Abhanga 1750

Don't let people who are themselves off track pull you off the straight path, and don't reject anyone entirely for their faults, take the good in them and quietly leave the rest.

The verse

Literal translation

What it means

Anti-misleading-others + take-guṇa-throw-avaguṇa abhang.

The opening: cālitī āḍa vāṭā — āṇikām drāvitī jē nīṭā — walking side-paths — drive away others who go straight. Those-who-themselves-walk-side-paths drive-away those-who-go-straight.

The non-recognition: na manī tayāñcē upakāra — nāhīm jōḍā tō gamvhāra — don't recognize their upakāra — no equal to the rustic. They don't recognize the favor done by the straight-walkers; the rustic-without-equal.

The drowning-warner: viṣa sēvūni vārī māgē — prāṇa jātām jēṇē sangē / buḍatām hāka mārī — ṭhāva nāhīm āṇikām vārī — takes poison and warns back — life departs with whom; while drowning calls out — no place to ward off others. Such-a-person himself takes-poison-or-drowns; tries to warn others (incompetently).

The closing: Tukā mhaṇē na karīm hinkā — guṇa ghē'ūna avaguṇa ṭākā — Tuka says: don't make hindrance — take guṇa, throw avaguṇa. Hinkā = hindrance, obstruction. Don't obstruct; take-the-virtue (from each), throw-away-the-fault.

[T]

For someone today

For today: those who themselves walk side-paths — drive away others who walk straight; they don't recognize the favor done by the straight-walkers — there is no equal to such a rustic; he takes poison himself and tries to warn others back — life departs with whom?; while drowning, he calls out — but he has no place from which to ward off others; Tuka says — don't make obstruction — take the virtue (from each), throw away the fault.

Where this applies

• When someone whose own life is a mess tries to talk you out of doing the honest, straightforward thing
• When you dismiss genuine good advice or help just because it comes from someone plain or unimpressive
• When you notice you're taking life guidance from someone who is clearly struggling and can't even help themselves
• When you're tempted to write off a person completely for one fault instead of noticing the good still in them

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