संत साहित्य · Tukārām · Abhanga 2333 of 4582

Abhanga 2333

Without real trust to actually listen to what nourishes the spirit, no amount of other effort or busyness will fill the emptiness it leaves behind.

When you dismiss a source of wisdom or comfort before ever really giving it your attention

When you find yourself restless, jumping from one distraction to another instead of settling into something true

When you realize a habit of avoidance has quietly cost you years of your life

The verse

हरिकथे नाहीं । विश्वास ज्याचे ठायीं ॥१॥ त्याची वाणी अमंगळ । कान उंदराचें बीळ ॥ध्रु.॥ सांडुनि हा रस । करिती आणीक सायास ॥२॥ तुका म्हणे पिसीं । वांयां गेलीं किती ऐसीं ॥३॥

Literal translation

Hari-kathā is not — the faith of whose place. His vāṇī is amangaḷa — his ears are the rat-hole. Abandoning this rasa — they do another effort. Tuka says: the deluded — how many like this have gone in vain.

What it means

Critique-of-non-Hari-kathā-listeners abhang.

The rat-hole-ears image: tyāchī vāṇī amangaḷa — kāna undarāchē bīḷa — his vāṇī is amangaḷa — his ears are the rat-hole. Bīḷa = hole, burrow. The non-Hari-kathā-faithful's-vāṇī is-amangaḷa (inauspicious); his ears are like-a-rat-hole (= dark, useless, nothing-good-enters).

[T]

For someone today

For today: no Hari-kathā-faith — vāṇī amangaḷa — ears like rat-hole; abandoning this rasa — they do another effort; Tuka says — the deluded — how many like this have gone in vain.

Where this applies

When you keep scrolling past something meaningful because you don't really trust it will help you
When you notice your own words turning bitter or careless after ignoring what used to ground you
When you fill your days with busy effort but avoid the one practice that actually settles your mind
When you look back and realize years passed chasing distractions instead of listening to what mattered

Bhakti