Abhanga 1393

Growing honor is the moment to stay most disciplined and humble, because whatever you immerse yourself in, status or company, is the color that ends up sticking to you.

The verse

Literal translation

What it means

Don't-take-rest-when-honor-grows abhang. The opening warning: vāḍhaliyām māna na manāvī niścinti — whenmāna(honor / status) has grown,don't take niścinti(carefreeness / let-down). Honor-growth is dangerous — don't relax. Compare 1308 jāṇapaṇa baravēm Devācē śirīm — let knowing be on Deva's head; here the warning is don't relax just because honor came.

The corollary stance: bhūtāñciyē prītī bhūta-paṇa — for thebhūtas'love —bhūta-paṇa(= being-as-bhūta-among-bhūtas). To love the bhūtas (= ordinary beings), you must remain a bhūta-among-bhūtas, not climb above them on honor.

The discipline: mhaṇa'ūnī manā lāvāvī kāncanī — indriyāncē jhaṇī ōḍhī bharē — therefore — applykāncanī(= thethread / measuring-line / discipline-line) to the mind — the indriyas willjhaṇī(forcefully)ōḍhī bharē(= pull-and-flood). The indriyas are always pressing; the mind must be tied to a measuring-line.

The dyeing-image: ēkā ēka-paṇē ēkāciyē angīm — lāgē ranga rangīm miḷaliyā — in theēka(one), byēka-paṇa(oneness), in theone's body—color sticks(lāgē ranga) — when colors are mixed (rangīm miḷaliyā). The dyeing-vat metaphor: when colors mix in the dyer's vat, the cloth-in-the-vat takes on the predominant color. So the bhakta in the one's vat takes on the one's color.

The closing distinction: Deva niṣkāma nirāḷā — jīva-daśē cāḷā caḷaṇāncā — Deva isniṣkāma(desire-less) andnirāḷā(separate / distinct) — thejīva-daśā(jīva-state) is thecāḷā(= game, sport) ofcaḷaṇa(changing, moving). The Deva is outside the change-game; the jīva-state is the change-game. The jīva that recognizes this both is and is not the cāḷā.

[T]

For someone today

For today: when honor grows, don't relax; for the bhūtas' love, stay bhūta among them; tie the mind to the kāncanī; in the one's body, color sticks; Deva is niṣkāma-and-separate, the jīva-state is the change-game.

Where this applies

• When you receive recognition, a promotion, or public praise and feel tempted to loosen your standards
• When your new status makes you start looking down on people you used to consider your equals
• When you know your urges and temptations will pull hard regardless of your good intentions and you need a concrete practice to hold steady
• When you are deciding what company, habits, or environment to immerse yourself in, knowing it will shape who you become

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