Abhanga 2940
When you speak or create something worthwhile, remember it flows through you rather than purely from you, the way a trained bird sings the song its teacher gave it.
The verse
आपुलिया बळें नाहीं मी बोलत । सखा भगवंत वाचा त्याची ॥१॥
साळुंकी मंजूळ बोलतसे वाणी । शिकविता धणी वेगळाची ॥ध्रु.॥
काय म्यां पामरें बोलावीं उत्तरें । परि त्या विश्वंभरें बोलविलें ॥२॥
तुका म्हणे त्याची कोण जाणे कळा । चालवी पांगळा पायांविण ॥३॥
Literal translation
Āpuliyā baḷe nāhī mī bōlata — by my ownbaḷa(strength), I am not speaking; sakhā Bhagavanta vāchā tyāñcī — (my) sakhā Bhagavanta — thevāchā(speech) is his. Sāḷunkī mañjuḷa bōlatase vāṇī — thesāḷunkī(myna-bird) speaks sweetvāṇī; śikavitā dhaṇī vegaḷā chi — but thedhaṇī(master, the teacher) is separate. Kāya myām pāmare bōlāvī uttare — whatuttara(response) can I, apāmara(lowly one), speak?; pari tyā Viśvambhare bōlavile — but thatViśvambhara(world-sustainer) has made (me) speak. Tukā says: tyāñcī kōṇa jāṇe kaḷā — who knows hiskaḷā(art)?; chālavī pāngaḷā pāyāmviṇa — (he) makes thepāngaḷā(lame) walk without feet.
What it means
A canonical 3-verse authorship-disclaimer verse using the sāḷunkī-myna image.
Verse 1: Āpuliyā baḷe nāhī mī bōlata — sakhā Bhagavanta vāchā tyāñcī — not by my strength I speak — sakhā Bhagavanta — speech is his. The opening: the Lord-as-sakhā speaks-through-me.
Dhrūpada (the sāḷunkī image): Sāḷunkī mañjuḷa bōlatase vāṇī — śikavitā dhaṇī vegaḷā chi — the myna speaks sweet words — but the master who taught (her) is separate. The image: a trained-myna (sāḷunkī) speaks sweetly because-her-master-taught-her. So-too the bhakta-speaks-sweet-vāṇī because-the-Lord-taught-him. The bhakta is the trained-myna; the Lord is the master-teacher.
Verse 2: Kāya myām pāmare bōlāvī uttare — pari tyā Viśvambhare bōlavile — what response can I, lowly-one, speak — but Viśvambhara made (me) speak. The honest-disclaimer: I am pāmara (lowly); I couldn't-speak-by-myself; but Viśvambhara made-me-speak.
Close (the lame-walks-without-feet image): Tukā mhaṇe tyāñcī kōṇa jāṇe kaḷā — chālavī pāngaḷā pāyāmviṇa — who knows his art — he makes the lame walk without feet. The radical-divine-claim: the Lord makes-the-impossible: the lame-walks without-feet. So-too the bhakta-speaks-without-his-own-ability.
The verse-cluster pairs with 2917 tūm-bōlasī-mājhyā-mukhe, 2937 Deva-speaks-through-me, 2820 Nārāyaṇa-puppeteer-monkeys-floated-stones — the authorship-disclaimer-cluster.
For someone today
This is a humble acknowledgment that whatever wisdom flows from Tukaram isn't his own doing — it belongs to his dear friend and Lord, who speaks through him. Like a myna bird that sings sweetly only because a master taught it to, Tukaram trusts that whatever grace or skill he shows comes from being trained by that same divine teacher. He calls himself lowly and unqualified to offer any real words, yet the all-sustaining Lord moves him to speak anyway. Such is the Lord's mysterious skill, Tukaram says — the same power that can make a person with no legs walk can also make an unworthy speaker find words worth hearing.
मराठी: तुकाराम नम्रपणे कबूल करतात की त्यांच्याकडून जे शहाणपण उमटते ते त्यांचे स्वतःचे नसून त्यांच्या प्रिय सख्या भगवंताचे आहे, जो त्यांच्या मुखातून बोलतो. जशी साळुंकी पक्षी गोड बोलते कारण तिच्या मालकाने तिला तसे शिकवलेले असते, तसेच तुकारामांमध्ये जे काही चांगले उमटते ते त्याच दैवी गुरूने शिकवल्यामुळेच घडते. ते स्वतःला पामर व शब्द बोलण्यास अपात्र मानतात, तरीही तो विश्वंभर त्यांना बोलायला भाग पाडतो. तुकाराम म्हणतात, त्याची कला कोणाला उमगणार — जो पांगळ्याला पायांशिवाय चालवू शकतो, तोच अयोग्य वाटणाऱ्यालाही ऐकण्यासारखे शब्द देऊ शकतो.
Where this applies
- When you receive praise for something and want to stay humble about where the ability really came from
- When you feel unqualified to teach, write, or speak but feel called to do it anyway
- When you need encouragement that limitations don't stop something meaningful from happening through you