Abhanga 3502
Effort bears fruit only when it moves with the right season, and forcing change against nature or timing brings only waste and fatigue.
The verse
काळा च सारिखीं वाहाती क्षेत्रें । करितां दुसरें फळ नाहीं ॥१॥
ऐसें करत्यानें ठेविलें करून । भरिलें भरून माप नेमें॥ध्रु.॥
शीतउष्णकाळीं मेघ वरुषावे । वरुषतां वाव होय शीण ॥२॥
तुका म्हणे विष अमृताचे किडे । पालट न घडे जीणें तया ॥३॥
Literal translation
Kṣētras-flow-with-Kāḷa — doing-else-no-phaḷa. Kartā-arranged-and-set — filled-the-māpa-by-nēma. Hot-cold-seasons-rains-fall — out-of-season-rain-vāva-and-śīṇa. Tukā: viṣa-and-amrta-insects — no-pālaṭa-in-jīṇa.
What it means
A 3-verse timeliness-and-nature text. Things flow with Kāḷa; out-of-season-effort is in-vain; the insects of poison and nectar don't change their nature.
For someone today
Tukaram observes that fields flourish only when they move with the season, and effort spent any other way bears no fruit, because the Maker has already set the rules and filled the measure of things. Rain that falls out of season is wasted, leaving only fatigue instead of growth. He adds that even the small creatures that live on poison or on nectar never change their basic nature, no matter what is done to them.
मराठी: तुकाराम सांगतात की शेत फक्त ऋतूबरोबर चालले तरच फुलते, आणि इतर कोणत्याही प्रकारे केलेल्या मेहनतीला फळ मिळत नाही, कारण निर्मात्याने आधीच सगळे नियम ठरवून मापाप्रमाणे भरून ठेवले आहे. वेळेच्या बाहेर पडलेला पाऊस वाया जातो आणि केवळ शीण देतो, वाढ देत नाही. ते पुढे म्हणतात की विष खाणारे किंवा अमृत खाणारे लहान जीवसुद्धा त्यांचा मूळ स्वभाव कधीच बदलत नाहीत, त्यांच्याशी काहीही केले तरी.
Where this applies
- When you are pushing hard for a result but the timing simply is not right
- When you keep trying to change someone whose basic nature will not shift
- When you try to force growth or results before their natural season
- When you feel exhausted from effort that never seems to yield anything