Abhanga 226

This abhang is the bhakta-band naming itself. We are forest cowherds, it says, not the bold and sophisticated ones that the wider world admires — and that is fine, because we are simply different in kind, not lesser. What little we have we share evenly among ourselves, one to one, rather than broadcasting it outward or seeking anything from outside — what is ours stays with us. We don't need to be clever or well-versed to belong; simply meeting each other in our plain, unknowing way is enough, and Tuka and Kānhobā are right there with us all the same.

The verse

Literal translation

What it means

A forest-cowherds-not-bold-from-people abhang. Four claims:

1. आम्ही गोवळीं रानटें — नव्हों जनांतील धीटें — we are forest-cowherds — not the bold from-among-people. The self-naming. Rānaṭē (forest, wild) — we are the wild-pastoral, not the urbane-courageous. The jana (organized-people, society) has its own dhīṭē (bold-ones); the bhakta-band does not claim that role. We are different in kind.

2. सिदोरीचा करूं काला — एक वांटितों एकाला — make kālā from the shidori — distribute one-to-one. The internal-distribution form. Each-to-each, not all-to-everyone-undifferentiated. (Compare 213, 216.)

3. खेळों आपआपणांशीं — आमचीं तीं आम्हांपाशीं — play among-ourselves; what is ours is with us. The internal-circulation. Not-with-the-jana; with-us-among-us. What is ours is with us — no need to seek-from-outside.

4. मिळालों नेणते — तुका कान्होबा भोंवते — we, the unknowing-ones, met — Tuka and Kānhobā around. The meeting-condition. Neṇate — unknowing, uneducated, unsophisticated. We the unknowing met; Tuka and Kānhobā are around us. The unknowing-meeting is sufficient; Tuka and Kānhobā are around the unknowing.

[T]

For someone today

This abhang is the bhakta-band naming itself. We are forest cowherds, it says, not the bold and sophisticated ones that the wider world admires — and that is fine, because we are simply different in kind, not lesser. What little we have we share evenly among ourselves, one to one, rather than broadcasting it outward or seeking anything from outside — what is ours stays with us. We don't need to be clever or well-versed to belong; simply meeting each other in our plain, unknowing way is enough, and Tuka and Kānhobā are right there with us all the same.

मराठी: ही ओवी भक्त-मंडळाची स्वतःची ओळख सांगते. आम्ही रानातले गोवळी आहोत, समाजातल्या धीट, हुशार लोकांसारखे नाही — आणि त्यात काही कमीपणा नाही, कारण आम्ही वेगळ्या प्रकारचे आहोत, कमी दर्जाचे नाही. आमच्याकडे जे थोडे असेल ते आम्ही आपापसात समान वाटून घेतो, एकाला एक असे — बाहेर कुणाकडे मागायची गरज नाही, जे आमचे आहे ते आमच्यापाशीच आहे. एकत्र येण्यासाठी शहाणपण किंवा हुशारी लागत नाही; आपल्या साध्या, अजाण पद्धतीने भेटणं पुरेसं आहे — आणि तरीही तुका आणि कान्होबा आपल्या आसपासच असतात.

Where this applies

• Forest-cowherds, not bold-from-people. Self-respecting identity.
• One-to-one internal distribution. Not broadcast.
• Unknowing-meeting is sufficient. No qualification-test.

Related verses

• Abhanga 2448 — The easiest path to God is repeating divine names with love at home, right where you are,
• Abhanga 2467 — What looks like your whole world, like a fig to the insect living inside it, is only a tin
• Abhanga 2494 — Living in devotion turns an ordinary day into a festival and removes the fear of birth and
• Abhanga 4481 — Tukaram promises that sincerely calling on the Lord's name, knowingly or unknowingly, with