Abhanga 302
Tukaram gives two simple pictures. A blind person cannot see anyone, so it feels to him as though everyone around him is blind too, when really the missing sight is only his own. A person with a fever finds even sweet food tasting bitter or poisonous, not because the food changed but because his mouth lost its sense of taste. From these he draws a wider point: if you find yourself convinced that everyone is corrupt, that nothing is trustworthy, or that the whole world is fake, look first at your own inner state rather than assuming the world itself has gone bad. What you see so often reflects what you carry inside you, and the clearest way to test that is to notice when your perception of everything shifts at once.
The verse
आंधळ्यासि जन अवघे चि आंधळे । आपणासि डोळे दृष्टी नाहीं ॥१॥ रोग्या विषतुल्य लागे हें मिष्टान्न । तोंडासि कारण चवी नाहीं ॥२॥ तुका म्हणे शुद्ध नाहीं जो आपण । तया त्रिभुवन अवघें खोटें ॥३॥
Literal translation
To the blind — all jana are blind — one's own no eyes-and-dṛṣṭi. To the rōgī, sweet-food tastes viṣa-tulya — the mouth has no chavī — that is the cause. Tuka says: one who is not śuddha himself — for him, the whole tribhuvana is false.
मराठी: आंधळ्यासि जन अवघे चि आंधळे — आपणासि डोळे दृष्टी नाहीं. रोग्या विषतुल्य लागे हें मिष्टान्न — तोंडासि कारण चवी नाहीं. तुकाराम म्हणतात — शुद्ध नाहीं जो आपण — तया त्रिभुवन अवघें खोटें.
Word-by-word gloss
| Marathi | Meaning |
|---|---|
| आंधळ्यासि जन अवघे चि आंधळे | "to theāndhaḷā(blind) — alljana(people) are blind" |
| आपणासि डोळे दृष्टी नाहीं | "one's own — no eyes-and-dṛṣṭi" |
| रोग्या विषतुल्य लागे हें मिष्टान्न | "to therōgī(diseased) — sweet-food tastesviṣa-tulya(poison-equal)" |
| तोंडासि कारण चवी नाहीं | "the mouth — nochavī(savor) — is thekāraṇa(cause)" |
| शुद्ध नाहीं जो आपण | "one who is notśuddhahimself" |
| तया त्रिभुवन अवघें खोटें | "for him, the wholetribhuvanaiskhōṭē(false)" |
What it means
A precise self-state-determines-perception abhang. Three claims:
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आंधळ्यासि जन अवघे चि आंधळे — आपणासि डोळे दृष्टी नाहीं — to the blind, all are blind — one's own no eyes-and-dṛṣṭi. The blindness-projection. The blind person's world is filled with blind-others — because his own dṛṣṭi is absent. He projects his blindness onto everyone.
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रोग्या विषतुल्य लागे हें मिष्टान्न — तोंडासि कारण चवी नाहीं — to the diseased, sweet-food tastes poisonous — mouth has no chavī. The taste-distortion. The diseased mouth tastes the sweet as poison. The cause is the mouth's lack of chavī, not the food's actual quality. The food is sweet; the diseased tongue cannot register it.
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तुका म्हणे शुद्ध नाहीं जो आपण — तया त्रिभुवन अवघें खोटें — one not-śuddha himself — for him, tribhuvana is khōṭē. The generalized-claim. One who is not śuddha (= pure, clean, of-clear-perception) sees the whole tribhuvana as khōṭē (false). The not-purity is in the perceiver, not in the tribhuvana.
[T]
For someone today
Tukaram gives two simple pictures. A blind person cannot see anyone, so it feels to him as though everyone around him is blind too, when really the missing sight is only his own. A person with a fever finds even sweet food tasting bitter or poisonous, not because the food changed but because his mouth lost its sense of taste. From these he draws a wider point: if you find yourself convinced that everyone is corrupt, that nothing is trustworthy, or that the whole world is fake, look first at your own inner state rather than assuming the world itself has gone bad. What you see so often reflects what you carry inside you, and the clearest way to test that is to notice when your perception of everything shifts at once.
मराठी: तुकाराम दोन साध्या उदाहरणांतून हे सांगतात. आंधळ्या माणसाला कोणीच दिसत नाही, त्यामुळे त्याला असं वाटतं की सगळेच आंधळे आहेत, पण खरं तर दृष्टी नसणं ही फक्त त्याचीच कमतरता असते. तापाने फणफणलेल्या माणसाला गोड अन्नसुद्धा कडू किंवा विषासारखं लागतं, कारण अन्न बदललेलं नसतं तर त्याच्या जिभेची चव जाणण्याची शक्तीच गेलेली असते. यातून तुकाराम एक व्यापक मुद्दा मांडतात: जर तुम्हाला असं वाटू लागलं की सगळेच भ्रष्ट आहेत, कशावरच विश्वास ठेवता येत नाही, किंवा संपूर्ण जग खोटं आहे, तर आधी स्वतःच्या आतल्या स्थितीकडे पाहा, जग वाईट झालं आहे असं गृहीत धरण्याआधी. तुम्ही जे पाहता ते बरेचदा तुमच्या आतल्या अवस्थेचं प्रतिबिंब असतं, आणि हे तपासण्याचा सगळ्यात स्पष्ट मार्ग म्हणजे तुमची सगळ्याच गोष्टींकडे पाहण्याची दृष्टी अचानक एकाच वेळी बदलते तेव्हा त्याची नोंद घेणं.
Where this applies
- Blind sees blind everywhere. Self-state projection.
- Distorted-taste is in the mouth, not the food. Check perceiver before blaming perceived.
- Not-śuddha self → tribhuvana looks false. Check your own śuddhi.