Abhanga 1088

Tukaram admits he comes from a low caste and says there is nothing in that for him to be proud of; it is not him people bow to, it is God. He takes no satisfaction in other people's envy or disapproval of him, because whatever feeling they carry inside is theirs to own, not his to answer for. He offers a small image: people will carefully carry even a filthy rag on their head, not because the rag itself matters, but because there is a gold coin knotted inside it. In the same way, real worth often hides inside something that looks poor or unimpressive from outside. He ends by saying other people may be bowed to and honored for their status, but he, being poor and lowly, has no craving for that kind of recognition.

The verse

Literal translation

What it means

A yāti-hīna-self-positioning abhang. Four claims:

1. याति-हीन-अभिमान-नाहीं — जन-Nārāyaṇa. No-abhimāna-claim. Yāti-hīna I am — what abhimāna?;janacounts you as Nārāyaṇa. (I have no caste-pride; people seeyou as Nārāyaṇa.)

2. खंती-नाहीं — गुण-भाव-आपण. No-pleasure-from-regret-claim. Whatsukhafor me from theirkhamtī (regret, lament)?;they take their own guṇa-bhāva. (People feel their own remorse; their guṇa-bhāva is theirs.)

3. द्रव्य-चिंधी — होन-गांठी. Rag-on-head-because-of-money-claim. Because ofdravya (gold), the cimdhī (rag) is carried on the māthā;because hōna (a gold-coin) was-gāṇṭhī (knotted) in it. (People carry a rag on their head only because gold is tied in it.)

4. Tuka: जन-वेगळ — दुर्बळ-चाड-नाहीं. No-cāḍa-for-me-claim. Tuka says: jana bows vēgaḷā (separately, to others); whatcāḍa for me, dur-baḷa?

[T]

For someone today

Tukaram admits he comes from a low caste and says there is nothing in that for him to be proud of; it is not him people bow to, it is God. He takes no satisfaction in other people's envy or disapproval of him, because whatever feeling they carry inside is theirs to own, not his to answer for. He offers a small image: people will carefully carry even a filthy rag on their head, not because the rag itself matters, but because there is a gold coin knotted inside it. In the same way, real worth often hides inside something that looks poor or unimpressive from outside. He ends by saying other people may be bowed to and honored for their status, but he, being poor and lowly, has no craving for that kind of recognition.

मराठी: तुकाराम कबूल करतात की ते नीच जातीचे आहेत, आणि त्यात अभिमान वाटण्यासारखं काहीच नाही; लोक त्यांना नाही, तर देवालाच नारायण मानून वंदन करतात. इतरांचा हेवा किंवा नापसंती त्यांना काहीच सुख देत नाही, कारण त्यांच्या मनात जो भाव उमटतो तो त्यांचाच आहे, तुकारामांनी त्याची जबाबदारी घ्यायची गरज नाही. ते एक साधं उदाहरण देतात - लोक डोक्यावर मळकी चिंधीही जपून वाहतात, ती चिंधी मौल्यवान म्हणून नव्हे, तर तिच्यात सोन्याचं नाणं गाठ मारून बांधलेलं असतं म्हणून. त्याचप्रमाणे खरी किंमत बरेचदा बाहेरून गरीब किंवा साधारण दिसणाऱ्या गोष्टीच्या आत लपलेली असते. शेवटी ते म्हणतात, इतर लोकांना त्यांच्या दर्जामुळे मान-सन्मान मिळत असेल, पण आपण गरीब आणि दुर्बळ असल्यामुळे अशा सन्मानाची त्यांना काहीच आस नाही.

Where this applies

• Yāti-hīna. Abhimāna.
• No-pleasure. Khamti.
• Rag-and-money. Hōna.
• No-cāḍa. Vēgaḷā.

Related verses

• Abhanga 2381 — For today: Name has no-price; just two letters — Rāma Rāma; no caste, no religion, no jāti
• Abhanga 3855 — Judge the actual quality of a thing or person, not the humble or unlikely place it came fr
• Abhanga 4205 — Devotion asks for nothing but love and the Name in every state of being, and it declares t
• Abhanga 4273 — If your time, money, and attention flow easily to everything except God and genuine goodne