Abhanga 2870
A canonical indifference-to-blame text. What do they take from me by calling-me-bad? — why placate? Can people take me to para-lōka? — if (I'm to) go, who-else can prevent? I don't call anyone good or bad — happily let them eat my back-meat. All my burden is on Pāṇḍuranga — what business have I with the world? All my sādhana is — Viṭhōbā's Nāma-samkīrtana. The four operative-claims: (1) criticism takes nothing of mine; (2) people can't determine my para-lōka; (3) I judge no-one; (4) my single-discipline is Nāma-samkīrtana. The editorial-colophon biographically situates this abhang and the 12 before as composed during the Chinchwaḍa-visit — making this a bhakti-platform-statement during a public-occasion.
The verse
काय माझें नेती वाईंट म्हणोन । करूं समाधान कशासाटीं ॥१॥
काय मज लोक नेती परलोका । जातां कोणा एका निवारेल ॥ध्रु.॥
न म्हणें कोणासी उत्तम वाईंट । सुखें माझी कूट खावो मागें ॥२॥
सर्व माझा भार असे पांडुरंगा । काय माझें जगासवें काज ॥३॥
तुका म्हणे माझें सर्व ही साधन । नामसंकीर्त्तन विठोबाचें ॥४॥
देवांनीं स्वामींस चिंचवडास नेलें होतें ते अभंग, आरत्या ॥ १३ ॥
Literal translation
Kāya mājhe netī vāīṭa mhaṇōna — what do they take from me by calling-me-bad?; karūm samādhāna kaśāsāṭī — why should I do samādhāna (placating, satisfying) for what? Kāya maja lōka netī para-lōkā — can people take me to para-lōka (the other-world)?; jātām kōṇā ēka nivārel — if (I am to) go, who else can prevent (it)? Na mhaṇe kōṇāsī uttama vāīṭa — I do not call anyone uttama (good) or vāīṭa (bad); sukhe mājhī kūṭa khāvō māge — happily — let them eat my kūṭa (back-meat, defaming-from-behind). Sarva mājhā bhāra ase Pāṇḍurangā — all my bhāra (burden) is on Pāṇḍuranga; kāya mājhe jagā-save kāja — what business have I with the world? Tukā says: mājhe sarva hī sādhana — all my sādhana is; nāma-samkīrttana Viṭhōbāñce — the nāma-samkīrtana of Viṭhōbā.
Editorial prose-colophon (post-verse marginalia): देवांनीं स्वामींस चिंचवडास नेलें होतें ते अभंग, आरत्या ॥ १३ ॥ — "The abhangs (and) ārati (from when) the deva (devotees) took the svāmī (master, Tukārām) to Chinchwaḍa — 13 (abhangs)."
What it means
A 4-verse indifference-to-blame text + the most-significant editorial prose-colophon in this Tukārām-section. The colophon places 2858-2870 as a 13-abhang Chinchwaḍa-visit collection — Tukārām composed these on the occasion of his visit to the Chintāmaṇi-Gaṇeśa shrine at Chinchwaḍa (about 35 km from Dehu, where Mōrayā Gosāvī had established the Gaṇapati-cult).
Verse 1: Kāya mājhe netī vāīṭa mhaṇōna — karūm samādhāna kaśāsāṭī — what do they take from me by calling-me-bad? — why placate? The opening indifference: nothing-of-mine is taken-by-criticism.
Dhrūpada: Kāya maja lōka netī para-lōkā — jātām kōṇā ēka nivārel — can people take me to para-lōka? — if (I am to) go, who-else can prevent? The classic-claim: only-the-Lord-takes-or-prevents going-to-the-other-world; people-can't.
Verse 2: Na mhaṇe kōṇāsī uttama vāīṭa — sukhe mājhī kūṭa khāvō māge — I don't call anyone good or bad — happily, let them eat my back-meat. Kūṭa-khāṇe — eating-back-meat — defaming-from-behind. The bhakta-stance: don't judge others, and don't mind being defamed-behind-one's-back.
Verse 3: Sarva mājhā bhāra ase Pāṇḍurangā — kāya mājhe jagā-save kāja — all my burden is on Pāṇḍuranga — what business have I with the world? The total-bhakti-delegation: world-business doesn't-concern-me; Pāṇḍuranga-carries-the-burden.
Verse 4 (close): Tukā mhaṇe mājhe sarva hī sādhana — nāma-samkīrttana Viṭhōbāñce — all my sādhana is — Viṭhōbā's Nāma-samkīrtana. The single-discipline declaration.
The editorial-colophon: देवांनीं स्वामींस चिंचवडास नेलें होतें ते अभंग, आरत्या ॥१३॥ — The abhangs and ārati from when the devotees took the master to Chinchwaḍa — 13 abhangs. This places 2858-2870 as the Chinchwaḍa-visit collection, with the next-following 2873-2874 likely being the Chintāmaṇi-Gaṇapati narrative-episode from that visit.
The Chinchwaḍa-visit is biographically-significant: it shows Tukārām being-invited by the Chintāmaṇi-Gaṇeśa establishment (Mōrayā Gosāvī's tradition), and composing-bhakti-abhangs even at the Gaṇeśa-shrine — illustrating his exclusive-Viṭṭhal-bhakti even-while-honoring-other-deity-traditions.
For someone today
A canonical indifference-to-blame text. What do they take from me by calling-me-bad? — why placate? Can people take me to para-lōka? — if (I'm to) go, who-else can prevent? I don't call anyone good or bad — happily let them eat my back-meat. All my burden is on Pāṇḍuranga — what business have I with the world? All my sādhana is — Viṭhōbā's Nāma-samkīrtana. The four operative-claims: (1) criticism takes nothing of mine; (2) people can't determine my para-lōka; (3) I judge no-one; (4) my single-discipline is Nāma-samkīrtana. The editorial-colophon biographically situates this abhang and the 12 before as composed during the Chinchwaḍa-visit — making this a bhakti-platform-statement during a public-occasion.
Where this applies
- THE canonical what-do-they-take-by-calling-me-bad indifference
- Closing-marker of the Chinchwaḍa-visit 13-abhang collection (2858-2870)
- Recognizing the all-burden-on-Pāṇḍuranga; my-sādhana-is-Viṭhōbā's-Nāma close
- Biographical-significance: Tukārām's Chinchwaḍa-visit and exclusive-Viṭṭhal-bhakti-amid-other-traditions