संत साहित्य · Tukārām · Abhanga 90 of 4582

Abhanga 90

A little lust or anger ruins a good practice the way burnt sesame ruins the rice: study, austerity, pilgrimage, and charity done to feed your ego turn from dharma into adharma.

When you've been performing virtuous actions and notice the ego is getting bigger through them — and you have to recognize the dharma has become adharma

When you've collected scriptural learning and notice it's making you more separate, not less — and you have to address the upstream condition

When charity is preserving rather than dissolving your sense of being-the-giver — and you have to face that the gesture has reversed

The verse

तीळ जाळिले तांदुळ । काम क्रोधे तैसे चि खळ ॥१॥ कां रे सिणलासी वाउगा । न भजतां पांडुरंगा ॥ध्रु.॥ मानदंभासाठीं । केली अक्षरांची आटी ॥२॥ तप करूनि तीर्थाटन । वाढविला अभिमान ॥३॥ वांटिलें तें धन । केली अहंता जतन ॥४॥ तुका म्हणे चुकलें वर्म । केला अवघा चि अधर्म ॥५॥

Literal translation

Sesame and rice burnt together; lust-and-anger are likewise depraved. Why have you exhausted yourself uselessly — without bhajan of Pandurang? For the sake of honor-and-pretense, the labor of letters (was done). Having done tapas, having gone on pilgrimage — only ahankar was increased. Wealth was distributed; I-am-the-giver was preserved. Tuka says: he has missed the secret — he has made all of it adharma.

मराठी: तीळ-तांदूळ जाळून; काम-क्रोध तसेच खळ. का रे उगाच सिणलास — पांडुरंगाला न भजता? मान-दंभासाठीच अक्षरांची आटी केली. तप करून तीर्थाटन — अभिमान वाढवला. धन वाटलं — अहंता जतन केली. तुकाराम म्हणतात — वर्म चुकलं; सगळंच अधर्म केलं.

Word-by-word gloss

Marathi	Meaning
तीळ जाळिले तांदुळ	"burnt sesame with rice"
काम क्रोधे तैसे चि खळ	"lust-and-anger — like that — depraved"
कां रे सिणलासी वाउगा	"why have you exhausted yourself uselessly?"
न भजतां पांडुरंगा	"without bhajan-of-Pandurang"
मानदंभासाठीं	"for the sake of honor-and-pretense"
केली अक्षरांची आटी	"the labor of letters (= scriptural learning) was done"
तप करूनि तीर्थाटन	"having done tapas, having gone on pilgrimage"
वाढविला अभिमान	"(only) increased ahankar"
वांटिलें तें धन	"wealth was distributed"
केली अहंता जतन	"I-am-the-giver was preserved"
चुकलें वर्म	"(he) missed the secret"
केला अवघा चि अधर्म	"made all of it adharma"

What it means

A practice-with-ego-sabotage abhang. The structural claim: dharma-actions performed with ego become adharma by virtue of the underlying state. Four examples are catalogued: (1) scriptural learning for honor-and-pretense; (2) tapas for ahankar-build; (3) tirth-pilgrimage for ahankar-build; (4) charity that preserves the I-am-the-giver. The verdict: केला अवघा चि अधर्म — all of it became adharma. The opening sesame-and-rice image makes the principle vivid: a few sesame seeds burnt-with the rice ruin the whole dish; a small amount of kāma-krodha (lust-anger) ruins all the practice. [T]

For someone today

This abhang is for the moment when you tally your spiritual effort and notice the ego is bigger, not smaller. The diagnostic: did the practice dissolve the I, or preserve it? If preserved — Tukaram's verdict applies: you missed the secret, made all of it adharma. The cure is not more practice of the same kind; it is bhajan-of-Pandurang — practice oriented to the deity, not to the practitioner's standing. The orientation is the variable that determines whether dharma stays dharma or flips to adharma.

मराठी: ही ओवी त्या क्षणासाठी जेव्हा तुम्ही आध्यात्मिक श्रमाचा हिशोब करता आणि लक्षात येतं अहंकार मोठा झाला, छोटा नाही. diagnostic: साधनेने I विरघळला, की जपला? जपला — तुकारामांचा निवाडा लागू: वर्म चुकलं, सगळंच अधर्म झालं. उपाय त्याच प्रकाराची अधिक साधना नाही — पांडुरंगाचं भजन — साधनेची दिशा देवाकडे, साधकाच्या प्रतिष्ठेकडे नाही. दिशाच variable — dharma dharma राहते की adharma होते.

Where this applies

Ego getting bigger through virtuous actions. Dharma → adharma.
Learning making you more separate. अक्षरांची आटी for honor.
Charity preserving giver-stance. अहंता जतन. Reversed.