Abhanga 120
Two structural lessons. (1) Read the teacher's life, not the teacher's words. The thief's syllabus is theft; the over-arguer's syllabus is over-arguing; the kind person's syllabus is kindness. The actual instruction is the अभ्यास (the lived practice); the words are vehicle. (2) Footsteps make the walker. Whose footsteps you've been walking in is what you've been becoming. The cure for unwanted-becoming is changing whose path you walk. The personal closing — Tukaram's fear of Datta — is also instructive: the fear of future-judgment is a form of wisdom, not weakness. The person who has no future-fear has no current discipline.
The verse
चोरें चोरातें करावा उपदेश । आपुला अभ्यास असेल तो ॥१॥ शिंदळीच्या मागें वेचितां पाउलें । होईल आपुलें तिच्या ऐसें ॥ध्रु.॥ तुका म्हणे भितो पुढिलिया दत्ता । म्हणऊनि चिंता उपजली ॥२॥
Literal translation
English: A thief gives instruction to (another) thief — what one has practised, that is what one teaches. Walking in the footsteps of a shindali — your (own) becomes like hers. Tuka says: I fear the Datta who is ahead — that is the anxiety that has arisen (in me).
मराठी: चोर चोराला उपदेश करतो — आपलाच अभ्यास असतो तो. शिंदळीच्या मागे पाऊल टाकलं तर — आपलंच तिच्यासारखं होतं. तुकाराम म्हणतात — पुढच्या दत्ताला (न्यायाधीशाला) मी भितो — म्हणूनच चिंता उपजली.
Word-by-word gloss
| Marathi | Meaning |
|---|---|
| चोरें चोरातें करावा उपदेश | "a thief gives instruction to (another) thief" |
| आपुला अभ्यास असेल तो | "(it is) what one has practised oneself" |
| शिंदळीच्या मागें वेचितां पाउलें | "walking the footsteps of a shindali (unfaithful woman)" |
| होईल आपुलें तिच्या ऐसें | "(your own) becomes like hers" |
| भितो पुढिलिया दत्ता | "I fear the Datta (judge) ahead" |
| चिंता उपजली | "the anxiety has arisen" |
What it means
Two concise diagnostic claims: (1) teachers teach what they practise, not what they say — the thief's instruction is theft-instruction regardless of what words are used; (2) footsteps shape the walker — walking in a shindali's footsteps makes you like her. The closing personal note — भितो पुढिलिया दत्ता — I fear the Datta ahead — is unusual; Tukaram is naming his own anxiety about future-judgment as the driver of his own carefulness. Datta here likely refers to the divine-judge / Yama / future-reckoning. The fear is honest, not performance. [T]
For someone today
Two structural lessons. (1) Read the teacher's life, not the teacher's words. The thief's syllabus is theft; the over-arguer's syllabus is over-arguing; the kind person's syllabus is kindness. The actual instruction is the अभ्यास (the lived practice); the words are vehicle. (2) Footsteps make the walker. Whose footsteps you've been walking in is what you've been becoming. The cure for unwanted-becoming is changing whose path you walk. The personal closing — Tukaram's fear of Datta — is also instructive: the fear of future-judgment is a form of wisdom, not weakness. The person who has no future-fear has no current discipline.
मराठी: दोन structural lessons. (१) शिक्षकाचं जीवन वाचा, शब्द नाही. चोराचा syllabus चोरी; over-arguer चा syllabus over-arguing; प्रेमळ माणसाचा syllabus प्रेम. खरी instruction अभ्यासात (lived practice) आहे; शब्द vehicle आहेत. (२) पाऊलं चालणाऱ्याला आकार देतात. कुणाच्या पावलांत चालत आहात तेच बनत आहात. नको असलेल्या becoming साठी उपाय — कुणाची वाट आहे ते बदलणं. वैयक्तिक शेवट — तुकारामांची दत्ताची भीती — पण instructive: future-judgment ची भीती शहाणपणाचं रूप आहे, weakness नाही. ज्याला future-fear नाही त्याला current discipline नाही.
Where this applies
- Teacher's life-pattern is the actual teaching. Read the life.
- Following someone's footsteps without seeing where they lead. होईल आपुलें तिच्या ऐसें.
- Fear of future judgment. Wisdom, not weakness.