Abhanga 46
Don't envy any soul. The vivid metaphor: we are all limbs of one body — your envy of someone else is your right hand resenting your left.
The verse
विष्णुमय जग वैष्णवांचा धर्म । भेदाभेदभ्रम अमंगळ ॥१॥ अइका जी तुम्ही भक्त भागवत । कराल तें हित सत्य करा ॥ध्रु.॥ कोणा ही जिवाचा न घडो मत्सर । वर्म सर्वेश्वरपूजनाचें ॥२॥ तुका म्हणे एका देहाचे अवयव । सुख दुःख जीव भोग पावे ॥३॥
Literal translation
English: The world is Vishnu-filled — that is the Vaishnava's dharma. The bheda-abheda confusion is impure. Hear, O bhaktas of the Bhāgavata: what you do, do as truly beneficial. Let no jealousy of any soul arise — that is the secret of universal worship. Tuka says: we are limbs of one body; the soul receives joy and sorrow (across).
मराठी: जग विष्णुमय आहे — हाच वैष्णवांचा धर्म. भेद-अभेदाचा भ्रम अमंगळ. ऐका, भक्त-भागवत — जे करता ते खरोखर हिताचंच करा. कुणाही जिवाचा मत्सर होऊ नका — हाच सर्वेश्वर-पूजेचं वर्म. तुकाराम म्हणतात — आपण एका देहाचे अवयव; जीव सुख-दुःख भोगतो.
Word-by-word gloss
| Marathi | Meaning |
|---|---|
| विष्णुमय जग | "the world is Vishnu-filled / pervaded-by-Vishnu" |
| वैष्णवांचा धर्म | "(this is) the Vaishnavas' dharma" |
| भेदाभेदभ्रम अमंगळ | "the bheda-abheda (dual-vs-non-dual) confusion is impure / inauspicious" |
| भक्त भागवत | "devotees, bhāgavatas (bhakti-followers)" |
| कराल तें हित सत्य करा | "what you do, do as truly beneficial" |
| कोणा ही जिवाचा न घडो मत्सर | "let no jealousy of any soul arise" (मत्सर = jealousy, envy) |
| वर्म सर्वेश्वरपूजनाचें | "(this is) the secret of the worship of the Lord-of-all" |
| एका देहाचे अवयव | "limbs of one body" |
| सुख दुःख जीव भोग पावे | "joy and sorrow — the soul receives the experience" |
What it means
This is one of Tukaram's most-quoted abhangas in modern Maharashtra — विष्णुमय जग वैष्णवांचा धर्म is a stock citation. The whole abhang offers a structural ethics: if the world is Vishnu-pervaded, jealousy of any other being is structurally absurd, because the other being is also Vishnu. The metaphor in verse 3 is the clincher: एका देहाचे अवयव — limbs of one body. The hand does not envy the foot; the right does not resent the left. The same structure applies to all souls. [T] [Tradition]
The line भेदाभेदभ्रम अमंगळ — the dual-vs-non-dual confusion is impure — is Tukaram's verdict on the philosophy-debate one more time (continuing 0028 and 0037). Both views, when held as positions to be debated, are amangal — impure, inauspicious — because they obstruct the seeing.
For someone today
English: This abhang is the verse for the moment when you find yourself envying someone else — their position, their relationship, their progress, their luck. Tukaram's claim is structural, not moralistic: we are limbs of one body. The envy is your right hand resenting your left. The position is structurally absurd; it makes sense only if you have forgotten the one-body framing. Re-remembering it dissolves the envy. The cure is not effort against envy; the cure is seeing what is structurally true — एका देहाचे अवयव.
The deeper claim: jealousy is the obstacle to bhakti. कोणा ही जिवाचा न घडो मत्सर — let no jealousy of any soul arise — is identified as the secret of universal worship. If you cannot worship without envying, your worship has not yet broken the bheda-frame. The repair is in the seeing.
मराठी: ही ओवी त्या क्षणासाठी जेव्हा तुम्हाला कुणाचा हेवा वाटतो — त्यांची स्थिती, नातं, प्रगती, नशीब. तुकारामांचा दावा रचनात्मक आहे, नैतिक नाही: आपण एका देहाचे अवयव. हेवा म्हणजे तुमचा उजवा हात डाव्याचा द्वेष करतो. ही position रचनात्मकदृष्ट्या absurd आहे; ती फक्त one-body framing विसरलात तरच अर्थपूर्ण. ती परत आठवल्याने हेवा विरघळतो. उपाय हेव्याविरुद्ध प्रयत्न नाही — उपाय रचनात्मकपणे काय खरं आहे ते बघणं — एका देहाचे अवयव.
खोल दावा: हेवा हा bhakti चा अडथळा. कोणा ही जिवाचा न घडो मत्सर — कुणाही जिवाचा मत्सर होऊ नका — हे सर्वेश्वर-पूजेचं वर्म म्हणून ओळखलं जातं. हेव्याशिवाय पूजा करता येत नसेल, तुमच्या पूजेने अजून भेद-frame तोडलं नाही. दुरुस्ती दिसण्यात आहे.
Where this applies
- When you feel jealousy of someone else's gain. Re-remember the one-body. The envy dissolves structurally.
- When competing-with-others has become natural. एका देहाचे अवयव is the corrective frame.
- When the bheda-abheda debate sounds important again. Tukaram's verdict: it is amangal. Decline the debate; do the seeing.