Abhanga 4058
Causing anyone distress is wrong because the sufferer is, in a real sense, God, and even well-meant help can carry fault if it's tangled with self-interest, so plain compassion is what truly fits.
The verse
कोणा ही केंडावें हा आम्हां अधर्म । जोजो पावे श्रम तोतो देव ॥१॥
म्हणउनि चित्ता सिकविलें वोजें । आतां हें चि दुजें न बोलावें ॥ध्रु.॥
हालविलें जरि परउपकारें । जिव्हे पाप खरें उपाधीचें ॥२॥
तुका म्हणे जीव प्रारब्धा आधीन । कोण वाहे सीण करुणा शोभे ॥३॥
Literal translation
Bothering-anyone-adharma — whoever-feels-śrama-is-Deva. Taught-chitta — don't-speak-this-cruel-again. Even-paropakāra-tongue-pāpa-from-upādhi. Tukā: jīva-prārabdha-controlled — karuṇā-shobha.
What it means
A 3-verse ahimsā-nuance text. Bothering anyone is adharma for us; whoever feels pain is (a form of) Deva. So I have taught my chitta: don't speak this cruel thing again. Even if the tongue is moved by helping-others — there's true pāpa on it from the entanglement (of any action). The jīva is under prārabdha; who can lift its fatigue? — only compassion is fitting. The argument jōjō pāvē śrama, tōtō dēva (whoever feels pain, that one is Deva) is rare and powerful — ahimsā grounded in Deva-in-the-suffering. The nuanced second half — even helping-with-tongue can carry pāpa — distinguishes pure-karuṇā from upādhic-help.
For someone today
Tukaram makes a striking claim: causing anyone distress is wrong for us because whoever is suffering is, in some real sense, God. He says he has deliberately trained his own mind never to speak or act cruelly toward another again. Then he adds a subtler warning, that even when your tongue moves to help someone, that help can carry its own fault if it's tangled up with your own agenda or pride. Since every being is caught in the working-out of its own past actions, he says the only response that truly fits is plain compassion, not interference dressed up as help.
मराठी: तुकाराम एक ठाम विधान करतात: कोणालाही त्रास देणे आपल्यासाठी अधर्म आहे, कारण जो कोणी दुःख भोगत आहे तो एका अर्थाने देवच आहे. ते म्हणतात की त्यांनी जाणीवपूर्वक स्वतःच्या मनाला शिकवले आहे की पुन्हा कधीही दुसऱ्याशी क्रूरपणे बोलू किंवा वागू नये. मग ते अधिक सूक्ष्म इशारा देतात की एखाद्याला मदत करण्यासाठी जीभ हलली तरी, ती मदत जर स्वतःच्या हेतूने किंवा अहंकाराने गुंतलेली असेल तर तिच्यातही दोष असू शकतो. प्रत्येक जीव आपल्या स्वतःच्या प्रारब्धाच्या फेऱ्यात अडकलेला असल्याने, ते म्हणतात की खरोखर योग्य प्रतिसाद म्हणजे निखळ करुणा, मदतीच्या नावाखाली केलेला हस्तक्षेप नव्हे.
Where this applies
- When you're about to say something sharp or careless that could hurt another person
- When you offer help but notice your own pride or agenda mixed into the motive
- When you see someone suffering and want to remember that their pain matters as much as your own
- When you're tempted to intervene in someone's struggle without checking whether it's real compassion or your own need to fix things