Abhanga 2362
True discernment, like a swan separating milk from water, is quick and effortless once you truly know what you are looking for.
The verse
नाहीं घाटावें लागत । एका सितें कळें भात ॥१॥ क्षीर निवडितें पाणी । चोंची हंसाचिये आणी ॥ध्रु.॥ आंगडें फाडुनि घोंगडें करी । अवकळा तये परी ॥२॥ तुका म्हणे कण । भुसीं निवडे कैंचा सीण ॥३॥ स्वामीचें अभंगींचें नांव काढून सालोमालो आपलें नांव घालीत त्यावर अभंग ॥ ८ ॥
Literal translation
No need to taste — one grain reveals the rice. The swan's beak separates milk from water. Tearing the fine-cloth makes the blanket — in such disarray. Tuka says: grain — what exhaustion is there in separating it from chaff. Prose-marginalia: removing Svāmī's [Tukārām's] name from the abhang, Sālōmālō put his own name — abhangs on him ॥8॥.
What it means
THE SWAN-DISCERNMENT ABHANG + THE PROSE-MARGINALIA ANNOUNCING THE FAMOUS SĀLŌMĀLŌ-CLUSTER.
THE CELEBRATED SWAN-IMAGE: kṣīra nivaḍitē pāṇī — chōnchī hamsāchiyē āṇī — the swan's beak separates milk from water. Kṣīra = milk. Hamsa = swan. The swan's-beak separates milk-from-water (= the discerning-sage separates-truth-from-falsehood). One of Tukārām's most-cited discernment-images — the hamsa (mystical-swan) symbol of-discriminative-wisdom.
The grain-test: nāhīm ghāṭāvē lāgata — ēkā sitē kaḷē bhāta — no need to taste — one grain reveals the rice. One-grain-tested reveals-the-whole-pot.
The torn-cloth: āngaḍē phāḍuni ghōngaḍē karī — avakaḷā tayē parī — tearing the fine-cloth makes the blanket — in such disarray. Tearing-fine-cloth to-make-a-blanket — that-disarray (= when imitation-without-skill mars-the-original).
The grain-chaff: Tukā mhaṇē kaṇa — bhusīm nivaḍē kainchā sīṇa — Tuka says: grain — what exhaustion is there in separating from chaff. Tuka says: separating-grain-from-chaff has-no-exhaustion.
THE PROSE-MARGINALIA — HISTORIC SĀLŌMĀLŌ-CLUSTER ANNOUNCEMENT: Svāmīchē abhangīñchē nāmva kāḍhūna Sālōmālō āpalē nāmva ghālīta tyāvara abhanga ॥ ८ ॥ — removing Svāmī's [Tukārām's] name from the abhang, Sālōmālō put his own name — abhangs on him ॥8॥.
HISTORICAL CONTEXT: Sālōmālō was a contemporary plagiarist who was removing-Tukārām's-mudra (his signature-line 'Tukā mhaṇē...') and inserting-his-own-name in-the-final-verse. Tukārām composed an 8-abhang anti-plagiarist polemic-cluster (2363-2370) against him. This-is-one-of-the-most-historically-significant sub-sections of-the-Gatha — direct-evidence-of intellectual-property-disputes in 17th-century-Marathi-bhakti-poetry.
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For someone today
For today: swan's beak separates milk from water; one grain reveals the rice; grain and chaff need no exhaustion to separate; the announcement of the Sālōmālō-anti-plagiarist cluster .
Where this applies
- When you need to judge the quality of something quickly, from just one small sample or first impression
- When you see someone copying the outer form of a good thing without the skill or understanding behind it
- When you doubt your own ability to tell the real from the fake, and worry it should be harder than it is
- When someone takes credit for work that is not truly theirs and you need to respond to it