Abhanga 4196
Being selective about company is self-protection, real peace of mind comes from meaningful company or honest solitude, never from empty company or places without reflection.
The verse
संतांपायीं विन्मुख जाला । तो जरि संगति मागों आला ॥१॥
तरि त्याहुनि दुरी जावें । सुखें एकांतीं बैसावें ॥ध्रु.॥
आत्मचर्चा नाहीं जेथें । अगी लावुनि द्यावी तेथें ॥२॥
तुका म्हणे नाहीं । चित्ता समाधान कांहीं ॥३॥
Literal translation
Santas-vimukha — if-asks-sangati. Go-further-away — better-ēkānta-sukha. No-ātma-charchā — put-fire-there. Tukā: no-chitta-samādhāna-there.
What it means
A 3-verse anti-santa-vimukha-sanga text. If someone has become turned-away from the santas' feet — even if he comes asking for company, go even further from him. Better sit in solitude with joy. Where there's no self-inquiry, put fire there. Tukā says: there's no contentment of the heart there. The radical advice: santa-vimukha-sanga is worse than solitude — and a place without ātma-charchā deserves fire-not-residence. Sharp anti-bad-company rule. Pair with 4190 (no-Name = Yamadūta-bondsmaid), 4192 (kusanga-mind-runs).
For someone today
Tukārām gives sharp, practical advice about company: if someone has turned away from genuine spiritual community and comes looking for your friendship, move further away rather than closer, even solitude is better than that kind of company. He says any place where there is no real self-reflection or meaningful conversation is not worth staying in at all, it offers nothing. He closes plainly, saying there is simply no peace of mind to be found there. The lesson is that being selective about who you spend time with is not unkindness, it is self-protection, and true contentment comes from either meaningful company or honest solitude, not from filling time with people or places that offer neither.
मराठी: तुकाराम संगतीबद्दल स्पष्ट, व्यवहारी सल्ला देतात, जर कोणी खऱ्या साधुसंगतीपासून दूर गेलेला असेल आणि तुमची मैत्री शोधत आला, तर त्याच्या जवळ जाण्याऐवजी आणखी दूर जावे, अशा संगतीपेक्षा एकटे राहणे बरे. ते म्हणतात जिथे खरा आत्मचिंतन किंवा अर्थपूर्ण संवाद नाही, अशी जागा राहण्यालायक नाही, तिथून काहीच मिळत नाही. शेवटी ते स्पष्टपणे सांगतात की तिथे मनाला कसलेच समाधान मिळत नाही. यातून हा धडा मिळतो की कोणाशी वेळ घालवावा हे निवडक असणे हा असभ्यपणा नसून स्वतःचे रक्षण आहे, आणि खरे समाधान अर्थपूर्ण संगतीतून किंवा प्रामाणिक एकांतातूनच मिळते, रिकाम्या लोकांत किंवा जागांत वेळ घालवण्याने नाही.
Where this applies
- Tukārām's santa-vimukha-sanga worse-than-solitude; no-ātma-charchā place burn-it canonical