Abhanga 264

Real kinship comes from shared devotion, not blood, so give your whole heart to that circle while still treating everyone else with basic respect.

The verse

Literal translation

What it means

A redefining-kin-by-bhakti abhang. Three claims:

1. ते माझे सोयरे सज्जन सांगाती — पाय आठविती विठोबाचे — they are my kin, gentlefolk, comrades — those who remember Viṭhobā's feet. The redefinition. The bhakta's real-kin are not blood-relatives; they are those who remember Viṭhobā's feet. Bhakti-affinity replaces blood-affinity as the kin-criterion.

2. येरा मानी विधि पाळणापुरतें — देवाचीं तीं भूतें म्हणोनियां — the others — by vidhi, only for pālaṇa — they are deva's beings, that's all. The rest of humanity (= those not-remembering Viṭhobā's feet) are related to me only by vidhi (rule) — not by sōyarē-bond. I observe vidhi-toward-them only because they are deva's beings (= the deity made them, so I respect that). Beyond vidhi-respect, no kin-bond.

3. सर्वभावें जालों वैष्णवांचा दास — करीन त्यांच्या आस उच्छिष्टाची — sarva-bhāvē — became the dāsa of vaiṣṇavas — I will desire their uṣṭa-leftovers. The commitment-to-the-vaiṣṇavas. Sarva-bhāvē — with whole-feeling. Dāsa — servant. And uṣṭa-leftovers — the highest-honor in the bhakti-frame: eating the vaiṣṇavas' leftovers as prasāda (compare 200's gods cannot get the ucchiṣṭa; cowherds have it).

4. तुका म्हणे जैसे मानती हरिदास — तैशी नाहीं आस आणिकांची — Tuka says: as the Hari-dāsas are valued — no such desire for others. The exclusive-commitment. Hari-dāsas (= servants-of-Hari, the bhakta-band) are valued; no other desire is comparable. The desire-asymmetry is structural.

[T]

For someone today

Tukaram redraws the boundaries of family: his real kin, his true companions, are the people who remember Vithoba's feet — not those bound to him by blood, caste, or custom. Everyone else he still treats with basic, rule-bound respect, simply because they too are God's creatures, but that dutiful courtesy is not the same as belonging. To the community of devotees he gives everything, serving them wholeheartedly and even longing for the food left on their plates, because sharing what they have touched feels like an honor. That wholehearted longing belongs to fellow devotees alone; he doesn't feel it, and doesn't pretend to feel it, toward anyone else.

मराठी: तुकाराम नात्याची व्याख्याच बदलून टाकतात — त्यांचे खरे सोयरे, खरे सांगाती म्हणजे जे विठोबाचे पाय आठवतात ते, रक्ताचे किंवा जातीचे नाते असणारे नव्हेत. बाकीच्या सर्वांशी ते फक्त विधीपुरता, कर्तव्यभावाने आदर राखतात, कारण तीही देवाचीच लेकरे आहेत — पण हा कर्तव्यभावाचा आदर म्हणजे आपलेपणा नव्हे. वैष्णवांच्या समुदायाला मात्र ते सर्वभावे, मनापासून वाहून घेतात, इतकेच नव्हे तर त्यांच्या उष्ट्याचीही आस धरतात, कारण त्यांनी स्पर्शलेले काही मिळणे हाच मोठा सन्मान वाटतो. हे मनापासूनचे ओढाळेपण फक्त हरिदासांसाठीच राखीव आहे; तसे ते इतर कुणाबद्दल वाटूनही घेत नाहीत, आणि तसे भासवतही नाहीत.

Where this applies

• Real kin = bhakti-criterion. Not blood / caste.
• Vidhi-respect for others. Not disregard, not full-bond.
• Sarva-bhāvē commitment to the bhakta-band. Whole-feeling.
• Uṣṭa-leftover desire. Honor-marker.
• Don't dilute the desire. Exclusive.

Related verses

• Abhanga 2467 — What looks like your whole world, like a fig to the insect living inside it, is only a tin
• Abhanga 4481 — Tukaram promises that sincerely calling on the Lord's name, knowingly or unknowingly, with
• Abhanga 4482 — Tukaram teaches that no ritual equals sincerely speaking the Lord's name, that self-center
• Abhanga 4497 — Tukaram describes a life so soaked in devotion that Krishna's presence fills every ordinar