संत साहित्य · Tukārām · Abhanga 105 of 4582

Abhanga 105

Some people eat decent food at home and yet behave like the nose-pissing fool — making no distinction between buttermilk and milk, between proper and improper. Their own degraded state shows.

When you encounter someone who cannot tell the precious from the cheap — and you have to recognize the absence of viveka (discernment)

When you yourself notice you've been treating your real treasures the same as commodities — and you have to address the no-discrimination condition

When the take/leave discrimination has gone slack and you have to recognize this is the actual problem

The verse

जेवितां ही घरी । नाक हागतिया परी ॥१॥ ऐसियाचा करी चाळा । आपुली च अवकळा ॥ध्रु.॥ सांडावें मांडावें । काय ऐसें नाहीं ठावें ॥२॥ तुका म्हणे करी । ताका दुधा एक सरी ॥३॥

Literal translation

Though he eats (decent food) at home, he (acts like) the nose-defecating one. The one who makes such antics — only his own degraded state shows. What should be discarded, what should be set out — these are not known to him. Tuka says: he treats buttermilk and milk as one-and-the-same.

मराठी: घरी जेवतो — तरी नाक हागतिया परी (वागतो). अशा antics करतो — त्याची स्वतःचीच अवकळा (दिसते). सांडायचं काय, मांडायचं काय — हे ठावेच नाही. तुकाराम म्हणतात — ताक आणि दूध — एक सरी (समान) करतो.

Word-by-word gloss

Marathi	Meaning
जेवितां ही घरी	"though eating (food) at home"
नाक हागतिया परी	"(yet) like the nose-defecating one" (a vivid scatological Marathi image of someone with no bodily/mental control)
ऐसियाचा करी चाळा	"(one who) makes such antics"
आपुली च अवकळा	"(shows) only his own degraded state"
सांडावें मांडावें	"(what) should be discarded, (what) should be set out"
काय ऐसें नाहीं ठावें	"this is not known (to him)"
ताका दुधा एक सरी	"buttermilk and milk treated as one-and-the-same" (एक सरी = of equal rank)

What it means

A short absence-of-viveka (discernment) abhang. The vivid image नाक हागतिया परी — like the nose-defecating one — is Marathi's harshest scatological figure for someone who has no control or discrimination. The ताका दुधा एक सरी — buttermilk and milk equal — is the diagnostic: the discerning person knows milk is precious and buttermilk is everyday. The non-discerning person treats them the same. The metaphor extends: such a person treats your treasures the same as your commodities, treats the holy the same as the trivial, treats what should be discarded the same as what should be kept. This is not refined non-dual seeing; it is absence of viveka. [T]

For someone today

This abhang names a real phenomenon: people whose discrimination has gone slack. They cannot tell the precious from the cheap, the proper from the improper, the helpful from the harmful. They are not enlightened (which would also dissolve distinctions, but with refined seeing); they are aviveki (un-discerning), and the giveaway is अवकळा — their own degraded state visible in their actions. The cure is the practice of viveka — refined attention to what is what. The abhang reminds: dropping discrimination is not non-duality; it is collapse.

मराठी: ही ओवी एक खरा phenomenon नाव सांगते: ज्यांचा विवेक सैल झाला आहे. precious आणि cheap, proper आणि improper, helpful आणि harmful — फरक करता येत नाही. ते enlightened नाहीत (जी सुद्धा distinction विरघळवते — पण refined seeing सह); ते अविवेकी — आणि चिन्ह अवकळा — त्यांच्या कृतीत दिसणारी degraded state. उपाय विवेकाची साधना — काय काय आहे याकडे refined लक्ष. ओवी आठवण देते: discrimination drop करणं non-duality नाही — collapse आहे.

Where this applies

Person can't tell precious from cheap. विवेक missing.
You yourself treating treasures as commodities. Address it.
Drop-discrimination as enlightenment claim. Often it's collapse.