येथे का रे उभा श्री रामा...

While staying in Pandharpur, Samarth Ramdas Swami once asked Lord Vitthal,

“O Shri Rama, why are you standing here all alone?

Where are Mother Sita, Lakshmana, and Hanuman?”

— meaning that to Samarth, Vitthal himself appeared as Shri Rama.

At that very place, he composed a most beautiful Abhanga (devotional verse):

“Why are you standing here, O Shri Rama,

Charming one, dark as a raincloud?

Where are your bow and arrows?

You’ve placed your hands on your hips!

Why are you silent now?

Your attire looks quite changed.

What happened to the city of Ayodhya?

You seem to have made Pandharpur your abode.

What of the river Sarayu?

Have you now joined it with Bhima?

The joyful cries of the Vanaras are gone—

Where are those troops now?

I only see Hanuman standing here—

Has he broken away from your army?

And what of holy Sita?

There are so many people here instead!

Know this, O devotees of Rama,

That Rama himself has become the Lord of Pandharpur.”

The essence (Bodha):

Samarth teaches us to go beyond differences in names and forms.

The underlying message is that the Supreme Reality (Parabrahma Tattva) alone is of true importance.

Just as Lord Shiva tells Goddess Parvati in the Guru Gita:

Vedaśāstrapurāṇāni ca itihāsādikāni ca,

Mantrayatrādividyānāṃ mohanocchāṭanādikam;

Śaivaśāktāgamādīni hyanye ca bahavo matāḥ,

Apabhraṃśāḥ samastānāṃ jīvānāṃ bhrāntacetasām.

“The Vedas, Shastras, Puranas, and epics;

the sciences of mantras and yantras, and rites for enchantment or exorcism;

the Shaiva, Shakta, and other doctrines —

all these are merely the distorted understandings of deluded beings.”

Many people worship various deities and consider them the doers —

Some say Shri Krishna is the doer,

Some say Shri Rama,

Others claim Brahma, Vishnu, or Mahesh (Shiva) is the doer.

Different people hold different beliefs.

Perhaps this is why Samarth says:

“He who chases after multiplicity — drowns.”

For all these deities are made of the five elements (Panchabhutas),

and thus, they themselves cannot create this elemental universe. Therefore, to know the true Doer, one must go beyond the realm of the five elements.

But then — what is the way?

Samarth gives the answer himself:

सगुणाचेनि आधारे। निर्गुण पाविजे निर्धारे॥

Through the support of the Saguna (the manifest form),‌ one surely realizes the Nirguna (the formless Absolute).

Offered at the holy feet of Shri Samarth.

Written by Amogh Bakre on Ashadhi Ekadashi Shalivahana Shaka 1947 in Marathi. Translated into English using AI.

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