Abhanga 672

When a community rejects you and the powerful turn against you, stop trying to win them back and go looking for God instead.

The verse

Literal translation

What it means

A what-to-eat-where-to-go-village-pāṭīla-angry-Viṭhṭhal-search abhang. Tukaram's autobiographical-distress register. This is a strikingly autobiographical-sounding lament — the gāva (Tukaram's Dehu) has turned against him; the pāṭīla is angry; the matter is being raised in the divāṇa (court of the local revenue / authority); even the alms-giving has stopped. The bhakta's response: leave-the-village-and-go-search-for-Viṭhṭhal.

1. काय खावें — कोठें जावें — गांवांत बळें कोण्या? Opening-distress-claim. No food, no place to go, no strength to stay in the village.

2. पाटील कोपला — गांव-लोक — आतां भीक कोण? Village-rejection-claim. Thepāṭīla(village-headman, the authority) is angry; thegāva-lōkaare too; now who will-give-me alms? (Tukaram's source-of-living, alms, has stopped.)

3. चवी सांडली म्हणती — दिवाण-निवाडा. Court-charge-claim. They say he hascavī sāṇḍilī (literally, lost-taste; idiomatically, lost-grasp / become-derelict / become-eccentric);they will nivāḍā (decide) the matter in the divāṇa (court / official-court). (This is a charge-being-prepared.)

4. भल्या-लोकींना मात — दुर्बळाचा घात. Charge-spread-claim. Themāta(matter) has been told to thebhalē-lōka(the noble-ones, the elders, the influential); they have struck aghāta(blow / harm) against me, thedurbaḷa(helpless). Notable-people-have-been-recruited-against-the-helpless.

5. Tuka: ह्यांचा संग न-भला — विठ्ठला शोधीत जाऊं. Closing-resolution-claim. Thissanga(company) is not good; now I will-gośōdhīta(searching) Viṭhṭhal. Leave-the-village-and-search-for-Viṭhṭhal.

[T]

For someone today

In this abhanga Tukaram describes being pushed to the edge: no food, nowhere to go, the village headman angry, the neighbors turning away, even alms drying up. People are spreading word that he has lost his senses, and the matter is being taken to court, with respected elders recruited against him. Rather than staying to defend himself or beg for approval, Tukaram decides this company is not worth keeping and turns instead to search for Vitthal. The lesson is that when a community rejects you and the powerful close ranks against you, you do not have to win them back — you can simply walk away and go looking for God instead.

मराठी: या अभंगात तुकाराम सांगतात की त्यांना गावाने नाकारले आहे: खायला अन्न नाही, जायला जागा नाही, पाटील रागावलेला आहे, गावकरी दुरावले आहेत, भीकसुद्धा मिळेनाशी झाली आहे. लोक म्हणतात की त्यांची बुद्धी बिघडली आहे आणि हे प्रकरण दिवाणात नेले जात आहे, प्रतिष्ठित लोकांनाही त्यांच्याविरुद्ध उभे केले जात आहे. स्वतःचा बचाव करत बसण्याऐवजी किंवा मान्यता मागण्याऐवजी तुकाराम ठरवतात की ही संगत बरी नाही, आणि विठ्ठलाला शोधत निघून जातात. शिकवण अशी की जेव्हा समाज तुम्हाला नाकारतो आणि बलवान लोक तुमच्याविरुद्ध एकत्र येतात, तेव्हा त्यांचे मन वळवण्याची गरज नाही — तुम्ही सरळ निघून जाऊन देवाला शोधू शकता.

Where this applies

• No food, no place. Distress.
• Pāṭīla angry. Village-rejection.
• Cavī sāṇḍilī. Court-charge.
• Ghātaagainstdurbaḷa. Charge-spread.
• Śōdhīta Viṭhṭhalā jāūm. Resolution.

Related verses

• Abhanga 2464 — For today: Pāṇḍuranga is sukha-rūpa ; no wandering, no shaving, no sādhana-pressure ; Chan
• Abhanga 2490 — The divine is most reachable through the living presence of a true saint, not through a di
• Abhanga 2494 — Living in devotion turns an ordinary day into a festival and removes the fear of birth and
• Abhanga 4481 — Tukaram promises that sincerely calling on the Lord's name, knowingly or unknowingly, with