Abhanga 83
Life ground up in sense-pursuit is life wasted. Without compassion, the deity is just a stone to such a one.
The verse
बाईल सवासिण आई । आपण पितरांचे ठायीं ॥१॥ थोर वेच जाला नष्टा । अवघ्या अपसव्य चेष्टा ॥ध्रु.॥ विषयांचे चरवणीं । केली आयुष्याची गाळणी ॥२॥ तुका म्हणे लंडा । नाहीं दया देव धोंडा ॥३॥
Literal translation
English: Wife addressed as auspicious-mother — while one is (already) in the position of ancestors. Great expense wasted; all reverse-mannered antics. By the grinding of sense-objects, life has been strained / ground up. Tuka says: the cheat — without compassion — the deity is just a stone (to him).
मराठी: बाईल सवासिण-आई (नावापुरती) — आपण पितरांच्या ठायी. मोठा वेच नष्ट झाला; सगळ्या अपसव्य चेष्टा. विषयांच्या चरवणीने आयुष्याची गाळणी झाली. तुकाराम म्हणतात — लंडा — दया नाही — देव धोंडा.
Word-by-word gloss
| Marathi | Meaning |
|---|---|
| बाईल सवासिण आई | "wife (called) auspicious-mother" (a polite address) |
| आपण पितरांचे ठायीं | "(while) one is in the place of ancestors" |
| थोर वेच जाला नष्टा | "great expense has been wasted" |
| अवघ्या अपसव्य चेष्टा | "all reverse-mannered antics" (अपसव्य = wrong-side / contrary) |
| विषयांचे चरवणीं | "by the cleansing-grinding of sense-objects" (चरवणी = grinding-mill / processing) |
| केली आयुष्याची गाळणी | "life has been strained / ground up" (गाळणी = sieve / strainer) |
| लंडा | "the cheat / charlatan" |
| नाहीं दया देव धोंडा | "no compassion — the deity is (just) a stone" |
What it means
The metaphor विषयांचे चरवणीं केली आयुष्याची गाळणी — the grinding-mill of sense-objects has strained life — is one of Tukaram's sharpest images of wasted life. Charvanī is the grinding-and-cleansing operation that processes raw grain; here, sense-pursuits grind down life as if it were grain to be processed. What comes out the other end is gāḷaṇī — strained, sifted-out remnant. The closing — दया नाही, देव धोंडा — no compassion, the deity is a stone — is the verdict: a life ground up by sense-pursuit produces a stone-deity (no living relation), because the organ of compassion has been ground out. [T]
For someone today
This abhang is for the moment when you tally the years and notice how much of them went into sense-pursuit grinding — the chasing, the consuming, the comparing — and how little came out as something that could be called life. Tukaram's verdict is harsh: this is gāḷaṇī, the strained-out remnant. The compassion-organ doesn't survive the grinding. The deity, if you look for it now, is a stone — because the receiver has been ground down. The cure is not adding more activity; it is stopping the grinding and giving the compassion-organ time to grow back.
मराठी: ही ओवी अशा क्षणासाठी जेव्हा तुम्ही वर्षांचा हिशोब करता आणि लक्षात येतं किती वर्षं विषय-चरवणीत गेली — पाठलाग, खाणं, तुलना — आणि किती जीवन बाहेर आलं असं म्हणता येईल. तुकारामांचा निवाडा कठोर: हे गाळणी आहे, strained-out remnant. compassion-organ grinding ला टिकत नाही. आता देव शोधायला गेलात — धोंडा. कारण receiver ग्राइंड झाला आहे. उपाय अधिक activity नाही — grinding थांबवणं आणि compassion-organ ला परत वाढायला वेळ देणं.
Where this applies
- Years ground up in sense-pursuit. Tally honestly.
- Wife-and-mother nominally only. Daily life has run past them.
- Compassion dried up, deity stone-like. Receiver has been ground down. Stop the grinding.