संत साहित्य
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संत साहित्य · Tukārām · Abhanga 3617 of 4582

Abhanga 3617

You can let go of needing other people's approval, even after they have shamed you in public, and find your peace of mind again.

When you have been gossiped about or mocked and cannot undo it
When you notice your mood still rises and falls with what others say about you
When you are trying to stop caring what people who look down on you think

The verse

निंदावें हें जग । ऐसा भागा आला भाग ॥१॥ होतें तैसें आलें फळ । गेलें निवडूनि सकळ ॥ध्रु.॥ दुसर्‍याच्या मता । मिळेनासें जालें चित्ता ॥२॥ तुका जाला सांडा । विटंबिती पोरें रांडा ॥३॥

Literal translation

Slander-this-jagat — such-bhāga-came. As-it-was-fruit-came — all-sorted-out. Others'-opinion — chitta-no-mix. Tukā-jhalā-sāṇḍā — pōrē-rāṇḍā-scorn.

What it means

A bitter 3-verse public-shame text. To slander has become my share-in-this-world; what was-coming came; everything is sorted-out; my mind no-longer-mixes with others' opinions; Tukā has become a cast-off — even children and rāṇḍās scorn him. The line viṭambitī pōrē rāṇḍā (children and prostitutes scorn him) is one of the sharpest social-shame lines in the corpus.

For someone today

Tukaram admits, without flinching, that slander has become his lot in life: it was bound to come, and now it has, and he has sorted through it all. Even children and the lowest of society mock him, calling him a cast-off. But something has shifted inside him: his mind no longer needs to mix with, or be ruled by, what other people think of him. This is what it looks like to survive public shame and come out the other side with your inner peace intact.

मराठी: तुकाराम कोणतीही लपवाछपवी न करता सांगतात की निंदा हा आता त्यांच्या वाट्याला आलेला भाग आहे. जे व्हायचे तेच झाले, आणि आता सगळे स्पष्ट झाले आहे. लहान मुलेदेखील त्यांची टिंगल करतात, त्यांना टाकाऊ समजतात. पण त्यांच्या मनात एक बदल झाला आहे: इतरांच्या मतांशी त्यांचे मन आता मिसळत नाही. सार्वजनिक अपमान सहन करून आतील शांती टिकवणे म्हणजे काय, हे यातून दिसते.

Where this applies