Abhanga 402

You don't have to win every argument about who is right; some truths are known only to you and the divine, and being doubted by someone you love does not mean you alone are at fault.

The verse

Literal translation

What it means

A bhakta-questions-deva's-suspicion abhang. Note: Tukyā-bamdhu mudra — attributed to Kānhōbā Tukārām. Four claims:

1. मजपें दुजें आलें तें देव जाणे — शब्द काय हे बोलसी ते उणे — to me, dujē came — deva knows — what śabda-uṇē You speak? The opening-defense: the deva knows whetherdujē(another) came to me; what lacking-words are You speaking (in suspecting me)? The bhakta defends — only the deva knows the truth.

2. तंट केलें हें माझें तुझें उपाधीं — उघडी डोळे आझुनि तरी धरीं शुद्धि — made tamṭa — māzhē-tuzhē upādhi — open eyes, keep śuddhi. The upādhi-claim: (You) made the quarrel —māzhē-tuzhē(mine-and-yours) isupādhi(superimposition / false-attribution); open the eyes; keepśuddhi(consciousness, awareness) at least now. The mine-yours quarrel is upādhi-quarrel; open-eyes dissolves it.

3. कैसा भला मी नव्हे तें सोसिलें — रुसतेसी तूं उफराटें नवल जालें — how — am I — bhalā — what I bore? — sulking at me — uphaṛāṭa — novelty. The protest: how am Ibhalā— what (suspicion) I have borne! — You sulking at me —uphaṛāṭa(upside-down) — that's a novelty. The bhakta is the suspected-one and the deva is the sulker; the role-reversal is novel.

4. कष्टी केलें मज गरुडा भीमकीसि — तुकयाबंधु म्हणे खरें खोटें नव्हे यासि — troubled me — Garuḍa, Bhīmakī — Tukyā-bamdhu says: kharē-khōṭē don't apply to Him. The closing-claim: You troubled me — evenGaruḍaandBhīmakī(Rukmiṇī) (have been troubled by Krishna's suspicions); Tukyā-bamdhu says:kharē-khōṭē(true-and-false) do not apply to Him. The deva transcends the true-false binary; truth-and-falsity are categories that don't apply to His acts.

[T]

For someone today

When someone doubts you unfairly, this verse says you don't need to over-explain yourself: only you and God know the whole truth, and your defensive words often fall short anyway. The quarrel over mine and yours, over who owns the blame or the trust, is really a false frame we impose on things; opening your eyes with real awareness can dissolve it instead of continuing the fight. Take some comfort in not being alone: even those closest to Krishna, like Garuda and Rukmini, were on the receiving end of his suspicion at times, so being doubted by someone you love is not a sign that something is uniquely wrong with you. And ultimately, with the divine, categories like true and false don't fully apply, since love and devotion work on a different plane than simple accusation and defense.

मराठी: कुणी तुमच्यावर विनाकारण संशय घेतला, तर ही ओवी सांगते की स्वतःचं समर्थन करत बसायची गरज नाही: खरं काय घडलं हे फक्त तुम्हांला आणि परमेश्वरालाच माहीत असतं, आणि बचावाचे शब्द बरेचदा अपुरेच पडतात. माझं आणि तुझं, दोष कुणाचा आणि विश्वास कुणावर, हा वाद खरं तर आपण स्वतः तयार केलेला खोटा साचा आहे; भांडण चालू ठेवण्याऐवजी डोळे उघडून खरी जाण ठेवली की तो साचा विरघळून जातो. एकटं वाटून घेऊ नका: कृष्णाच्या सर्वांत जवळच्या व्यक्तींनाही, गरुड आणि रुक्मिणीलाही, त्याच्या संशयाला सामोरं जावं लागलं होतं, त्यामुळे प्रिय व्यक्तीने संशय घेतला म्हणजे तुमच्यातच काहीतरी वेगळं चुकलं आहे असं नाही. आणि शेवटी, परमेश्वराच्या बाबतीत खरं-खोटं हे मापदंडच पुरेसे नाहीत, कारण प्रेम आणि भक्ती साध्या आरोप-प्रत्यारोपाच्या पातळीवर मोजता येत नाहीत.

Where this applies

• Devaknows;śabda-uṇē fail. Don't waste defense.
• Māzhē-tuzhēisupādhi. Open eyes.
• Even Garuḍa, Bhīmakī troubled. Not unique.
• Kharē-khōṭē don't apply to Him. Transcendence.

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