Abhanga 2870
Other people's praise or blame cannot touch you or decide your fate, so stop judging others, hand your worries to God, and keep devotion as your one steady practice.
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 dosamādhāna(placating, satisfying) for what? Kāya maja lōka netī para-lōkā — can people take me topara-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 anyoneuttama(good) orvāīṭa(bad); sukhe mājhī kūṭa khāvō māge — happily — let them eat mykūṭa(back-meat, defaming-from-behind). Sarva mājhā bhāra ase Pāṇḍurangā — all mybhāra(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 — thenāma-samkīrtanaof Viṭhōbā.
Editorial prose-colophon (post-verse marginalia): देवांनीं स्वामींस चिंचवडास नेलें होतें ते अभंग, आरत्या ॥ १३ ॥ — "The abhangs (and) ārati (from when) thedeva(devotees) took thesvāmī(master, Tukārām) toChinchwaḍa— 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
- When someone talks badly about you behind your back and it stings
- When you feel pressure to defend your reputation to everyone around you
- When you catch yourself ranking people as good or bad in your head
- When you feel exhausted trying to carry every worry about your future alone