Abhanga 3169
Do not start what you cannot finish. Once started, do not quit halfway — that is the worst kind of failure. Steady follow-through, not flashy starts, earns divine companionship.
The verse
दावूनियां बंड । पुरे न करी तें भांड ॥१॥
जळो जळो तैसें जिणें । फटमरे लाजिरवाणें ॥ध्रु.॥
घेतलें तें सोंग । बरवें संपादावें सांग ॥२॥
तुका म्हणे धीरें । देवें नुपेक्षिलें खरें ॥३॥
Literal translation
Dāvūniyām baṇḍa — pure na karī tem bhāṇḍa — having shown the uproar, not to finish (it) — that is a bhāṇḍa (vulgar fake). Jaḷō jaḷō taisem jiṇem — phaṭamare lājiravāṇe — burn, burn such living — half-rogue, shame-faced. Ghētalem tem sōnga — baravēm sampādāvem sānga — the role taken — accomplish it well, fully. Tukā mhaṇe dhīrē — Devē nupekṣilem kharē — Tukā says: by dhīra, Deva truly does-not-forsake.
What it means
A terse 4-verse text on commitment and sōnga (role-as-vow). Once you have made a display — a bhakti-vow, a renunciation, a public path — abandoning it midway makes you a bhāṇḍa-phaṭamara (fake-cum-half-rogue). Hold dhīra (firmness) and the Lord himself stands behind it.
For someone today
Do not start what you cannot finish. Once started, do not quit halfway — that is the worst kind of failure. Steady follow-through, not flashy starts, earns divine companionship.
Where this applies
- Tukārām's finish-the-sōnga; Deva-doesn't-forsake-the-dhīra canonical
- Companion to 2876 (sant-uvāca commitment-discipline)