Abhanga 247

People and things end up matching their true nature, so who you associate with, what your reputation says, and where you belong all eventually align, and mismatches lead to trouble.

The verse

Literal translation

What it means

A unsuitable-association abhang — companion to 246's anti-fault-finding. Three image-clusters:

1. चुंबळीचा करी चुंबळीशीं संग — अंगीं वसे रंग क्रियाहीन — cumbaḷī associates with cumbaḷī; the rāga in the body, action-less. Like-with-like associates; the rāga (color / passion) resides in the body but the body is kriyā-hīna (action-less, useless). The passion-without-action is the cumbaḷī-mode.

2. बीजा ऐसें फळ दावी परिपाकीं — परिमळ लौकिकीं जाती ऐसा — seed-as-such fruit shows in paripāka; fragrance is as-it-goes-in-public. The seed determines the ripening; the fragrance is what-the-public-knows. Public-recognition of the seed-quality is appropriate.

3. माकडाच्या गळां रत्न — कुळांगना सांडूनियां सुना बिदी धुंडी — jewel on the monkey's neck; the high-born woman abandons (her household-mode), searches the alley. Two mismatch-images:

4. Jewel-on-monkey: the valuable-content in the unworthy-vessel — the monkey cannot use the jewel; the jewel is wasted.
5. Kulāngana searching the alley: the high-born woman who abandons her household-mode and searches in the alley — un-suitable wandering. (The bidi — alley — is associated with low-class / dishonor.)

Both images: capacity-and-context mismatched.

1. ऐसा व्याली ते गाढवी — फजिती ते व्हावी आहे पुढें — the gāḍhavī gave birth (to such) — fajita lies ahead. The closing-judgment. The donkey-mother gave birth to such an inappropriately-associated one; fajita (humiliation) lies ahead. The outcome of unsuitable-association is humiliation.

[T]

For someone today

This abhang is a warning about unsuitable associations. Like tends to draw like, so if you find yourself constantly surrounded by people who are all passion and no real action, ask whether you have quietly become that kind of person yourself. What people come to know about you — your public reputation — tends to follow the true quality of your seed, not what you merely claim about yourself, so don't fight that recognition; instead look honestly at your own roots. Tukaram gives two vivid images of mismatch: a jewel hung around a monkey's neck, wasted because the monkey cannot use it, and a well-bred woman who abandons her rightful place to wander the back alleys, her capability squandered in the wrong setting. Both point to the same danger — putting something valuable, or someone capable, where it doesn't belong — and Tuka warns that such mismatches predictably end in humiliation, so take stock of your associations and your context before that day arrives.

मराठी: ही ओवी अयोग्य सहवासाबद्दल एक इशारा देते. समान स्वभावाचे लोक एकत्र येतात, त्यामुळे तुमच्या भोवती नेहमी फक्त आवेश असणारे पण प्रत्यक्ष कृती नसणारे लोक दिसत असतील, तर स्वतःलाच विचारा — तुम्हीही तसेच झाला आहात का. लोकांना तुमच्याबद्दल जे कळतं — तुमची लोकप्रसिद्धी — ती तुमच्या खऱ्या बीजाच्या गुणवत्तेनुसारच घडते, तुम्ही केवळ दावा करता त्यानुसार नाही, त्यामुळे त्या ओळखीशी झगडू नका, उलट स्वतःच्या मुळांकडे प्रामाणिकपणे पाहा. तुकाराम विसंगतीची दोन ठळक चित्रं देतात — माकडाच्या गळ्यात घातलेलं रत्न, जे माकडाला वापरताच येत नाही म्हणून वाया जातं, आणि एक कुलीन स्त्री जी आपली योग्य जागा सोडून गल्लीबोळात भटकते, तिचं सामर्थ्य चुकीच्या जागी वाया जातं. दोन्ही चित्रं एकच धोका दाखवतात — मौल्यवान गोष्ट किंवा सामर्थ्यवान व्यक्ती चुकीच्या जागी ठेवणं — आणि तुकाराम इशारा देतात की अशा विसंगतींचा शेवट अपमानातच होतो, त्यामुळे तो दिवस येण्याआधीच आपले सहवास आणि आपली जागा तपासून पाहा.

Where this applies

• Like-associates-with-like. Check your associations.
• Public-recognition follows seed-quality. Don't protest it.
• Capacity-context mismatches: jewel-on-monkey, kulāngana-in-alley.
• Fajita lies ahead. Predictable consequence.

Related verses

• Abhanga 2425 — Surrender every part of your life completely to what you trust most, and let go of the res
• Abhanga 2477 — Like a child too absorbed in play to notice how tired he is, let go and trust the parent c
• Abhanga 2484 — Real devotion can include anger and demand, not just sweetness, because a devotee who trul
• Abhanga 2540 — Even the smallest, most helpless creature that cries out to God in danger is sheltered and