Where can my mind wander?

Abhangs are a popular form of devotional poetry in the Indian language Marathi, and are frequently set to music. Abhang means absolute, eternal, unbroken or a metre (a sound with rhythm). The word Abhang is an opposite to the word Bhang that means break, interrupt or end. Thus, Abhang means Uninterrupted, Continuous, Eternal, Flawless, Endless etc., Or in other words, Abhang refers to flawless continuous processes.  

Abhang is the favourite metre for poets since 13th century where the lyrics will be in simple Marathi and in colloquial form, fully flexible, not more than 4 lines, and in each line not more than 3 to 8 syllables. Warkaris preferred singing Abhangs. Wari, in Marathi, means round trip or pilgrimage. Several great Sants have composed millions of Abhangs which are easy to sing, repeat and has indepth Bhakti bhav in it.

आतां कोठे धावे मन ।

तुझे चरण देखेलिया ॥ १॥

भाग गेला शीण गेला ।

अवघा झाला आनंद ।। २॥

प्रेमरसें बैसली मिठी ।

आवडी लाठी मुखासी ॥ ३॥

तुका म्हणे आम्हां जोगें ।

विठ्ठला घोगें खरें माप ॥४॥

"One who utters God's Name while walking gets the merit of a sacrifice at each step. His body becomes a place of pilgrimage. He who repeats God's Name while working always finds perfect peace. He who utters the God's Name while eating gets the merit of a fast."

O' Lord, after having seen your feet, where can my mind wander? Meaning that now my mind is running nowhere except at your holy feet || 1||

Because of this , all the tiredness, the grief, the sufferings of mine has vanished and what is left is only happiness. I am very very Happy now (being in your presence) || 2||

With love and devotion, I have embraced your name in my mouth. Means I am submerged in the taste of your love and my mouth has attained sweetness with it || 3|

Tuka says that in order to measure this happiness, one requires a measure of the size of Lord Himself. He means Vitthal is the only true and appropriate measure of happiness and greatness as well. || 4||

Background:

Tukaram Maharaj has written this Abhang while being in the state of experiencing the unification with the Divine.

Although he has experienced Unification with the Divine; he has come back to the Dual State (This is what is named as Turya Avastha in the spiritual Language). At this stage one is aware of the surrounding Universe and at the same time one is united with the Divine. Shastras describe it with the example of a Light kept in the door. The light shines and makes the outside of the house visible and simultaneously the inside is also visible.

Meaning:

In the first stanza Tukaram Maharaj is saying that his mind is still remembering and experiencing the Bliss due the union with the Divine. However being in the state of awareness of the world around, he feels that now his mind is not going anywhere except to the Holy feet of Lord Vitthal.

In the second stanza Maharaj describes the effect of the above mentioned experience. He says that he no longer is feeling disturbed/ upset etc now. Thus he says that he no longer is tired.

It is well known that if the mind is not at Peace then one suffers from multiple ailments (Physical as well as Mental) . One ultimately gets tired because of the disturbed state of mind.

The third stanza describes the state of union further. Maharaj has only one feeling in his mind , that is the love for the Lord Panduranga. It is our experience that enjoyment of the taste of any dish, is because of the capability of our tongue. What ever it likes ,it demands the same continuously. In physical terms there is a limit to the feeling of enjoyment which is called Law of Diminishing Return.

But this Law is not applicable for the tongue for the Holy name of Lord. Tukaram Maharaj is saying this by stating that his tongue does not like to do any other thing, except reciting the blissful name of the Lord Panduranga.

Final fourth stanza is using the concept of Measurement of Quantity . Here Maharaj says that if we have to measure the quantum of the experienced Bliss, then it is so large that one has to use a larger Measure for the same. This measure is Lord Himself. He pervades all the universe which is so large that one can not define this largeness. In short the stanza tells us that it is impossible to explain using any means the Bliss one experiences. It can be understood only by those who experience it.

Teaching from this Abhang:-

This Abhang teaches us that we should do the Namasmaran (Chanting) and experience the union with Divine and the Bliss thereon.