संत साहित्य · Tukārām · Abhanga 58 of 4582

Abhanga 58

English: This abhang is for the moment when you keep finding yourself in conversations or relationships where the other party's tongue is constantly agitating — slander, complaint, the steady flow of bad-words about absent third parties. Tukaram's diagnosis: अमंगळविली वाणी — the speech has become impure. The mouth has accumulated enough bad-speech that its very speech-quality has changed. Engagement is not a fix; the speech is contagious in the sense that staying in it changes you.

When you keep finding yourself in conversations where someone's tongue is constantly agitating against others — and you have to recognize the contagion

When you are tempted to engage with someone's slander to correct it — and you have to ask whether engagement is contributing or extracting

When you yourself notice your speech has become घाणी — agitation, complaint, slander — and you have to break the cycle

The verse

सदा तळमळ । चित्ताचिये हळहळ ॥१॥ त्याचें दर्शन न व्हावें । शव असतां तो जिवे ॥ध्रु.॥ कुशब्दाची घाणी । अमंगळविली वाणी ॥२॥ नेणे शब्द पर । तुका म्हणे परउपकार ॥३॥

Literal translation

English: Constant agitation; the heart's distress. Let me not have to encounter him — though alive in body, he is a corpse. The stench of bad-words has made his speech inauspicious. He does not know another's word — let alone doing good to others. Tuka says (this is the verdict).

मराठी: सदा तळमळ; चित्ताची हळहळ. त्याचं दर्शन न व्हावं — शरीराने जिवंत असला तरी तो शव आहे. कुशब्दांची घाण; वाणी अमंगळ झाली. दुसऱ्याचा शब्द कळत नाही, मग परउपकार — कुठून? तुकाराम म्हणतात (हा निवाडा).

Word-by-word gloss

Marathi	Meaning
सदा तळमळ	"constant agitation / restlessness"
चित्ताचिये हळहळ	"the heart's distress / regret"
त्याचें दर्शन न व्हावें	"let his sight / encounter not happen (for us)"
शव असतां तो जिवे	"though alive in body, he is a corpse"
कुशब्दाची घाणी	"the stench / pile of bad speech" (कुशब्द = bad word, slander)
अमंगळविली वाणी	"the speech has been made impure / inauspicious"
नेणे शब्द पर	"(he) does not know / cannot bear another's word"
परउपकार	"(let alone) doing-good-to-others"

What it means

A short character-portrait abhang. Three diagnostics of the living-corpse: (1) constant agitation, heart-distress; (2) speech that has become impure through accumulated bad-words; (3) inability to hear another's word, let alone help. The verdict is unusually firm: दर्शन न व्हावें — let his encounter not happen for us. Tukaram is recommending avoidance, not engagement. Some mouths cannot be reformed by argument; the contagion is real, and the only protection is distance. [T]

For someone today

English: This abhang is for the moment when you keep finding yourself in conversations or relationships where the other party's tongue is constantly agitating — slander, complaint, the steady flow of bad-words about absent third parties. Tukaram's diagnosis: अमंगळविली वाणी — the speech has become impure. The mouth has accumulated enough bad-speech that its very speech-quality has changed. Engagement is not a fix; the speech is contagious in the sense that staying in it changes you.

The advice is not to convert them, not to correct them, but to not encounter. The phrase शव असतां तो जिवे — though alive in body, he is a corpse — is harsh, but it is naming a real condition: someone in whom the inner-stir has displaced the inner-listening. They cannot hear another's word. There is no opening for help. The kindness to them and to yourself is distance.

The harder application: notice when your own speech has tilted toward कुशब्द. Complaint loops, persistent grudge-talk, the steady stream of small slanders. Tukaram does not name this for the sake of cruelty; he is naming the contagion structure. The cure is breaking the cycle in your own mouth before applying the diagnostic to others.

मराठी: ही ओवी अशा क्षणासाठी जेव्हा तुम्ही पुन्हा-पुन्हा अशा संभाषणात किंवा नात्यात सापडता — जिथे दुसऱ्याची जीभ सतत तळमळत आहे — निंदा, तक्रार, अनुपस्थित तिसऱ्यांबद्दल bad-words चा सतत प्रवाह. तुकारामांचं निदान: अमंगळविली वाणी. तोंडात पुरेसं bad-speech साचलं आहे की त्याची speech-quality बदलून गेलीय. engagement उपाय नाही; speech सांसर्गिक — त्यात राहिल्याने तुम्ही बदलता.

सल्ला आहे — convert करायचा नाही, correct करायचा नाही, भेटायचंच नाही. वाक्य शव असतां तो जिवे — कठोर — पण खऱ्या स्थितीचं नाव: आत-अस्वस्थता ज्याच्यात आत-ऐकणं विस्थापित केलंय. ते दुसऱ्याचा शब्द ऐकू शकत नाहीत. मदतीला उघडी जागा नाही. त्यांच्यासाठी आणि तुमच्यासाठी कृपा अंतर.

कठीण लागू: स्वतःचं speech कुशब्द कडे झुकलं का लक्ष द्या. तक्रार-loops, सतत द्वेष-बोलणं, छोट्या निंदांचा प्रवाह. तुकाराम क्रूरता म्हणून नाव सांगत नाहीत; सांसर्गिक रचना नाव सांगतात. उपाय इतरांवर निदान लावण्याआधी स्वतःच्या तोंडातलं चक्र तोडणं.

Where this applies

When you keep finding yourself in slander-heavy conversations. दर्शन न व्हावें. Distance.
When you're tempted to engage to correct. Engagement is contribution, not extraction.
When you yourself notice your speech has tilted toward कुशब्द. Break the cycle in your own mouth first.