Abhanga 2675
Answer discouragement by asking for protection or a genuinely better path, and walk your chosen road unafraid, since a true warrior wins either way, freed in dying and honored in living.
The verse
काय मी अन्यायी तें घाला पालवीं । आणीक वाट दावीं चालावया ॥१॥
माग पाहोनियां जातों ते च सोयी । न वजावें कायी कोण सांगा ॥ध्रु.॥
धोपट मारग लागलासे गाढा । मज काय पीडा करा तुम्ही ॥२॥
वारितां ही भय कोण धरी धाक । परी तुम्हां एक सांगतों मी ॥३॥
तुका म्हणे शूर दोहीं पक्षीं भला । मरतां मुक्त जाला मान पावे ॥४॥
Literal translation
What wrong have I done — ghālā pālavī (put me under your shawl-cover); show me another road to walk. I look at the māga (trail) and go that very direction; tell me — who says don't go? The dhōpaṭa māraga (open-direct road) has been firmly-set; what pain do you give me, you? Even when vārita (warned, prohibited) repeatedly — who holds bhaya (fear)? But I tell you one thing. Tukā says: the warrior is bhalā (good, victorious) on both sides — dying, he becomes mukta (liberated); living, he māna pāvē (gets honor).
What it means
A 4-verse combative-confident challenge. Kāya mī anyāyī tē ghālā pālavī — āṇī vāṭa dāvī chālāvayā — what wrong have I done — put me under your shawl-cover; show me another road to walk. The petition has two parts: (1) if I've done wrong, protect me anyway (under the pālava — the shawl-corner of a mother or elder, the traditional gesture of taking-under-one's-protection), or (2) show me another road, if you have one. The challenge is the or: either protect me or show me a better path.
The dhrūpada: māga pāhōniyām jātōm tē chi sōyī — na vajāvē kāyī kōṇa sāngā — I look at the trail and go that direction — tell me, who says don't go? The bhakta is following a trail he can see (others' footsteps on the path); the question is: who has the authority to tell me don't go on this path others have walked?
The second verse names the road: dhōpaṭa māraga lāgalāsē gāḍhā — maja kāya pīḍā karā tumhī — the open-direct road has been firmly-set — what pain do you give me, you? Dhōpaṭa — open, broad, clear; gāḍhā — firmly-established, dense, solid. The road is broad and established; the interferers' pīḍā (vexation) is misplaced.
The third verse: vāritā hī bhaya kōṇa dharī dhāka — parī tumhām ēka sāngatōm mī — even when warned repeatedly, who holds fear? But I tell you one thing. The bhakta confesses he is unmoved by the warnings — he holds no dhāka (fear). And then the closing-thing-he-wants-to-tell:
Śūra dōhīm pakṣīm bhalā — maratām mukta jālā — māna pāvē — the warrior is good (bhalā) on both sides — in dying he became mukta, and gets honor. The warrior's-economy: dying in battle, he becomes mukta (liberated); living, he gets māna (honor). Both outcomes are good. The bhakta has placed himself in this same dual-good position.
For someone today
When critics keep warning you off your chosen path without showing you a better one, this verse hands you the structure of the challenge: what wrong have I done? Either protect me anyway, or show me a better road. The road I am on has been walked by others — who has the authority to say don't go? The road is broad and firmly-set — your pain is misplaced. I hold no fear even when warned. And one thing: the warrior is good on both sides — even in dying, he becomes liberated; in living, he gets honor. The challenge is honest: either protect me or show me something better. And the warrior-stance is the close: there is no losing-option in genuinely-undertaken commitment.
मराठी: जेव्हा टीकाकार तुला अधिक चांगला मार्ग न दाखवता सतत तुझ्या निवडलेल्या वाटेपासून परावृत्त करत राहतात, तेव्हा हा अभंग तुला या आव्हानाची रचना देतो: मी काय अन्याय केला आहे? एकतर तरीही माझे रक्षण करा, नाहीतर मला अधिक चांगली वाट दाखवा. ज्या वाटेने मी चाललो आहे ती इतरांनीही चालली आहे — 'जाऊ नकोस' असे म्हणण्याचा अधिकार कोणाला आहे? ही वाट रुंद आणि पक्की आहे — तुमचे दुःख गैरलागू आहे. वारंवार इशारा देऊनही मला भीती वाटत नाही. आणि एक गोष्ट सांगतो: शूर माणूस दोन्ही बाजूंनी चांगला असतो — मरण आले तरी तो मुक्त होतो; जगला तर त्याला मान मिळतो. हे आव्हान प्रामाणिक आहे: एकतर माझे रक्षण करा किंवा मला काहीतरी चांगले दाखवा. आणि शेवटी शूराची भूमिका उरते — खऱ्या अर्थाने स्वीकारलेल्या बांधिलकीत हरण्याचा पर्यायच नसतो.
Where this applies
- Challenging would-be-interferers with the show-me-a-better-road honest challenge
- Recognizing the dhōpaṭa-māraga gāḍhā (open-and-firmly-set road) one is on
- The warrior-stance: good on both sides — dying liberated, living honored
- Holding no dhāka (fear) even under repeated warning