संत साहित्य · Tukārām · Abhanga 3698 of 4582

Abhanga 3698

When two sides clash out of stubborn pride, the person caught in the middle suffers, and true freedom lies in stepping back to watch rather than joining the fight.

When you watch two people argue, each certain they alone are right

When you find yourself caught in the middle of someone else's prideful quarrel

When you choose to observe a conflict calmly instead of being pulled into it

The verse

हें ही ऐसें तें ही ऐसें । उभय पिसें अविचार ॥१॥ अभिमानाचे ठेलाठेलीं । मधीं जाली हिंपुष्टी ॥ध्रु.॥ धीरा शांती ठाव नुरे । हा चि उरे आबाळ्या ॥२॥ कौतुक हें पाहे तुका । कढतां लोकां अधनि ॥३॥

Literal translation

This-such-that-such — both-pisē-avichāra. Abhimāna's-tussling — in-between-himpuṣṭī. No-ṭhāva-for-dhīra-śānti — only-ābāḷyā-remains. Tukā-watches — among-boiling-lōka-the-adhanī.

What it means

A 3-verse onlooker-text. Both sides are mad without discernment; abhimāna pushes-and-pulls; in-between someone gets crushed; no place for patience or peace remains — only the helpless-child remains. Tukā watches this scene — among the boiling-up worldlings, the penniless one. Tukārām positions himself as the adhanī (penniless) watching the world's-abhimāna-tussle.

For someone today

Tukārām describes watching two sides argue, each insisting they are right, both acting out of the same stubborn pride without any real thought behind it. In that push and pull of ego, it is usually the person caught in the middle who gets hurt, and no room is left for patience or calm; only a kind of helpless, childlike confusion remains. Tukārām does not join the fight, he simply watches this scene as someone with nothing to defend, standing apart from the boiling crowd. There is real freedom in noticing when a quarrel is really just two egos colliding, and choosing to watch rather than get pulled in.

मराठी: तुकाराम सांगतात की दोन बाजू भांडत आहेत, दोघेही आपणच बरोबर आहोत असे ठासून सांगत आहेत, आणि दोघांच्याही मागे तोच हट्टी अहंकार आहे, कुठलाही खरा विचार नाही. अहंकाराच्या या ओढाताणीत बहुधा मध्ये सापडलेली व्यक्तीच भरडली जाते, आणि तिथे धीर किंवा शांतीला जागाच उरत नाही; फक्त एक हतबल, लहान मुलासारखा गोंधळ उरतो. तुकाराम या भांडणात उतरत नाहीत, ते फक्त हे दृश्य बघतात, कोणालाही सिद्ध करण्यासारखे काही नसलेल्या माणसासारखे, उकळत्या गर्दीपासून बाजूला उभे राहून. भांडण म्हणजे केवळ दोन अहंकारांची टक्कर आहे हे ओळखून त्यात न ओढले जाता ते बघत राहणे यातच खरे स्वातंत्र्य आहे.

Where this applies

Tukārām's both-sides-mad; helpless-caught-between; Tukā-watches canonical-observation

Autobiographical