Abhanga 500

Confess your wrong honestly, then trust the one who has already claimed you as their own not to cast you aside because of it.

The verse

Literal translation

What it means

A forgiveness-petition-with-tall-tree-image abhang. Famous closing-image: vāra lāgōm pāhatō umcyā jhāḍāsī (the wind seeks the tall tree = the lajjā lands on the one-with-reputation-to-lose, not the hīna-bhakta). Four claims:

1. अगोचरी बोलिलों आज्ञेविण आगळें — परी तें आतां न संडावें राउळें — spoke agocara without ājñā āgaḷē — don't abandon the rauḷa. The opening-confession: I have spokenagocara(un-graspable, forbidden, beyond-bounds) withoutājñā(permission),āgaḷē(beyond-limit); but don'tsamḍāvē(abandon) thisrauḷa(royal-dwelling = the bhakta's life as the deva's-residence). Confession-with-non-abandonment-plea.

2. जाईल रोकडा बोल न पुसती आम्हां — तुझा तुझें म्हणविलें पाहा पुरुषोत्तमा — rōkaḍa-bōla will go — won't ask us — You said 'Yours is mine' — see, Puruṣōttama. The leverage-claim: therōkaḍa-bōla(the instant-word, the bald-truth-speech) — will go (= will be remembered by people) — they won't ask us (about it); You said 'Yours is mine' (= You-claimed-me-as-Yours); see,Puruṣōttama(Supreme-Person). The deva's own claim of-me-as-Yours is now leverage.

3. न व्हावा न वजावा न कळतां अन्याय — न धरावें तें मनीं भलता करा उपाय — known/unknown anyāya — don't keep in mana — do whatever upāya. The clear-the-anyāya plea: whether known or unknownanyāya(wrong, transgression) —let-it-not-be / don't-let-it-stand; don'tdharāvēm(hold) inmana(mind); dobhaltā upāya(whatever-remedy-You-want). Clean-slate-by-any-means-You-prefer.

4. म्हणे तुकयाबंधु हीन मी म्हणोनि लाजसी — वारा लागों पाहातोहे उंच्या झाडासी — Tukyā-bamdhu says: I'm hīna so You feel lajjā — the wind seeks the tall tree. The closing-leverage-image: Tukyā-bamdhu says: because I amhīna(lowly, base) — You feellajjā(shame); the wind goes-seeking (lāgōm pāhatō) theumcyā jhāḍāsī(tall tree). Thelajjā-of-the-hīna lands on the deva, not the bhakta;the proverb: the wind hits the tall tree, not the small bush — the consequence-falls-on-the-tall (= the deva), not the small (= the bhakta).Reputation-leverage-by-tall-tree-image.

[T]

For someone today

This verse is an honest, unguarded confession, the speaker admits to overstepping, to saying things without permission, followed by a plea not to be cast aside because of it. The core move is turning back to a specific promise: once someone has claimed you as their own, that claim becomes something you can lean on when you have messed up. The plea is simple, do not hold this wrong against me forever, do whatever needs to happen to make it right. The closing image is memorable: it is the tall tree that catches the wind, not the small one, so when a lowly person is shamed, it is the greater one's reputation that is really at stake, and that can be trusted to keep them protective.

मराठी: ही ओवी एक प्रामाणिक, बिनदिक्कत कबुली आहे, बोलणारा मान्य करतो की त्याने परवानगीशिवाय, मर्यादेबाहेर जाऊन बोलले आहे, आणि त्यामुळे त्याला सोडून देऊ नये अशी विनवणी करतो. यातील मुख्य युक्ती म्हणजे एका विशिष्ट वचनाकडे परत वळणे: एकदा कोणीतरी तुम्हाला आपले म्हणून स्वीकारले की, चूक झाल्यावर त्याच वचनाचा आधार घेता येतो. विनवणी साधी आहे, ही चूक कायमची मनात ठेवू नकोस, जे योग्य वाटेल ते करून ती दुरुस्त कर. शेवटची प्रतिमा लक्षात राहण्यासारखी आहे: वारा उंच झाडालाच लागतो, लहान झुडपाला नाही, त्यामुळे लहान माणूस लाजिरवाणा झाला की खरे तर मोठ्याच्या प्रतिष्ठेला धक्का लागतो, आणि यावर विश्वास ठेवता येतो की तो त्यामुळेच रक्षण करत राहील.

Where this applies

• Confess + non-abandon-plead. Don't despair.
• 'Yours is mine' leverage. Use deva's-claim.
• No permanent anyāya record. Clean-slate.
• Vāra-umcyā-jhāḍāsī. Reputation-on-tall-tree.

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