Abhanga 74
A village without service-and-bhakti is a cremation-ground; its people fill bellies like dogs. Yamadūtas dwell in the houses. The Linga is unworshipped; no monk finds shelter there.
The verse
स्मशान ते भूमि प्रेतरूप जन । सेवाभक्तिहीन ग्रामवासी ॥१॥ भरतील पोट श्वानाचिया परी । वस्ति दिली घरीं यमदूतां ॥ध्रु.॥ अपूज्य लिंग तेथें अतित न घे थारा । ऐसी वस्ती चोरां कंटकांची ॥२॥ तुका म्हणे नाहीं ठावी स्थिति मती । यमाची निश्चिती कुळवाडी ॥३॥
Literal translation
English: That ground is a cremation-ground; the people are corpse-like — village-dwellers without service-and-bhakti. They will fill their bellies like dogs. They have given dwelling in the house to Yama's messengers. The Linga is unworshipped; the wandering-monk takes no shelter there. Such is the habitation of thieves and thorns. Tuka says: they do not know (the right) state, (the right) thought; certainly Yama's household-folk.
मराठी: ती भूमी स्मशान, लोक प्रेत-रूप — सेवा-भक्ती नसलेले ग्रामवासी. कुत्र्याप्रमाणे पोट भरतील. घरी यमदूतांना वस्ती दिली. तिथे लिंग अपूज्य, अतित थारा घेत नाही — चोरांची-कंटकांची वस्ती. तुकाराम म्हणतात — स्थिती-मती ठावी नाही — निश्चित यमाची कुळवाडी.
Word-by-word gloss
| Marathi | Meaning |
|---|---|
| स्मशान ते भूमि | "that ground is a cremation-ground" |
| प्रेतरूप जन | "people corpse-like" |
| सेवाभक्तिहीन ग्रामवासी | "village-dwellers without service-and-bhakti" |
| भरतील पोट श्वानाचिया परी | "they fill the belly like dogs" |
| वस्ति दिली घरीं यमदूतां | "(they have) given dwelling in the house to yamadūtas (Yama's messengers)" |
| अपूज्य लिंग | "the Linga goes unworshipped" |
| अतित न घे थारा | "the wandering-monk takes no shelter" |
| वस्ती चोरां कंटकांची | "habitation of thieves and thorns" |
| यमाची निश्चिती कुळवाडी | "Yama's certain household-people" |
What it means
A harsh-place-portrait abhang. The diagnosis is structural: a place without service-and-bhakti is not just spiritually-impoverished; it is a cremation-ground containing corpse-like people. The images are deliberately uncomfortable. Yamadūtas dwelling in the house (Yama is the god of death; his messengers carry off the dead) means the household has become death's outpost. The unworshipped Linga and the homeless wandering-monk are both symptomatic — neither the deity-presence nor the spiritual-traveler can find footing. Such places are thieves' and thorns' habitation. [T]
For someone today
This abhang is for the moment when you walk through (or live in) an environment whose spiritual deadness you've been ignoring because everyone in it acts as if it's normal. Tukaram names what you have been sensing: the place is a cremation-ground; the people are corpse-like; Yama's messengers have moved in. The diagnostic is concrete — no practice, no shelter for practitioners, no presence of the deity-image. The cure is sometimes to leave — Tukaram's अतित न घे थारा (the wandering-monk takes no shelter there) is exact: the spiritual life cannot take root in such a place. The recognition is the first step.
मराठी: ही ओवी अशा क्षणासाठी जेव्हा तुम्ही अशा ठिकाणाहून जाता (किंवा राहता) ज्याची आध्यात्मिक deadness तुम्ही दुर्लक्षित करत होतात — कारण तिथले सगळे ती normal मानत आहेत. तुकाराम जे तुम्हाला जाणवत होतं ते नाव सांगतायत: ती जागा स्मशान; लोक प्रेत-रूप; यमदूतांनी घर भरलं. diagnostic concrete — साधना नाही, साधकांना थारा नाही, देव-प्रतिमेची उपस्थिती नाही. उपाय कधी कधी सोडणं — तुकारामांचं अतित न घे थारा अचूक: अशा जागी आध्यात्मिक जीवन रुजत नाही. ओळखणं हीच पहिली पायरी.
Where this applies
- Place feels dead and you've been normalizing. Trust the sensing.
- No practitioner can take shelter. That's the diagnostic.
- Time to leave. Sometimes that is the practice.