Abhanga 3705
Staying rooted in the company of good, steady companions is worth more than chasing every whim the world offers, which only exhausts people in the end.
The verse
गुणांचा चि सांटा । करूं न वजों आणिका वाटा ॥१॥
करिती छंद नानापरी । भरोन सिणती आडभरी ॥ध्रु.॥
नेमली पंगती । आम्हां संतांची संगती ॥२॥
तुका म्हणे लीळा । येर कवतुक पाहों डोळां ॥३॥
Literal translation
Sāṇṭā-of-guṇa — no-other-vāṭa. Others-chanda-many-ways — tired-in-disorderly-heap. Our-pangati-fixed — santa-sangati. Tukā: līḷā — watch-other-kavatuka-with-eyes.
What it means
A 3-verse fixed-row text. Let us exchange guṇa, take no other way. Others do their whims in many forms — they tire themselves in disorder. Our pangati (row, place) is fixed — the santa-sangati. Tukā: it's all līḷā — let's watch the other charming-sport with our eyes.
For someone today
Tukārām says that among true companions, what you exchange is goodness itself, and there is no need to wander off looking for some other path. He notices how others chase whim after whim in every direction, only to wear themselves out in a messy, scattered pile of effort. His own place is settled, fixed among the company of the saints, and he is content to stay there. Everything else in the world, he says, is just a passing show, worth watching with curiosity but not worth chasing.
मराठी: तुकाराम म्हणतात की खऱ्या सोबत्यांमध्ये जो देवाणघेवाण होते ती चांगुलपणाचीच असते, आणि दुसरी वाट शोधत भटकण्याची काही गरज नसते. ते पाहतात की इतर लोक एका मागोमाग एक लहरींच्या मागे धावतात, आणि शेवटी विस्कळीत, विखुरलेल्या धडपडीत स्वतःला थकवून घेतात. त्यांचे स्वतःचे स्थान स्थिर आहे, संतांच्या सहवासात निश्चित झालेले आहे, आणि तिथेच राहण्यात ते समाधानी आहेत. बाकी सगळे जग, ते म्हणतात, एक क्षणभंगुर खेळ आहे, कुतूहलाने बघण्यासारखा, पण त्याच्या मागे धावण्यासारखा नाही.
Where this applies
- Tukārām's sāṇṭā-of-guṇa; santa-sangati-pangati canonical