Abhanga 2696
A useful practical-discipline verse. Some hearings are empty-holes; filling them produces only head-shakes; the lost-one does not take by bhāva; the faulty-chitta is divided so welfare cannot stick; to the mocker, say very well and stay quiet. The verse refuses both: (a) the temptation to keep-explaining-clearly, and (b) the temptation to argue back with the mocker. The discipline is recognize the empty-hole, say baravā, stay quiet. Speech is not the right tool when the receiving-organ is broken.
The verse
हेंदर्याचें भरितां कान । हलवी मान भोंक रितें ॥१॥
नाहीं मी येथें सांगों स्पष्ट । भावें नष्ट घेत नाहीं ॥ध्रु.॥
अवगुणी वाटलें चित्त । तया हित आतळे ना ॥२॥
तुका म्हणे फजितखोरा । म्हणतां बरा उगा रहा ॥३॥
Literal translation
Filling the hēndaryā (deaf-one)'s ear — he halavī māna (shakes his head), bhōka ritē (the hole is empty). There is no point of me speaking spaṣṭa (clearly) here — the naṣṭa (lost-one) does not take it by bhāva. The avaguṇī (faulty-one)'s chitta is vāṭalē (divided); to him hita (welfare) does not āṭaḷē (stick). Tukā says: to the fajita-khōrā (mocker, scornful-eater) — saying baravā (good) — just ugā rahā (stay quiet).
What it means
A short verse about when explanation is wasted. Hēndaryāñche bharitām kāna — halavī māna — bhōka ritē — filling the deaf-one's ear — he just shakes his head; the hole is empty. The image is precise: pouring sound into a deaf-one's ear-canal produces only the head-shake, because the hole has no functional-receiving. The bhōka ritē (empty hole) names the receiving-organ's-failure-of-function.
The dhrūpada: nāhī mī yēthē sāngōm spaṣṭa — bhāvē naṣṭa ghēta nāhī — I am not here to speak clearly — the lost-one does not take by bhāva. The naṣṭa (one who is lost, ruined, destroyed) cannot take by bhāva — even when the words are clear, the bhāva-receiving-organ is broken.
The second verse names the structural cause: avaguṇī vāṭalē chitta — tayā hita āṭaḷē nā — the faulty-one's chitta is divided; welfare does not stick to him. Vāṭalē chitta (divided-mind) — the chitta has been parceled-out among many distractions; hita (welfare) cannot find a single-place to āṭaḷē (stick, adhere) in such a chitta.
The close gives the practical-instruction: fajita-khōrā — mhaṇatām baravā — ugā rahā — to the mocker (fajita-khōrā = scornful-eater) — saying baravā (very well, good) — stay quiet. The instruction is precise: don't try to argue with the mocker; just say very well and stay quiet. The withdrawal-from-engagement is the discipline.
For someone today
A useful practical-discipline verse. Some hearings are empty-holes; filling them produces only head-shakes; the lost-one does not take by bhāva; the faulty-chitta is divided so welfare cannot stick; to the mocker, sayvery welland stay quiet. The verse refuses both: (a) the temptation to keep-explaining-clearly, and (b) the temptation to argue back with the mocker. The discipline is recognize the empty-hole, say baravā, stay quiet. Speech is not the right tool when the receiving-organ is broken.
मराठी: हा एक व्यावहारिक शिस्तीचा उपयुक्त अभंग आहे. काही कान पोकळ भोकांसारखे असतात; ते भरण्याचा प्रयत्न केला तरी फक्त मान हलवली जाते; हरवलेला माणूस भावाने काही घेत नाही; ज्याचे चित्त विखुरलेले आहे त्याला हित चिकटत नाही; टिंगल करणाऱ्याला 'बरं आहे' म्हणून गप्प राहावे. हा अभंग दोन्ही मोहांना नकार देतो: एक, स्पष्ट समजावत राहण्याचा मोह, आणि दोन, टिंगल करणाऱ्याशी वाद घालण्याचा मोह. यातील शिस्त अशी: पोकळ भोक ओळखावे, 'बरं आहे' म्हणावे, आणि गप्प राहावे. जिथे ऐकणारे इंद्रियच निकामी आहे, तिथे बोलणे हे योग्य साधन नाही.
Where this applies
- When you keep re-explaining something to someone who nods along but never truly takes it in
- When a friend's mind is so scattered by distractions that even good advice never settles in it
- When someone mocks or dismisses what you say and you feel the pull to argue back
- When you sense that one more round of explaining will only wear you both out