संत साहित्य · Tukārām · Abhanga 2404 of 4582

Abhanga 2404

Wisdom is not only knowing the right thing but knowing the right moment and place for it, since the wrong word or deed in the wrong setting ruins what should have been good.

When you offer comfort, humor, or advice without first reading whether the moment calls for it.

When you speak carelessly during a celebration or sacred occasion and spoil its beauty.

When you keep doing the right actions in the wrong context and wonder why nothing you do seems to land.

The verse

क्षीर मागे तया रायतें वाढी । पाधानी गधडी ऐशा नांवें ॥१॥ समयो जाणां समयो जाणां । भलतें नाणां भलतेथें ॥ध्रु.॥ अमंगळ वाणी वदवी मंगळी । अशुभ वोंगळी शोभन तें ॥२॥ तुका म्हणे नेणें समयो ठाया ठाव । राहाडी ते वाव नरकाडी ॥३॥

Literal translation

Asks for kṣīra, serves him pickle — such names are pādhānī-gadhaḍī. Know the occasion, know the occasion — don't bring wrong things to wrong places. Speaks inauspicious words in auspicious time — what shines is ugly-foul. Tuka says: knows not occasion or place — that place is empty hell-residence.

What it means

THE SAMAYŌ JĀṆĀṀ (KNOW-THE-OCCASION) ABHANG. A celebrated propriety / context-awareness line in Tukārām's corpus.

The kṣīra-and-pickle: kṣīra māgē tayā rāyatē vāḍhī — pādhānī gadhaḍī aiśā nāmvē — asks for kṣīra (milk-pudding), serves him pickle. One who-serves-pickle to-one-who-asks-for-milk-pudding is named-pādhānī-gadhaḍī (an idiom for clumsy, inappropriate fool).

THE FAMOUS LINE: samayō jāṇām samayō jāṇām — bhalatē nāṇām bhalatēthē — know the occasion, know the occasion — don't bring wrong things to wrong places. Know-the-occasion, know-the-occasion (repeated); don't-bring wrong-things to-wrong-places. The principle of context-appropriateness — wisdom is not-just-knowing-what but-knowing-when-and-where.

The inauspicious-speech: amangaḷa vāṇī vadavī mangaḷī — aśubha vongaḷī śōbhana tē — speaks inauspicious words in auspicious time. Speaking inauspicious-speech at-an-auspicious-time mars-the-beauty.

[T]

For someone today

For today: don't serve pickle when asked for milk-pudding; know the occasion, know the occasion — wrong things in wrong places fail ; inauspicious-speech in auspicious time mars all.

Where this applies

When you say something well-intentioned at exactly the wrong moment and watch it fall flat or wound someone
When you give a gift or piece of advice that would be perfect for one person but is completely mismatched for another
When you crack a joke or bring up a complaint at a solemn or celebratory moment and feel the room shift
When you realize a skill or truth you know is useless because you never learned to sense when and where to use it

Nāma (the Name) Bhakti