Abhanga 3449
Real trouble comes when the mind won't settle for sacred listening, so speak with real feeling and care, since sincere words benefit both speaker and listener.
The verse
काय दिवस गेले अवघे चि वर्हाडें । तें आलें सांकडें कथेमाजी ॥१॥
क्षण एके ठायीं मन स्थिर नाहीं । अराणूक कइं होईंल पुढें ॥ध्रु.॥
कथेचे विरसें दोषा मूळ होय । तरण उपाय कैचा माती ॥२॥
काय तें सांचवुनि उरलें हें मागें । घटिका एक संगें काय गेलें ॥३॥
ते चि वाणी येथें करा उजळणी । काढावी मथूनि शब्दरत्नें ॥४॥
तुका म्हणे हें चि बोलावया चाड । उभयतां नाड हित असे ॥५॥
Literal translation
Kāya divasa gele avaghe chi varhāḍe — what days went — all in vārhāḍa; te āle sānkaḍe kathemāji — the sānkaḍa came in kathā. Kṣaṇa eke ṭhāyī mana sthira nāhī — mind doesn't stay still even for one kṣaṇa; arāṇūka kaīm hōīla puḍhe — when will arāṇūka come ahead. Kathe virase dōṣā mūḷa hōya — by kathā-virasa, becomes root of dōṣa; taraṇa upāya kaichā mātī — what is the upāya of crossing. Kāya te sāmchavuni urale he māge — what saved-up remained behind; ghaṭikā eka samge kāya gele — not even one ghaṭikā went with. Te chi vāṇī yethe karā ujaḷaṇī — do ujaḷaṇī of the vāṇī; kāḍhāvī mathūnī śabda-ratne — extract śabda-ratnas by churning. Tukā mhaṇe he chi bōlāvayā chāḍa — Tukā says: for this-speaking is chāḍa; ubhayatām nāḍa hita ase — for mutuality, hita exists.
What it means
A 5-verse text on kathā-discipline: distraction-and-mind-wandering is virasa (flavourlessness), the mūḷa-of-dōṣa. Polish the vāṇī; extract śabda-ratnas (word-jewels) by churning. The mutual-engagement of speaker-and-listener brings hita.
For someone today
Tukārām's kathā-discipline: stillness in mind, flavour in speech, mutual hita.
Where this applies
- When your days keep rushing by in busyness and you rarely stop to sit still with something sacred
- When you try to focus on a story, a talk, or a prayer and your mind keeps wandering away from it
- When you notice a story or speech falls flat because it was spoken without real feeling behind it
- When you're preparing to speak or teach and want your words to genuinely benefit the people listening