संत साहित्य · Tukārām · Abhanga 2337 of 4582

Abhanga 2337

You do not have to carry the pride of judging every quarrel or owning every outcome; you can set that burden down and hand it to God.

When you are stuck in an argument and cannot untangle who was really at fault

When you feel your pride pushing you to claim you were right no matter what

When you are worn out from carrying blame or responsibility for something you did not fully cause

The verse

करविली तैसी केली कटकट । वांकडें कीं नीट देव जाणे ॥१॥ कोणाकारणें हें जालेंसे निर्माण । देवाचें कारण देव जाणे ॥२॥ तुका म्हणे मी या अभिमाना वेगळा । घालुनि गोपाळा भार असें ॥३॥

Literal translation

The quarrel was made as caused — crooked or straight, Dēva knows. For whose cause this came-to-be created — Dēva's cause, Dēva knows. Tuka says — I am apart from this abhimāna — I've put the burden on Gōpāḷa.

What it means

I-am-apart-from-abhimāna + burden-on-Gōpāḷa ABHANG.

The closing — the bhakta's-clean-handed-position: Tukā mhaṇē mī yā abhimānā vēgaḷā — ghāluni Gōpāḷā bhāra asē — Tuka says — I am apart from this abhimāna — I've put the burden on Gōpāḷa. Abhimāna = ego, conceit, claim. I-am-apart from-this-abhimāna; I've-put-the-burden-on-Gōpāḷa. The classic-bhakta-stance: the bhakta-doesn't-claim-authorship of-any-quarrel-or-outcome; he's-placed-the-whole-burden-on-Gōpāḷa.

[T]

For someone today

For today: the quarrel was made as caused — Dēva knows crooked or straight; for whose cause this came to be created — Dēva knows; Tuka says — I am apart from this abhimāna — burden on Gōpāḷa.

Where this applies

When you are caught in a conflict and cannot tell who was really right or wrong
When you feel driven to defend your pride instead of letting an argument rest
When you keep replaying an outcome trying to figure out whose fault it truly was
When you feel exhausted carrying responsibility for something beyond your control

Bhakti