संत साहित्य
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संत साहित्य · Tukārām · Abhanga 1368 of 4582

Abhanga 1368

For today: don't engineer meetings with sankalpa; let what's-to-be be by its own guṇa; killing the cow for the tiger's hunger has no puṇya; the needy make even parents into donkeys — don't help with half-vicāra.

When you'd force a jāti-vijāti meeting through sankalpa — Tuka warns: don't carry the sankalpa; killing the cow for the tiger's hunger has no puṇya

The verse

जातिविजातीची व्हावयासि भेटी । संकल्प तो पोटीं वाहों नये ॥१॥ होणार तें घडो होणाराच्या गुणें । होइल नारायणें निर्मिलें तें ॥ध्रु.॥ व्याघ्राचिये भुके वधावी ते गाय । याचें नांव काय पुण्य असे ॥२॥ तुका म्हणे न करी विचार पुरता । गरज्याची माता पिता खर ॥३॥

Literal translation

English: For the meeting of jāti-vijāti — don't carry the sankalpa in the pōṭa. Let what's to happen, happen by its own guṇa — what Nārāyaṇa has formed will be. Killing the cow for the tiger's hunger — what name of puṇya? Tuka says: don't do half-vicāra — for the needy, mother-and-father become a donkey.

मराठी: जाति-विजातीची भेटी व्हायला — संकल्प पोटीं वाहूं नये. होणार तें — होणाराच्या गुणानें-च — घडो; नारायणानें निर्मिलेलें तें-च होईल. वाघाच्या भुकेसाठीं — गायीला वधावें — ह्याचें नांव काय पुण्य आहे? Tukā म्हणे — पुरतें-न-केलेला विचार करूं नकोस — गरज्याला (गरजू-ला) — माता-पिता-च खर (गाढव) होतात.

Word-by-word gloss
Marathi Meaning
जातिविजातीची व्हावयासि भेटी "for the meeting of jāti-vijāti (compatible-incompatible / kindred-and-other)"
संकल्प तो पोटीं वाहों नये "don't carry (vāhōm) the sankalpa in the pōṭa"
होणार तें घडो होणाराच्या गुणें "let what's-to-happen — happen — by what's-to-happen's guṇa"
होइल नारायणें निर्मिलें तें "what Nārāyaṇa has formed (nirmilē) — will be"
व्याघ्राचिये भुके वधावी ते गाय "for the vyāghra (tiger)'s hunger — to slaughter (vadhāvī) the cow (gāya)"
याचें नांव काय पुण्य असे "this — what name of puṇya is it?"
न करी विचार पुरता "don't (na karī) — puratā (half / partial) vicāra"
गरज्याची माता पिता खर "(for) the garajyā (needy) — mother-and-father (becomes) a khara (donkey)"

What it means

Don't-force-meeting abhang. The opening: jāti-vijātīcī vhāvayāsi bhēṭī — sankalpa tō pōṭīm vāhōm nayēfor the meeting of jāti-vijāti (the kindred-and-the-other) — don't carry the sankalpa (formal vow / planned-resolve) in the pōṭa. Don't engineer meetings between kindred and unkindred (compatible-and-incompatible) by force-of-sankalpa.

The principle: hōṇāra tē ghaḍō hōṇārācyā guṇē — hō'īla Nārāyaṇē nirmilē tēlet what's-to-happen happen by its-own-guṇa; what Nārāyaṇa has formed will be. Don't override Nārāyaṇa's formation with your sankalpa.

The ethical-test image: vyāghrāciyē bhukē vadhāvī tē gāya — yācē nāmva kāya puṇya asē?killing the cow to feed the tiger's hunger — what name of puṇya is that? Compassion-toward-the-tiger that requires killing the cow is not puṇya; it's just relabeled violence.

The closing aphorism: Tukā mhaṇē na karī vicāra puratā — garajyācī mātā pitā kharaTuka says: don't do puratā (half / un-fulfilled) vicāra — for the garajyā (= one in need / desperate / urgent demander), even mother-and-father become a khara (donkey). The garajyā (the needy person who pressures you) reduces even the closest kin to khara — the garajyā uses everyone as a beast-of-burden. So don't do half-vicāra — don't help under garajyā-pressure without thinking it through.

[T]

For someone today

For today: don't engineer meetings with sankalpa; let what's-to-be be by its own guṇa; killing the cow for the tiger's hunger has no puṇya; the needy make even parents into donkeys — don't help with half-vicāra.

Where this applies

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