Abhanga 2902
Praising one person naturally criticizes another, so instead of trying to compare fairly, Tukaram simply stops comparing and turns to quiet remembrance.
The verse
एका म्हणे भलें । आणिका सहज चि निंदिलें ॥१॥
कांहीं न करितां आयास । सहज घडले ते दोष ॥ध्रु.॥
बरें वाइटाचें । नाहीं मज कांहीं साचें ॥२॥
तुका म्हणे वाणी । खंडोनि राहावें चिंतनीं ॥३॥
Literal translation
Ekā mhaṇe bhale — (when) one is said-to-bebhale(good); āṇikā sahaja chi nindile — others are naturallynindile(criticized). Kāmhī na karitām āyāsa — without doing anyāyāsa(effort); sahaja ghaḍale te dōṣa — naturally thosedōṣa(faults) have come about. Bare vāīṭāñce — ofbare(good) (and)vāīṭa(bad); nāhī maja kāmhī sāñce — there is no (good-or-bad) truly for me. Tukā says: vāṇī — (the) speech; khaṇḍōnī rāhāve chintanī — break (it off) and stay inchintana(meditation).
What it means
A 3-verse anti-comparison discipline verse. Ekā mhaṇe bhale — āṇikā sahaja chi nindile — (when) one is praised, others are naturally criticized. The diagnostic: praising-one-person implicitly-criticizes-others. (Comparative-praise is structurally-judgmental.)
Kāmhī na karitām āyāsa — sahaja ghaḍale te dōṣa — without effort, those defects come about. The dōṣa (faults of comparative-criticism) emerge naturally — without conscious-effort. (Just by praising X, you've-criticized-not-X.)
Bare vāīṭāñce — nāhī maja kāmhī sāñce — there is no good-and-bad truly for me. The bhakta's-position: I have no true good-bad-distinction. (The Lord's-equanimity-image from 2889 sun-shōṣī-but-not-limped-by-guṇa-dōṣa applied to the bhakta.)
The close: Tukā mhaṇe vāṇī — khaṇḍōnī rāhāve chintanī — break the speech — stay in chintana. The discipline: don't speak (in comparative-praise-and-blame) — stay in chintana (meditation). The vow-of-silence-as-bhakti-discipline.
For someone today
A useful teaching against comparison. (When) one is said-to-be good — naturally others are criticized. Without effort, those defects have come about. There is no good-and-bad truly for me. Break (off) the speech — stay in chintana. The verse names a structural feature of language: praising one person inevitably makes others sound worse by comparison. Even without intending criticism, the grammar of comparison carries it along. The discipline is to stop this kind of comparative speech and stay instead in quiet reflection. The bhakta's claim is that, for him, there is no truly fixed good-or-bad distinction — he stays as even-handed toward all as the sun.
मराठी: हा तुलना टाळण्याविषयीचा उपयुक्त बोध आहे. एकाला चांगले म्हटले की सहजच दुसऱ्याची निंदा होते. काही प्रयत्न न करताही ते दोष आपोआप घडतात. माझ्यासाठी खरे तर बरे-वाईट असे काही नाही. बोलणे थांबवावे — चिंतनात राहावे. हा अभंग भाषेच्या एका रचनात्मक गुणधर्माकडे लक्ष वेधतो : एकाची स्तुती केली की तुलनेने दुसरा वाईट ठरतोच. निंदा करण्याचा हेतू नसतानाही तुलनात्मक बोलण्यातच ती दडलेली असते. यावर उपाय म्हणजे असे तुलनात्मक बोलणे थांबवून शांत चिंतनात राहणे. भक्ताचा दावा असा आहे की त्याच्यासाठी खरोखर बरे-वाईट असा भेद उरलेला नाही — सूर्यासारखा तो सर्वांशी समभावाने वागतो.
Where this applies
- When you praise one person and suddenly realize it made someone else sound worse by comparison
- When you catch yourself ranking or comparing people even though you did not intend to judge anyone
- When gossip or comparative talk starts without effort, just from casual conversation about who is better
- When you decide to step back from comparing people and sit quietly in prayer or reflection instead