Abhanga 828

Speaking the truth and exposing wrong should feel like delight rather than burden, blame from one person or a whole crowd need not shake you, and in the end only genuine devotion, not its counterfeit, actually holds value.

The verse

Literal translation

What it means

A delight-give-nīti-to-world-shame-erring-no-bondage-from-blame-no-need-from-anger-no-avidyā-labor-Rāma-Kṛṣṇa-nāma-arrows-trade-of-true-coins-false-don't-pass abhang. True-coin-vs-false-anti-pākhāṇḍa register. Four claims:

1. आम्हां-कवतुक — जगा-नीत-द्यायची — चुकणाऱ्यांना-फजित-करायचं. Delight-to-give-nīti-shame-erring-claim. We have thiskavatuka (delight, sport, the pleasure-of-this-game)—to give nīti (right-rule, code) to the jagat; to make-phajita(shameful, exposed-as-fools) those whochukatī(err). Our delight is to teach right-rule and shame the erring. (Tuka's bracing self-image: this isn't sour-criticism — it's a kavatuka, a sport.)

2. एकाच्या-निरोपें-काय-बाध — जगाच्या-कोपें-काय-व्हावं. No-bondage-from-blame-no-need-from-anger-claim. What-bādha(bondage, harm) from one-person'snirōpa(rebuke-message, blame)? What needs to-happen from thejagat'skōpa (anger)?Blame-and-anger-of-the-world cause-no-bondage. (Tuka's stance: he isunbotheredby being-blamed because thekavatukaisn't his — it's theHari-nāma's.)

3. अविद्येचा-परिश्रम-इथे-कुठे — Rāma-Kṛṣṇa-nāma-बाण. No-avidyā-labor-Rāma-Kṛṣṇa-nāma-are-arrows-claim. Where here is thepariśrama(toilsome-effort) ofavidyā (ignorance — the spiritual-effort of philosophical-debate, ritual-purity, etc.)?—Rāma-Kṛṣṇa-nāma, indeed, are like bāṇa (arrows) — already-ready-to-fly.No-philosophical-toil; the Name-itself is the arrow. (Theavidyā-pariśrama is not needed here; the Name-as-arrow does the work.)

4. Tuka: खऱ्यांचा-विकरा — खोट्या-परी-इतर-सरत-नाहीत. Trade-of-true-coins-claim. Tuka says: here is thevikarā (trade, sale, market) of the khaṛē (true ones — the genuine-coins);the others, the khōṭē (false ones, counterfeits), na saratī (won't pass — won't be-accepted-as-currency).True-coins-trade-here-false-don't-pass. (Tuka's market-metaphor: in thisvikarā (the bhakti-marketplace), only-the-true-coins pass. The pākhāṇḍa-counterfeits won't go-through.)

[T]

For someone today

Tukaram describes his own mission almost playfully: it delights him to hold up what is right and to expose those who go wrong, not out of bitterness but as something closer to sport. He says a single person's blame does not bind him, and he does not need to react to the anger of a crowd, he can hold his ground without being shaken by criticism. He adds that there is no need for exhausting philosophical striving here, the names Rama and Krishna are already like arrows, ready to fly and do the work on their own. He closes with a market image, in this marketplace of devotion only genuine coin trades, counterfeit devotion simply will not pass as currency.

मराठी: तुकाराम आपल्या स्वतःच्या कार्याचे वर्णन जवळजवळ खेळकरपणे करतात, जगाला योग्य मार्ग दाखवणे आणि चुकणाऱ्यांना उघडे पाडणे हे त्यांना कटुतेने नव्हे तर एका खेळासारखे आनंददायी वाटते. ते म्हणतात की एका माणसाच्या निंदेने त्यांना काही बंधन येत नाही, आणि जगाच्या रागाला प्रतिसाद देण्याचीही गरज नाही, टीकेने न डगमगता आपण आपल्या जागी ठाम राहू शकतो. ते हेही सांगतात की इथे कंटाळवाण्या तात्त्विक झटापटीची गरज नाही, राम आणि कृष्ण ही नावेच जणू सज्ज बाण आहेत, जी आपोआप आपले काम करतात. आणि शेवटी ते बाजाराची प्रतिमा वापरतात, ह्या भक्तीच्या बाजारात फक्त खरे नाणे चालते, खोटी भक्ती चलनासारखी टिकतच नाही.

Where this applies

• Delight-shame. Bracing.
• Unbothered. Equanimity.
• Name-as-arrow. Power.
• True-coin-market. Discrimination.

Related verses

• Abhanga 2448 — The easiest path to God is repeating divine names with love at home, right where you are,
• Abhanga 2467 — What looks like your whole world, like a fig to the insect living inside it, is only a tin
• 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