Abhanga 2582
Keeping the wrong company pollutes the mind and lets flaws take root that you alone must then carry, so be as wary of bad influence as you would be of a snake's poison.
The verse
आहाच तो मोड वाळलियामधीं । अधीराची बुद्धि तेणें न्यायें ॥१॥ म्हणऊनि संग न करीं दुसरें । चित्त मळीन द्वारें दोड पडे ॥ध्रु.॥ विषासाटीं सर्पां भयाभीत लोक । हें तों सकळीक जाणतसां ॥२॥ तुका म्हणे काचें राहे कुळांकुड । अवगुण तो नाड ज्याचा तया ॥३॥
Literal translation
Superficial sprout dried — impatient one's buddhi by that way. Therefore I don't associate with other — chitta-polluting door, accusation falls. For poison, people fear snakes — all know this. Tuka says: glass-residue stays as kuḷānkuḍa — flaw is bond to the one.
What it means
THE DON'T-ASSOCIATE-WITH-OTHER ABHANG.
[T]
For someone today
For today: don't associate — chitta-polluting; people fear snakes for poison.
Where this applies
- When you are tempted to keep company that you know is a bad influence on your mind or habits
- When impatience or restlessness is making you act before you have really thought things through
- When you are blaming outside circumstances for a flaw that actually took root because you let it in
- When you need a clear signal, like fearing a snake's poison, to simply stay away from something harmful