Abhanga 4163
Choosing your real good over social respectability may cost you status and pride, but it can still be the right choice.
The verse
किती एका दिसीं । बुद्धि जाली होती ऐसी ॥१॥
कांहीं करावें स्वहित । तों हें न घडे उचित ॥ध्रु.॥
अवलंबुनी भीक । लाज सांडिली लौकिक ॥२॥
तुका म्हणे दीन । जालों मनुष्यपणा हीन ॥३॥
Literal translation
Kitī ekā disīm — buddhi jālī hōtī aisī — on some day — buddhi had become like-this. Kāhīm karāvem svahita — to he na ghaḍe uchita — let me do some svahita — but this fitting-thing does not happen. Avalambunī bhīka — lāja sāṇḍilī laukika — leaning on bhīkṣā — dropped the shame of laukika. Tukā mhaṇe dīna — jālōm manuṣyapaṇā hīna — Tukā says: humble — fallen below humanness.
What it means
A 3-verse self-statement about Tukārām's life-choice. One-day buddhi-said: let-me-do-self-good; but-svahita-is-not-easy; I-leaned-on-begging; dropped-laukika-shame; became-dīna — even-below-being-a-human.
For someone today
Tukaram remembers a day when his own mind resolved to finally do something for his true good, but he admits that choice was not easy to carry out cleanly. Choosing to live by begging meant giving up the worldly shame and status people normally guard so carefully. He describes himself, in that state, as humbled, even fallen below ordinary human dignity in society's eyes, showing how sincerely pursuing your real good can cost you the respectable image you once had.
मराठी: तुकाराम अशा एका दिवसाची आठवण सांगतात जेव्हा त्यांच्या बुद्धीने ठरवले की आता खरे स्वहित करावे, पण हे साधणे तितके सोपे नव्हते हे ते मान्य करतात. भीक मागून जगण्याचा निर्णय घेतल्यामुळे लोक जपून ठेवतात ती लौकिक अब्रू सोडावी लागली. अशा अवस्थेत ते स्वतःला दीन, समाजाच्या नजरेत साध्या मनुष्यपणापेक्षाही खालावलेले म्हणतात, यातून दिसते की खरे स्वहित शोधण्याची किंमत कधी कधी आपल्या प्रतिष्ठेच्या रूपात मोजावी लागते.
Where this applies
- Tukārām's begging-life; below-manuṣyapaṇa canonical autobiographical
- Companion to 2742 (yātī-hīna mati-hīna karma-hīna)