Abhanga 3731
True compassion feels every creature's suffering as your own, and that felt kinship, not rule-following, is the real root of right conduct and peace of mind.
The verse
मारूं नये सर्प संतांचिये दृष्टी । होतील ते कष्टी व्यापकपणें ॥१॥
एक सूत्र जीवशिवीं आइक्यता । रोम उपडितां अंग कांपे ॥ध्रु.॥
नाहीं साहों येत दुखाची ते जाती । परपीडा भूतीं साम्य जालें ॥२॥
तुका म्हणे दिला नीतीचा संकेत । पुजा नांवें चित्त सुखी तेणें ॥३॥
Literal translation
Don't-kill-sarpa-in-santa's-drṣṭi — santa-pained-by-vyāpaka-paṇa. One-sūtra-jīva-śiva-ēkatā — pluck-rōma-anga-trembles. Jāti-of-duḥkha-unbearable — para-pīḍā-sāmya-in-bhūta. Tukā: nīti's-sankēta-given — pūjā-by-nāma-chitta-sukhī.
What it means
A 3-verse ahimsā-by-vyāpaka-paṇa text. Don't kill a snake in the sants' sight — by their all-pervasiveness they are pained. There's one thread of jīva-śiva-oneness — pluck one hair and the body trembles. The suffering of others has become equal-feeling in beings. The sign of nīti has been given — pūjā by the name; the chitta becomes happy. Striking sant-ahimsā: not because of vow, but because they literally feel the pain by vyāpaka-paṇa.
For someone today
Tukaram says not to kill even a snake in front of true sants, because their sense of connection to all life is so wide that harming any creature genuinely pains them. He compares it to a single thread running through all living beings, so that plucking even one hair makes the whole body tremble, since the suffering of another creature is felt as one's own. This is not about following a rule out of obligation, it comes from actually feeling that kinship with every being. Tukaram says this deep sense of right conduct, along with worship through the name of God, is what brings real peace to the mind.
मराठी: तुकाराम म्हणतात की खऱ्या संतांसमोर एखाद्या सापालाही मारू नये, कारण त्यांची सर्व जीवांशी असलेली आत्मीयता इतकी व्यापक असते की कोणत्याही जीवाला इजा झाली तरी त्यांना खरोखर वेदना होतात. ते याची तुलना सर्व जीवांना जोडणाऱ्या एका सूत्राशी करतात, जिथे एक केस उपटला तरी अख्खे अंग कापते, कारण दुसऱ्या जीवाचे दुःख स्वतःचेच वाटते. हे केवळ नियम पाळण्याचे कर्तव्य नाही, तर प्रत्येक जीवाशी असलेली खरी आत्मीयता जाणवण्यातून येते. तुकाराम म्हणतात की हीच खरी नीती आणि देवाच्या नामाची पूजा मनाला खरी सुख देते.
Where this applies
- When you feel genuine discomfort at seeing any creature suffer, even one most people wouldn't care about
- When you realize your own sense of right and wrong comes from real empathy rather than fear of breaking a rule
- When someone else's pain affects you almost as if it were happening to your own body
- When you find that chanting or quiet devotion brings your mind a real, settled peace