Abhanga 1702
Wake up to the harm you keep letting happen in plain sight, because ignoring an obvious danger again and again only leads to ruin.
The verse
किती वेळा खादला दगा । अझून कां जागसी ना ॥१॥ लाज नाहीं हिंडतां गांवें । दुःख नवें नित्य नित्य ॥ध्रु.॥ सवें चोरा हातीं फांसे । देखतां कैसे न देखसी ॥२॥ तुका म्हणे सांडिती वाट । तळपट करावया ॥३॥
Literal translation
How many times have you eaten the cheat? — still why don't you wake? No shame, roaming the village — new duḥkha daily-daily. With the thief, the noose is in his hand — seeing, how do you not see? Tuka says: they will abandon the way to make-bottom-flat.
Word-by-word gloss
| Marathi | Meaning |
|---|---|
| किती वेळा खादला दगा | "how many times — eaten the cheat" |
| अझून कां जागसी ना | "still — why — don't wake" |
| लाज नाहीं हिंडतां गांवें | "no shame — roaming the village" |
| दुःख नवें नित्य नित्य | "new duḥkha — daily-daily" |
| सवें चोरा हातीं फांसे | "with the thief — in his hand — the noose" |
| देखतां कैसे न देखसी | "seeing — how do you not see" |
| तुका म्हणे सांडिती वाट | "Tuka says — they will abandon — the way" |
| तळपट करावया | "to make bottom-flat (ruin)" |
What it means
Anti-self-deceiving abhang. Second of 3-abhang cluster (1701, 1702, 1703).
The opening shake-up: kitī vēḷā khādalā dagā — ajhūna kām jāgasī nā — how many times eaten the cheat — still why don't you wake? Dagā khādalā = eaten the cheat / been-deceived. Repeated-deception, still no-waking.
The shameless-village-roaming: lāja nāhīm hiṇḍatām gāmvē — duḥkha navēm nitya nitya — no shame roaming the village — new duḥkha daily-daily. (= roaming-around begging-or-being-mocked, no shame; daily a new sorrow.)
The thief-with-noose: savē cōrā hātīm phāmsē — dēkhatām kaisē na dēkhasī — with the thief, the noose is in his hand — seeing, how do you not see? (= the thief himself holds the noose; you see this and yet don't see.)
The closing: Tukā mhaṇē sāṇḍitī vāṭa — taḷa-paṭa karāvayā — Tuka says: they will abandon the way to make-bottom-flat (= ruin). Taḷa-paṭa = bottom-flat = utter-ruin. (= they will deviate-from-the-way to ensure your-utter-ruin.)
[T]
For someone today
For today: how many times have you eaten the cheat? — still, why don't you wake up?; you have no shame while roaming the village — and new sorrow comes to you daily-and-daily; with the very-thief, the noose is in his hand — seeing this, how do you not see?; Tuka says — they will abandon the path just to bring you to utter ruin.
Where this applies
- When you keep falling for the same kind of scam or bad deal and still don't change your guard
- When you notice a harmful habit causing you fresh trouble every single day but keep repeating it anyway
- When someone who is clearly taking advantage of you is doing it openly, and you still make excuses not to see it
- When you sense yourself drifting off a path you know is right, and you keep putting off the correction