Abhanga 272

When you defend or side with someone who does wrong, you take on a share of that wrongdoing yourself; you don't get to stay a neutral bystander. Tukaram says this shared responsibility even reaches your family and ancestors, so it is not a small or private thing. If you hold any kind of authority and let wrongdoing go unpunished, you become complicit in it, no better than the wrongdoer. And accepting hospitality, food, or favors from someone you know is corrupt is its own quiet way of joining in their wrong, so weigh carefully whose support you accept.

The verse

Literal translation

What it means

A co-responsibility ethics abhang. Three claims:

1. याचा कोणी करी पक्ष — तो ही त्याशी समतुल्य — he who takes thepakṣaof (the wicked) — equal to him. Pakṣa — side, faction, defense, alliance. Defending or allying with the wicked-one makes you equal to the wicked-one. The co-responsibility is equal.

2. फुकासाठीं पावे दुःखाचा विभाग — पूर्वजांसि लाग निरयदंडीं — for free, gets share of duḥkha; ancestors get hell-rod attached. The karma-spread: not only the ally suffers, but the ancestors also. Niraya-daṇḍa — the rod of hell — attaches to the pūrvajas. The karma is family-wide. (Note: this is the traditional pitr-karma frame — one's ancestors share in one's karma in the karma-economy.)

3. ऐके राजा न करी दंड — जरि या लंड दुष्टासि — listen, king — if you do not daṇḍa this laṇḍa-duṣṭa. The king's-duty. The king who fails to punish the wicked is himself wicked. (Compare 261, 268's call-to-the-deva-to-act; here, the call to the king.)

4. तुका म्हणे त्याचें अन्न — मद्यपाना समान — Tuka says: his food = liquor-drinking. The closing-prohibition. Eating the food of the wicked-one (or his ally) = drinking liquor. The prohibition is on accepting hospitality / sustenance from the wicked-one's hand.

[T]

For someone today

When you defend or side with someone who does wrong, you take on a share of that wrongdoing yourself; you don't get to stay a neutral bystander. Tukaram says this shared responsibility even reaches your family and ancestors, so it is not a small or private thing. If you hold any kind of authority and let wrongdoing go unpunished, you become complicit in it, no better than the wrongdoer. And accepting hospitality, food, or favors from someone you know is corrupt is its own quiet way of joining in their wrong, so weigh carefully whose support you accept.

मराठी: जेव्हा तुम्ही चुकीचं वागणाऱ्या व्यक्तीची बाजू घेता किंवा तिचं समर्थन करता, तेव्हा त्या चुकीचा वाटा तुमच्यावरही येतो — तटस्थ प्रेक्षक राहणं शक्य नसतं. तुकाराम म्हणतात की ही सामायिक जबाबदारी कुटुंबापर्यंत आणि पूर्वजांपर्यंतही पोहोचते, त्यामुळे ही काही छोटी किंवा खासगी बाब नाही. जर तुमच्याकडे कोणत्याही प्रकारचा अधिकार असेल आणि तुम्ही अन्यायाला शिक्षा न करता दुर्लक्ष केलंत, तर तुम्हीही त्या अन्यायाइतकेच दोषी ठरता. आणि भ्रष्ट व्यक्तीकडून आदरातिथ्य, अन्न किंवा मदत स्वीकारणं हे देखील त्यांच्या चुकीत सहभागी होण्यासारखं आहे, त्यामुळे कोणाचा पाठिंबा स्वीकारायचा हे काळजीपूर्वक ठरवा.

Where this applies

• Side-taking = co-responsibility. Equal.
• Karma spreads to lineage / family. Collective.
• Failing-to-punish-when-empowered = complicity. Power-position requirement.
• Wicked-one's food = liquor. Prohibition.

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