Abhanga 3382
When you say what is good for others, do not own it as your own — and do not let others reject it as offense. The teaching is older and larger than the teacher.
The verse
माझ्या मुखें मज बोलवितो हरि । सकळां अंतरीं नारायण ॥१॥
न करावा द्वेष भूतांचा मत्सर । हा तंव विचार जाणों आम्ही ॥२॥
तुका म्हणे दोष नाहीं या विचारें । हिताचीं उत्तरें शिकवितां ॥३॥
Literal translation
Mājhyā mukhe maja bolavitō Hari — sakaḷām amtarīm Nārāyaṇa — Hari makes me speak through my own mouth — Nārāyaṇa in the amtara of all. Na karāvā dveṣa bhūtāñchā matsara — hā tamva vichāra jāṇōm āmhī — don't do dveṣa-matsara of bhūtas — this we know. Tukā mhaṇe doṣa nāhīm yā vichāre — hitāchīm uttare śikavitām — Tukā says: no doṣa in this teaching — hita-uttare are being taught.
What it means
A 3-verse authorship-disclaimer fused with bhakti-ethics. The teaching itself — do not envy or hate creatures, because Nārāyaṇa dwells in all amtara — is given dignity by the claim that Hari speaks through me. So: not slander, not my opinion, not doṣa — hita-uttare.
For someone today
When you say what is good for others, do not own it as your own — and do not let others reject it as offense. The teaching is older and larger than the teacher.
Where this applies
- When you catch yourself resenting or envying someone and forget they carry something sacred inside them too
- When you need to give someone honest advice and worry they will take it as a personal attack
- When you want to remind yourself that a hard truth said for someone's good is not the same as slander
- When you feel proud of a good insight and need to remember it is not really your own cleverness