संत साहित्य
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संत साहित्य · Tukārām · Abhanga 119 of 4582

Abhanga 119

Three diagnostics for who not to share company with: (1) word does not match across utterances; (2) intellect shifts by audience; (3) attacks the genuinely-good while courting the profitable. पोटीं भाव अणीक जया होटीं — gut-and-lip mismatch. The structural-prescription is न व्हावे दर्शन — let the encounter not happen. The sharing-of-meal image is precise: in this person's company, what you absorb at the table comes from their gut, not their lip. If their gut is rotten, you are eating their rot regardless of the polite words. Step away.

When you've been sharing meals (literal or metaphorical) with people whose word doesn't match their gut — and you have to step away
When you watch someone slander an awakened person while bowing to a profitable one — and you have to recognize the pattern
When you have to honour the खळा पंगती — don't sit at the row with the rotten — boundary

The verse

शब्दा नाहीं धीर । ज्याची बुद्धि नाहीं स्थिर ॥१॥ त्याचें न व्हावे दर्शन । खळा पंगती भोजन ॥ध्रु.॥ संतास जो निंदी । अधम लोभासाठीं वंदी ॥२॥ तुका म्हणे पोटीं । भाव अणीक जया होटीं ॥३॥

Literal translation

English: No firmness in his words; his intellect is not stable. Let his sight not happen — (do not eat at) the rotten one's meal-row. Whoever slanders saints (yet) bows-down for low gain — Tuka says: his bhāva in the gut is one, on the lip another.

मराठी: शब्दाला धीर नाही; बुद्धी स्थिर नाही. त्याचं दर्शन नको; खळ्याच्या पंगतीचं भोजन नको. जो संतांना निंदतो — आणि अधम लोभासाठी वंदन करतो — तुकाराम म्हणतात — पोटीचा भाव वेगळा, ओठीचा वेगळा.

Word-by-word gloss
Marathi Meaning
शब्दा नाहीं धीर "no firmness in (his) words"
ज्याची बुद्धि नाहीं स्थिर "whose intellect is not stable"
त्याचें न व्हावे दर्शन "let his sight (= encounter) not happen"
खळा पंगती भोजन "(do not eat) the meal-row of the rotten"
संतास जो निंदी "whoever slanders saints"
अधम लोभासाठीं वंदी "(yet) bows-down for low (= base) gain"
पोटीं भाव अणीक जया होटीं "(has) one bhāva (feeling) in the gut, another at the lip"

What it means

A short avoid abhang with a sharp diagnostic. Three signs of the not-to-be-met person: (1) शब्दा नाहीं धीर — no firmness in words (each utterance contradicts the previous); (2) बुद्धि नाहीं स्थिर — unstable intellect (positions shift by audience); (3) the precise inversion — slanders saints, bows for low gain. The structural-marker: पोटीं भाव अणीक जया होटींone feeling in the gut, another at the lip. The pot-lip mismatch is the giveaway. The खळा पंगती भोजनmeal-row of the rotten — is the social caution: not just avoid encounter but avoid shared-meal (= shared-platform, shared-context, shared-table). [T]

For someone today

Three diagnostics for who not to share company with: (1) word does not match across utterances; (2) intellect shifts by audience; (3) attacks the genuinely-good while courting the profitable. पोटीं भाव अणीक जया होटीं — gut-and-lip mismatch. The structural-prescription is न व्हावे दर्शनlet the encounter not happen. The sharing-of-meal image is precise: in this person's company, what you absorb at the table comes from their gut, not their lip. If their gut is rotten, you are eating their rot regardless of the polite words. Step away.

मराठी: कुणाची संगती नको त्यासाठी तीन diagnostics: (१) शब्द उच्चारांत जुळत नाहीत; (२) audience नुसार बुद्धी बदलते; (३) genuine चांगल्यावर हल्ला करतात — profitable ला वंदन. पोटीं भाव अणीक जया होटीं. प्रतिबंधाची structural सूचना: न व्हावे दर्शन. भोजन-share image अचूक — या व्यक्तीच्या संगतीत टेबलवर तुम्ही जे absorb करता ते त्यांच्या पोटातून येतं, ओठातून नाही. पोट सडलेलं — तुम्ही त्यांचं सड खाताय (polite शब्दांकडे दुर्लक्ष करून). सोडा.

Where this applies

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