Abhanga 246
This abhang names a sharp warning about analytical-criticism toward saints / real-presences:
The verse
संतांचे गुण दोष आणितां या मना । केलिया उगाणा सुकृताचा ॥१॥ पिळोनियां पाहे पुष्पाचा परिमळ । चिरोनि केळी केळ गाढव तो ॥ध्रु.॥ तुका म्हणे गंगे अग्नीसि विटाळ । लावी तो चांडाळ दुःख पावे ॥२॥
Literal translation
English: Bringing the saints' merits-and-faults into the mind — the sukṛta (merit-credit) is erased. (One who) squeezes the flower to see the fragrance — splits the banana-tree to find the banana — that one is a donkey. Tuka says: the one who defiles the Ganga and the fire — that chāṇḍāḷa receives suffering.
मराठी: संतांचे गुण-दोष आणितां या मना — केलिया उगाणा सुकृताचा. पिळोनियां पाहे पुष्पाचा परिमळ — चिरोनि केळी केळ गाढव तो. तुकाराम म्हणतात — गंगे अग्नीसि विटाळ — लावी तो चांडाळ दुःख पावे.
Word-by-word gloss
| Marathi | Meaning |
|---|---|
| संतांचे गुण दोष आणितां या मना | "(when one) brings the guṇa-dōṣa (merit-faults) of the saints into the mind" |
| केलिया उगाणा सुकृताचा | "the sukṛta (merit-credit) is uganā (erased / undone)" |
| पिळोनियां पाहे पुष्पाचा परिमळ | "(one who) squeezes the flower to see the fragrance" |
| चिरोनि केळी केळ गाढव तो | "splits the banana-tree to find the banana — that one is a donkey" |
| गंगे अग्नीसि विटाळ लावी तो चांडाळ दुःख पावे | "(the one who) defiles the Gangā and the agni — that chāṇḍāḷa receives suffering" |
What it means
A sharp anti-fault-finding-with-saints abhang. Three claims:
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संतांचे गुण दोष आणितां या मना — केलिया उगाणा सुकृताचा — bringing saints' merits-and-faults to the mind — the merit-credit is erased. Even bringing the saints' (mixed) merits-and-faults to the mind — analytic-attention — is enough to erase the sukṛta (merit-credit). The analytical-stance toward the saints is itself the loss.
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पिळोनियां पाहे पुष्पाचा परिमळ — चिरोनि केळी केळ गाढव तो — squeezes the flower to see the fragrance, splits the banana-tree to find the banana — that one is a donkey. The analytical-failure image. The fragrance is in the flower's intactness; squeezing destroys what produces it. The banana is in the tree's growing; splitting destroys what produces it. Analytical-fault-finding destroys what produced the saint-quality.
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गंगे अग्नीसि विटाळ — लावी तो चांडाळ दुःख पावे — defiles Ganga and fire — that chāṇḍāḷa receives suffering. Important reading: chāṇḍāḷa in Tukaram's recoded register (compare 75, 213) means one who acts wickedly / impurely — not the caste. The Ganga and fire cannot be defiled by anyone in their nature; the one who tries — that chāṇḍāḷa-act receives suffering. The attempt-to-defile-the-pure is self-suffering-causing. (Compare 75's viṭāḷācīcha mūrti — wickedness, not literal-impurity.)
[T]
For someone today
This abhang names a sharp warning about analytical-criticism toward saints / real-presences:
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Don't bring the merits-and-faults of saints to the analytical-mind. Samtāñcē guṇa-dōṣa āṇitām yā manā. The analytical-stance toward saints erases the sukṛta (merit-credit). This is not about blind-acceptance — it is about the cost of treating the saint as object-of-analysis.
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Squeezing the flower to test fragrance is donkey-behavior. Some things cannot be tested by destruction. The intactness is what produces the quality. Apply this rule to saints, to real-presences, to long-relationships, to mystery-things. Don't squeeze to test.
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The chāṇḍāḷa-act receives suffering. Defiling the pure is self-suffering-causing. The Ganga is not actually defiled; the attempt itself produces suffering for the attempter. If you find yourself trying to find faults in the genuinely-pure, that activity is itself the suffering you receive.
For today: when you encounter a real-saint, real-presence, real-mystery in your life, don't bring the analytical-mind to find faults; don't squeeze the flower; don't try to defile the Ganga. The cost is erased-merit-and-self-suffering. Receive the intact.
This is not a defense of fake-saints; it is a warning about what one's own posture costs when applied to the genuinely-pure. Tukaram has plenty of critique of fake-religion (compare 244, 251, 254); but the real-saint-and-real-presence require receptive-not-analytical attention.
मराठी: ही ओवी एक saints / real-presences कडे analytical-criticism बद्दल sharp warning नाव सांगते:
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Saints चे merits-faults analytical-mind मध्ये आणू नका. संतांचे गुण-दोष आणितां या मना. Saints कडे analytical-stance sukṛta erase करते. Blind-acceptance बद्दल नाही — saint ला object-of-analysis treat केल्याची cost.
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फूल पिळून सुगंध test करणं — गाढव-behavior. काही गोष्टी destruction ने test होत नाहीत. Intactness च quality produce करते. Saints, real-presences, long-relationships, mystery-things — हा rule लागू. Test साठी पिळू नका.
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Chāṇḍāḷa-act suffering produce करतो. Pure ला defile करणं self-suffering-causing. गंगा actually defile होत नाही; attempt स्वतः attempter ला suffering produce करतो. तुम्ही genuinely-pure मध्ये faults शोधत असाल — ती activity च तुम्हाला मिळणारं suffering.
आज: तुमच्या आयुष्यात real-saint, real-presence, real-mystery भेटला — faults शोधण्यासाठी analytical-mind आणू नका; फूल पिळू नका; गंगा defile करण्याचा प्रयत्न करू नका. Cost — erased-merit-and-self-suffering. Intact receive करा.
हे fake-saints चं defense नाही; genuinely-pure कडे लागू केलं की स्वतःच्या posture चं cost काय याची warning. तुकारामांना fake-religion बद्दल भरपूर critique (244, 251, 254 compare); पण real-saint-and-real-presence ला receptive-not-analytical attention लागते.
Where this applies
- Don't analyze the saints' merits-faults. Analytical-stance erases merit.
- Don't squeeze the flower to test fragrance. Donkey-behavior.
- Defiling-the-pure produces self-suffering. चांडाळ दुःख पावे.