Abhanga 249

When the world looks distorted, dangerous, or dirty, the real cause is usually in your own eye, body, or unresolved wrongdoing, not in the world itself.

The verse

Literal translation

What it means

A distorted-vision diagnosis abhang. Three image-clusters:

1. सर्प विंचू दिसे — धन अभाग्या कोळसे — serpent and scorpion appear; to the unfortunate, wealth looks like coal. Misperception under affliction. Wealth (real-good) appears as coal (worthless) — to the unfortunate. Serpent-and-scorpion (the dangers) appear-as-real even when not present. Abhāgyā-vision is fearful and inverted.

2. आला डोळ्यांसि कवळ — तेणें मळलें उजळ — kavaḷa came into the eyes — by that, the bright was dirtied. The kavaḷa (the mote / haze / film over the eye) makes the bright look dirty. The bright is not actually dirty; the eye-condition is the cause-of-the-appearance.

3. अंगाचे भोंवडी — भोय झाड फिरती धोंडी — in the body's spinning, the snake / earth, tree, stone all spin. The vertigo-image. When the body spins, the world appears to spin — but it is the body, not the world. The snake-tree-stone are stable; the spinning-perception is the body's.

4. तुका म्हणे नाड — पाप ठाके हिता आड — Tuka says: the nāḍa — pāpa stands in the way of hita. The closing-claim. Pāpa (sin / negative-karma) stands in the way of hita (good / benefit). The nāḍa (loss / failure) is structural: the pāpa-condition causes the distorted-vision; the hita is not received because pāpa stands in the way.

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For someone today

This abhang diagnoses distorted vision that comes from a troubled inner state. When you're in real distress, real wealth can look worthless as coal, and dangers you invent can feel as real as an actual snake or scorpion — the distortion comes from your condition, not from the world. If something bright looks dirty to you, check your own eye first — a fleck or film in your vision, not any actual stain, may be the real cause. Likewise, when the world feels like it's spinning, it is usually your own body that is spinning, while the tree, the stone, the ground around you stay perfectly still. Tuka's underlying claim is structural: unresolved wrongdoing is what blocks the good that is available to you, so instead of blaming the world for what you see, look inward at the eye, the body, and the unresolved wrong that are actually distorting your view.

मराठी: ही ओवी मनातल्या अस्वस्थतेमुळे निर्माण होणाऱ्या विकृत दृष्टीचं निदान करते. खऱ्या संकटात असताना खरी संपत्तीही कोळशासारखी निरुपयोगी दिसू शकते, आणि काल्पनिक धोकेही खऱ्या साप-विंचवासारखे वास्तव वाटू शकतात — हा विपर्यास तुमच्या मनःस्थितीमुळे होतो, जगामुळे नाही. काही तेजस्वी गोष्ट तुम्हाला मलिन दिसत असेल, तर आधी स्वतःच्या डोळ्याकडे पाहा — खरा डाग नसून, डोळ्यातला एखादा कण किंवा पडदाच त्याचं खरं कारण असू शकतो. त्याचप्रमाणे, जग गरगरत आहे असं वाटलं, तर बहुधा तुमचंच शरीर गरगरत असतं, तर झाड, दगड आणि आजूबाजूची जमीन अगदी स्थिर असते. तुकारामांचा मूळ मुद्दा असा आहे — न सुटलेलं पाप हेच तुमच्यासाठी उपलब्ध असलेल्या हिताला अडवतं, त्यामुळे जे दिसतंय त्यासाठी जगाला दोष देण्याऐवजी, तुमची दृष्टी खरोखर विकृत करणाऱ्या डोळ्याकडे, शरीराकडे आणि न सुटलेल्या पापाकडे आतून पाहा.

Where this applies

• Misperception under affliction. Wealth looks like coal.
• Cause in the eye, not the world. कवळ डोळ्यांसि.
• Body-vertigo, not world-spinning.
• Pāpablocks thehita. Address the pāpa.

Related verses

• Abhanga 2374 — Rather than scattering devotion among many lesser deities who demand offerings, Tukaram sa
• Abhanga 2377 — This detailed meditation on Vitthal standing on a brick at Pandharpur, out of love for his
• Abhanga 2387 — Accept whatever life brings with reverence, and place the burden on God rather than carryi
• Abhanga 2402 — For today: happily take rebirths — IF among the Paṇḍharī-Vārkarīs ; Hari-dāsas' company is