ego is dissolved into insignificance. It is debated whether it entirely vanishes or simply becomes subdued. But there is no disagreement about the fact that utmost humility is achieved at the level of the ego and intellect which in turn translates into and transforms speech and body language. 

The second explanation is that Atma, the ultimate Reality, is subtler than the subtlest of any matter known to man. This has also been proclaimed by Shri Krishna in the Bhagwad Gita.

Thus whether it is a true devotee or a man of self realization he achieves a state of being smaller than the smallest piece of matter.

तुका आकाशाएवढा !

This declaration seals the fact that by this time Tukaram Maharaj had reached the state of unison with the Universal Consciousness, known by the Vedas as Brahman or Parabramha. He had experienced the state of Infinite Being. 

Only the state of pure being is able to reconcile the contrasting realities of subtler than the subtlest and bigger than the biggest thing one can imagine.

गिळुन सांडिलें कलेवर ।
भव भ्रमाचा आकार ॥२॥

Giluni Sandile Kalevar
Bhav Bhramacha Aakaar

Kalevar means cadaver or corpse. Simply put, he is stating he has given up his lifeless body. It is nothing but an illusory form cooked up by the delusional power of Maya where the world appears as real. 

All our lives we are identified with the physical body. Even as we see everything in it undergo change, from childhood, through teens, youth, middle age to old age, the constant witness in us continues to be deluded into thinking it is going through the change. Reality is that the witness is changeless and distinct from the material body. Without the life force which is the witness, the body is a lifeless assimilation of matter, constituted by the panch mahabhutas( five elements). 

Only after deep contemplation on the truth can one decisively know that for a fact. Delusion is inherently powerful and difficult to overcome without deep inquiry, and ascertaining until conviction occurs in the mind. Tukaram Maharaj has not simply bought the truth from hearing what the sages or scriptures proclaimed but reached it through self experience. He emphasizes that he first swallowed and then eliminated the (un)reality about the material world and the body. Once he arrived at the conviction that the body is by itself a lifeless lump of matter he disengaged himself from it. He no longer identified himself as the physical body. No matter how convincing the shape,size and form of the body appeared, he knew without a doubt that it was merely an illusion, and he wasn’t falling for it anymore.

This is the turning point in the journey of any aspirant. You can reach the point where your intellect can comprehend the theory perfectly this far. Yet for practical purposes the intellect is trapped in its old beliefs. It is the unlearning of old assumptions that becomes the limiting factor. The fruit is ripening slowly but the exact point in time when it changes from unripe to ripe is hard to estimate. Many believe that this cannot happen without the final blessings of the Guru 🙏🏼🙏🏼

सांडिली त्रिपुटी ।
दीप उजळला घटीं ॥३॥

Sandili Thriputi 
Deep Ujalala Ghati

Under ordinary circumstances the intellect is used to acknowledging objects that it perceives through the senses. There is a trio( triputi) of the known( outside object), knower and act of knowing. 

The path of self realization gradually brings the focus from outside to inside. When this happens the concept of the trio begins to dissipate. 

Tukaram Maharaj gives his testimony to this phenomenon. He uses a metaphor of an earthenware to describe his physical body. A lamp was lit inside this pot, he says. And simultaneously the trio of known, knower and knowing vanished. All that remained was the light within. The light of the eternal self. 

तुका ह्मणे आतां ।
उरलो उपकारापुरता ॥४॥

Tuka Mhane Aataa
Uralo Upakara Purataa

The quest for self realization is completed for him. What’s next?

Now my life remains only to serve others, he says.

This is in line with the teachings of the Bhagwad Gita. Even after attaining to the seat of self realization, as long as the physical body remains, one must fulfil obligations to others. This is karma-sangraha. Whichever way you can, whatever capacity you choose, your services must continue for the betterment of the community. The wise must set the example for the next generation to follow. Higher standards they set, that’s what the society will enjoy after them. 

This makes it clear how the life of saints like Tukaram Maharaj was a sacrifice in itself. They had achieved for themselves everything they ever wanted and post enlightenment continued to strive for the happiness and wellbeing of others. Uplifting others was a natural tendency for them. Since the world of objects no longer existed for them like it does for ordinary people, there was no more “me and others” for them. Healing someone who was hurting was akin to healing themselves. With personal needs almost nil, every effort was directed toward the world that was basically an extension of themselves. 

It just leaves me spellbound when I think about such lives. How fortunate are we who even get to hear about them! 

Tuka Mhane Aataa
Uralo Upakara Purataa

Long after even the physical body was gone Tuka continues to help me and many others with his words, inspiring life and wisdom. 

Jai Jai Ram Krishna Hari 🙏🏼🙏🏼