Abhanga 274

Nothing good, honor, love, or growth, comes from demanding it; it forms slowly, like a diamond, through patience and freely given effort.

The verse

Literal translation

What it means

A short patience-cultivation abhang. Three claims:

1. रडोनियां मान — कोण मागतां भूषण — crying for honor — who gets bhūṣaṇa by demanding? The demand-mode does not produce honor. Crying-and-demanding for thebhūṣaṇa(the honor-ornament) gets no one nothing. Honor is not granted on demand.

2. देवें दिलें तरी गोड — राहे रुचि आणि कोड — what the deva gives — that is sweet; ruci and koḍa remain. The deva-given is sweet; the deva-given retainsruci(taste / pleasure) andkoḍa(charm / mystery / riddle). The demanded is bitter and resolved-too-quickly; the deva-given is sweet and retains-charm.

3. लावितां लावणी — विके भीके केज्या दानी — planting the lavaṇī — sells by begging, by-charity. Opaque-line. Possible reading: if you plant thelavaṇī(sapling cutting / produce), the harvest sells by begging, by-charity-eaten — i.e., the harvest is given-as-charity, not sold-for-price. The lavaṇī produces what is given freely, not demanded for price.

4. तुका म्हणे धीरा विण कैसा होतो हिरा — Tuka says: without dhīra — how does the hira form? The closing-image. Hira (diamond) and dhīra (patience) rhyme; the image-claim: without patience, no diamond. The diamond-formation requires slow-pressure-over-time. Demand cannot speed it. (Compare 173 force does not catch Hari; sama-bhāva catches; same principle.)

[T]

For someone today

Tukaram makes a simple observation: crying and demanding for honor never actually gets you honor — the demanding itself gets in the way. What comes to you freely, given rather than grabbed, carries a sweetness and a lasting charm that anything forced or demanded never has. Planting and tending something slowly, letting it grow in its own time, produces a harvest that's given freely rather than haggled over and sold. And Tukaram closes with a simple image that says it all — just as a diamond can only form under patient pressure over a long time, nothing worthwhile in life, honor, love, or growth, ever comes from impatience or demand; it comes only through patience.

मराठी: तुकाराम एक साधे निरीक्षण मांडतात — मान मिळावा म्हणून रडून-मागून तो कधीच मिळत नाही, उलट ती मागणीच त्याला अडवते. जे तुम्हाला मुक्तपणे मिळते, मागून-ओढून नव्हे तर दिले जाते, त्यात एक गोडवा आणि टिकणारी नजाकत असते, जी जबरदस्तीने किंवा मागणीने मिळालेल्या कशातही नसते. एखादी गोष्ट हळूहळू लावून, वेळ देऊन वाढवली की तिचे फळ विकत घेतले-विकले जात नाही, तर ते मुक्तपणे दिले जाते. आणि तुकाराम शेवटी एका साध्या प्रतिमेत सगळे सांगून टाकतात — जसा हिरा तयार होण्यासाठी दीर्घकाळ संयमी दाब लागतो, तसेच आयुष्यातील कोणतीही मौल्यवान गोष्ट — मान, प्रेम किंवा वाढ — अधीरतेने किंवा मागणीने कधीच मिळत नाही; ती फक्त धीरानेच मिळते.

Where this applies

• Crying-for-honor doesn't produce honor. Demand-mode prevents.
• Deva-given is sweet; demanded is bitter. Form determines quality.
• Cultivation-economy ≠ demand-economy. Don't mix.
• Without dhīra, no hira. Patience forms the diamond.

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