Abhanga 3231
People built from the same basic elements still turn out completely different, because each person's own nature shapes the condition life brings them.
The verse
पाहा हो देवा कैसे जन । भिन्न भिन्न संचितें ॥१॥
एक नाहीं एका ऐसें । दावी कैसे शुद्ध हीन ॥ध्रु.॥
पंचभूतें एकी रासी । सूत्रें कैसीं खेळवी ॥२॥
तुका म्हणे जे जे जाती । तैसी स्थिति येतसे ॥३॥
Literal translation
See-how-people-Deva — bhinna-samchita. Not-one-like-another, shows-śuddha-hīna. Pañchabhūta-one-rāśi, by-sūtra-played. Tukā: as-each-jāti, so-sthiti-comes.
What it means
A 3-verse text on diversity. Same-five-elements but-played-differently-by-the-Lord's-sūtra.
For someone today
Look, O Deva, how different people are from one another — each carrying a different store of accumulated karma. No one is quite like another; some show purity, others its lack. Though all are made from the very same five elements, the Lord plays each one differently, like a musician working different strings. Tukārām says that as each person's nature is, so their condition in life comes to be.
मराठी: पाहा हो देवा, माणसे किती वेगवेगळी असतात — प्रत्येकाचे संचित निराळे असते. कोणीही दुसऱ्यासारखे नसते; कोणी शुद्ध दिसतो, तर कोणी हीन. सर्वजण त्याच पंचभूतांपासून बनलेले असले, तरी देव त्या प्रत्येकाला वेगवेगळ्या सूत्रांनी खेळवतो, जणू एकाच वाद्यावर वेगवेगळ्या तारा छेडाव्यात. तुकाराम म्हणतात, ज्याची जशी जात-प्रकृती, त्याप्रमाणे त्याची स्थिती घडत जाते.
Where this applies
- When you wonder why people who seem to start the same way end up so different
- When you're tempted to judge someone's whole character from a single trait
- When you notice good and difficult people coexisting without any obvious fairness
- When you're trying to understand why your own nature keeps shaping your circumstances