Abhanga 2221

When you're truly bound to someone, their reputation and your own honor become inseparable, and protecting one protects the other.

The verse

Literal translation

What it means

Not-my-concern-but-your-Name's-preservation + the-shame-is-the-Master's-affair abhang. Eleventh abhang of the niḍrā-cluster.

The opening — not-my-concern: mājhā maja nāhīm — ālā ubēga tō kāmhīm — it's not my [concern] for myself — some grief has come. Ubēga = grief, distress. It's-not-(a-concern)-for-myself; some-grief has-come (for-a-different-reason).

The Name-preservation argument: tumacyā nāmācī jatana — navhatām thōra vāṭē sīṇa — preservation of your Name — not being [preserved], great fatigue is felt. It's-the-preservation of-your-Name; when-it-isn't-being-(preserved), great-fatigue (sīṇa) is-felt-(by-me). The bhakta's-genius-move: shifting-the-complaint from-his-own-suffering to-the-Lord's-Name-being-disgraced.

The let-no-nindā: na paḍāvī nindā — kānīm svāmīñchī Gōvindā — let no nindā fall — in the Master's ears, Govinda. Let-no-defamation fall in-the-Master's-(your)-ears, Govinda (= don't let-(my-distress)-cause-defamation-to-reach-your-ears).

The closing — shame-is-Master's-affair: Tukā mhaṇē lāja — āmhām svāmīñchē tē kāja — Tuka says: the shame is the Master's affair. The shame is-the-Master's-affair (= the-Lord's-concern-to-prevent) (= if-I-am-shamed, it-reflects-on-the-Master).

The argument continues from 2220's mercantile-logic: the Lord's-reputation is-at-stake. If-Tukārām-is-shamed, the Lord's-name is-defamed. The bhakta-throws-the-burden-of-his-honor onto-the-Lord-who-claims-him.

[T]

For someone today

For today: not my concern for myself — some grief has come; preservation of your Name — not being, great fatigue; let no nindā fall in Master's ears, Govinda; Tuka says — the shame is the Master's affair.

Where this applies

• When your worry isn't really about yourself but about someone else's reputation being tied to yours
• When you try to shield someone you respect from gossip or criticism connected to you
• When shame from a shared situation feels like it belongs to both people, not just you
• When you realize your honor and someone else's are bound together

Related verses

• Abhanga 2448 — The easiest path to God is repeating divine names with love at home, right where you are,
• Abhanga 2467 — What looks like your whole world, like a fig to the insect living inside it, is only a tin
• Abhanga 2494 — Living in devotion turns an ordinary day into a festival and removes the fear of birth and
• Abhanga 4481 — Tukaram promises that sincerely calling on the Lord's name, knowingly or unknowingly, with