Sant Tukaram Ji
an early age
Shri Tukaram ji was born in a holy family of devotees of God in a village called Dehu in the south in Samvat 1665.
His parents names were Kanakabai ji and Bolhoba ji.
The three brothers were,
1. Sav ji,
2. Tukaram ji and
3. Kanha ji.
Tukaram ji got married at the age of twelve. The bride’s name was Rakhumai but after marriage it was known that the daughter-in-law was suffering from asthma. Therefore, his parents immediately got his second marriage done to Jijabai.
When Bolhoba ji (father) became old, he wanted to hand over his work to his eldest son, but his eldest son was unattached to the worldly things, so all the burden came on Tukaram ji. At that time he was 17 years old, he started handling the work with great efficiency.
The cycle went well for 4 years, after which Tukaramji started facing troubles. First of all, the parents left the body together, after that the wife of the elder brother (Savji) died, due to which Savji went to pilgrimage and became completely detached from the worldly matters and spent his life there…. Tukaram’s troubles increased due to the absence of the elder brother, now his mind also started getting unattached due to the household affairs……
HUMBLENESS & TOLERANCE
Taking advantage of the simple behavior of Shri Tukaram ji, those who were indebted to him, did not even had a thought to even give him his pending money rather people came to get the money from him. The ancestral property of Shri Tukaram ji got disturbed. The family was large, there were two women, one child, one younger brother and sisters.
Shri Tukaram ji was the only one who had to handle and take care of so many people, his mind wanted to get an escape from all these affairs.
The shop they had, instead of profit, started causing loss and they went on becoming indebted. Once the father-in-law also helped once or twice, but there was not much benefit in their situation. The first wife was very gentle to him, but the second wife used to fight night and day. At last the bankruptcy came over, all the goodwill of Tukaram ji got mixed up in the dust. Yet once he dared to buy chilies and went to Konkan to sell them.
He was of very forgiving and tolerant nature.
Once some sugarcane was riped in his field, he was bringing them in bundles.
Children got behind on the way, while he was carrying the sugarcanes, they started asking to have the sugarcanes from him, he gave them happily without any thought.
In the end, there was only one sugarcane left, when he reached home, the hungry wife was angry, she snatched the sugarcane and threw and hit it on his back.
The sugarcane broke, and he laughed……. He said you are a great sage.
I would have taken the trouble to cut the sugarcane into two pieces for both of us, but you did it in this simple way.
This shows how humble and tolerant Shri Tukaram ji was…
MAKING OTHERS HAPPY & AN UNATTACHMENT TOWARDS THE WORLD
“ Jijai once helped him with two hundred rupees by writing a cheque in her name, from which he bought salt and made two hundred and fifty rupees.
But as soon as he had earned all that money, he suddenly found a sad person on the way where he was passing from, he felt very sad on seeing him in that condition and he gave all the money he had to that person and became relaxed…
In those days there was a severe famine in the Pune province. Without food and water, thousands of human beings gave up their lives in agony.
After this Tukaram ji’s eldest wife also left the body and their son also passed away.
Tukaram ji’s unattachment to worldly affairs increased more. Now he decided to do the Bhagavad Bhajan (devotional service) by placing all the burden of him on God….
There were few cheques which were kept in his home and he gave half of them to his younger brother and told him, “See there are few cheques which are kept here, you can do whatever you want with these cheques for living your life”, after that half of the cheques which were of Shri Tukaram ji’s part, considering them to be an obstacle in the path of his renunciation he threw them in the Indriyani river…….
Now he was not worried about anyone.
A LIFE FOR THE LORD
Shri Tukaram ji started living alone doing the Bhagavad-bhajan (devotional service), sometimes in kirtana or sometimes in solitary meditation.
In the morning, after retiring from his routine, he use to go to the temple of Sri Vitthal Bhagawan and do the devotional service, after that going on the other side of the Indrayani river, then sometimes on the Bhagnath mountain, sometimes in a secluded place on the Gonda or Bharadar mountain where he would perform the parayan of Gyaneshwari or Eknathi Bhagwat and he used to remember (chant) the name of Hari throughout the day.
In the evening Shri Tukaram ji use to listen to the Hari Kirtan in the village, in which the midnight use to get passed……..
At the same time, the temple of Shri Vitthal ji built by Shri Vishrambhar Baba had become very dilapidated.
Shri Tukaram ji repaired it with his own hands.
In this way, as a result of many saadhna seva, the mind of Shri Tukaram ji started getting absorbed in the remembrance of akhand (continuous) naam of Sri Hari.
ABHANGA VAANIS
While performing kirtan by the grace of God, Abhang Vani (devotional poem) started coming out of his mouth.
The great scholars, Brahmins and sages, seeing his eloquently knowledgeable poems, started falling at his lotus feet.
In a place called Badholi, 100 miles away from Pune, lived a great scholar of Vedas and Vedanta named Pandit Rameshwar Bhatt .
He did not like the fact that Marathi abhang was coming out of Sri Tukaram ji’s mouth and people of all castes started worshipping him.
He ordered Sri Tukaram ji via the ruler of Dehu to leave Dehu and go to some other place.
On this Sri Tukaramji himself went to Pandit Rameshwar Bhatt and said to him – “The abhangs (devotional poems) that comes out of my mouth, is only happening due to the will and the wish of Lord Panduranga, you are a Brahmin, you are like a God to me, if your orders for me are, not to speak the abhangs, then I will stop it, but what should I do with those abhangs which have been written?
Bhattji said – “Drow them in the river.”
Shri Tukaram ji returned to Dehu and took all the writings of the abhangs which was spoken by him, he surrendered them in the Indrayani river and then he sat on a big rock in front of Shri Vitthalnath ji temple and became stubborn (ziddi) by declaring that either God would come personally and give him his darshan or else his life would end.
In this way the Sri Tukaram ji, longing for the direct darshan of Shri Panduranga, sat on that rock for 13 days without eating or drinking anything.
A GREAT CRAVING TO GET THE DARSHANA OF THE LORD
Sri Tukaram ji, longing for the direct darshan of Shri Panduranga, sat on the rock for 13 days without eating or drinking anything.
In the end the seat (sinhaasan) where the Lord was seated started vibrating and moving…
The Lord was already present in Sri Tukaram ji’s heart, but still he appeared in front of Sri Tukaram ji in a Baal swaroop (Child form) and gave him the direct darshan.
Sri Tukaram ji fell at the lotus feet of the Lord, God lifted him with both hands and hugged him to his chest.
Then Lord told Tukaram, “I had kept the books (writings) of your abhangs (devotional poems) safe, today I have given them to your devotees.” By saying this the Lord again came back into Sri Tukaram ji’s heart.
After the direct darshan of the God, Sri Tukaram ji’s body remained on this earth planet for the next 15 years, till that time there was a continuous nectar rain about Lord’s talks (satsanga) from his mouth…….
GIVING A LIFE LESSON TO A DISCIPLE
Once upon a time, Shri Tukaram ji was sitting in his ashram……..
Then one of his disciples, who was a bit angry by nature, came before him and said – Gurudeva, how can you stay so calm and smiling even in odd circumstances, please tell me the secret of this.
Shri Tukaram Ji said – I am able to do all this because I know your secret.
The disciple said – what is my secret, please tell me Gurudev.
Shri Tukaram ji said sadly – you are going to die in the next one week.
If someone else had said this, the disciple could have jokingly avoided this, but how could anyone cut off the words that came out of the mouth of Saint Shri Tukaram ji himself?
The disciple became depressed and left from there taking Sri Gurudeva’s blessings.
On the way, he thought in his mind that now only 7 days are left, I will spend the remaining 7 days in humility, love and devotion to God applying the teachings given by Guruji in this life.
From that time the nature of the disciple changed. He met everyone lovingly and never got angry with anyone, spending most of his time in meditation and worship of God.
He would atone for the sins he had committed in his life, and with the ones he had quarreled or had hurted someone, he would ask for forgiveness from all of them with a sincere heart and again after completing his daily routine, he would get absorbed in the remembrance of the Lord…….
While doing this on the seventh day, the disciple thought, I should have darshan of my Gurudeva before leaving this body.
For this he went to meet Sri Tukaram ji and said – Guru ji, my time is about to end, please bless me.
Shri Tukaramji said – My blessings are always with you, son, “Shatayu”.
The disciple was astonished to hear the word “Shatayu” blessings from Sri Gurudeva’s mouth.
Shri Tukaram ji asked the disciple, well, tell me how the last seven days passed? Are you as angry with people as before?
With folded hands the disciple said – No-no, not at all Gurudeva. I only had seven days to live, how could I waste this precious non returnable time in all these. I met them with the most love, and also apologized to those who I had once hurted previously.
Shri Tukaram ji smiled and said – “This is the only secret of my good behaviour.” I know I can die anytime, so I’m always calm and happy with everyone, I behave lovingly and this is the secret of suppressing my anger..!
The disciple immediately understood that Sri Tukaram ji had shown him the fear of death to give him the priceless teachings of life, he tied the knot of Sri Gurudeva’s divine words and happily returned from there, deciding to never get angry again.
Such was a greatness of – Shri Tukaram ji…..
PANDIT RAMESHWAR BHATTA TAKING THE SHELTER OF SRI TUKARAM JI
People used to feel very great after listening to Shri Tukaram 𝗝𝗶’s self-experienced proven teachings.
At the time when Abhangas were drowned in the Indrayani river, after few days Pandit Rameshwar bhatta (who asked Sri Tukaram ji to surrender his abhangs in the river) was going to visit and take the darshan of Shri Nagnath ji in Pune, he was on the way for taking the bath in the auliya of Angadhshah.
After taking the bath when he was coming back, there was a terrible burning sensation all over his body.
The disciples tried to do a lot of healing, but there was no benefit, in the end in his dream came Sri Gyaneshwar Maharaj, he asked him to take the sole refuge and shelter of Sri Tukaram ji, then he ran to take Sri Tukaram ji’s shelter.
In this way, even the virtuous Brahmins, considering Sri Tukaram ji as a Mahatma, started taking pride in being his disciple.
SRI TUKARAM JI & CHATRAPATI SHIVAJI
Chhatrapati Shivaji wanted to make Maharaj Sri Tukaram ji as his Guru, but his Guru was Shri Samarth Ramdas Swami. Knowing this insight, Sri Tukaram ji preached to go and take the shelter of Shri Samarth Ramdas Swami ji, yet Shivaji Maharaj used to listen to his Hari Katha (satsanga) regularly…..
In the morning of samvat 1706 Chaitra Krishna, The Lord himself came and took Shri Tukaram Maharaj ji to his Vaikunth planet (abode) by letting him sit in a plane and Shri Tukaram Maharaj ji left this world.
Even after disappearing from this world , Sri Tukaram ji appeared and gave darshan many times to the devotees of the Lord.
There are many memorials of Maharaj Shri Tukaram ji in Dehu and Lohgaon. His living and biggest memorial is the Abhang vaanis (devotional poems).
These abhang vaanis are the eternal spiritual asset of this world which was given by his grace Shri Tukaram ji Maharaj…