Abhanga 3175
Once you recognize a conversation as empty and pointless, silence and walking away serve you better than more words.
The verse
आळणी ऐसें कळों आलें । त्यासी भलें मौन्य चि ॥१॥
नये कांहीं वेचूं वाणी । वेडे घाणीसांगातें ॥ध्रु.॥
वेगळें तें देहभावा । भ्रम जीवा माजिरा ॥२॥
तुका म्हणे कवतुक केलें । किंवा भलें दवडितां ॥३॥
Literal translation
Āḷaṇī aisē kaḷōm ālē — tyāsī bhalē mauniya chi — (once it is) known to be tasteless, mauna is good for that. Nayē kāmhī vēchūm vāṇī — vēḍē ghāṇīsāngātēm — one should not spend any vāṇī — with fools at the ghāṇī (clamour). Vēgaḷēm tem dehabhāvā — bhrama jīvā mājirā — separate from deha-bhāva — bhrama (is) the jīva's intoxicant. Tukā mhaṇe kavatuka kēlem — kimvā bhalē davaḍitām — Tukā says: a kavatuka (spectacle) was made — or is it better to drive it away.
What it means
A 4-verse text on conversational discernment. Āḷaṇī (literally saltless food) here = company or speech that has no flavour, no substance — wisdom says hold mauna with such. Ghāṇī-sāngāta (sitting at the oil-press) is the image of repetitive, grinding, vain noise. Bhrama is described as the jīva's own intoxicant — a mājirā (alcoholic drink) brewed inside, separate from deha-bhāva.
For someone today
Not every voice deserves an answer. Once you recognize a conversation as flavourless, silence preserves more than argument. Recognize delusion as a kind of intoxication the mind brews for itself — and walk away from the grinding-mill of foolish discourse.
Where this applies
- Tukārām's mauna-with-fools; bhrama-as-intoxicant canonical discernment
- 17th-c bhakti speech-ethics text