Abhanga 280
Mistreating a saintly person voids the worship that follows it, while defending saints and devotees from those who belittle them is the truest form of service.
The verse
संताचा अतिक्रम । देवपूजा तो अधर्म ॥१॥ येती दगड तैसे वरी । मंत्रपुष्पें देवा शिरीं ॥ध्रु.॥ अतीतासि गाळी । देवा नैवेद्यासी पोळी ॥२॥ तुका म्हणे देवा । ताडण भेदकांची सेवा ॥३॥
Literal translation
Saint-overstepping — the deva-pūjā (then) is adharma. The mantra-flowers (placed) on the deva's head come as stones. Insulting the atīta — polī given as naivedya to the deva (becomes empty). Tuka says: deva — beating-down the bhedakas is the sevā.
मराठी: संताचा अतिक्रम — देवपूजा तो अधर्म. येती दगड तैसे वरी — मंत्रपुष्पें देवा शिरीं. अतीतासि गाळी — देवा नैवेद्यासी पोळी. तुकाराम म्हणतात — देवा — ताडण भेदकांची सेवा.
Word-by-word gloss
| Marathi | Meaning |
|---|---|
| संताचा अतिक्रम | "saint-atikrama (overstepping / transgressing the saint)" |
| देवपूजा तो अधर्म | "thedeva-pūjā(then) isadharma" |
| येती दगड तैसे वरी | "coming as stones — like that — on top" |
| मंत्रपुष्पें देवा शिरीं | "the mantra-puṣpas on the deva's śīra (head)" |
| अतीतासि गाळी | "insulting theatīta(mendicant / outsider / sannyāsi-traveler)" |
| देवा नैवेद्यासी पोळी | "(then offering) polī (chapati / sweet-bread) as naivedya to the deva" |
| ताडण भेदकांची सेवा | "tāḍaṇa (beating-down) of the bhedakas (discriminators / dividers) is the sevā" |
What it means
A saint-priority over deva-pūjā abhang. Three claims:
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संताचा अतिक्रम — देवपूजा तो अधर्म — saint-atikrama — deva-pūjā is adharma. The radical-priority claim. If the saint is overstepped / transgressed against / disrespected, then whatever deva-pūjā is performed is adharma (= un-dharma, contrary-to-dharma). The deva-pūjā does not redeem the saint-violation. (Compare 263's pūjā-passes-through-the-vessel-to-the-deity; here, the negative-form: if the saint-vessel is violated, the pūjā cannot reach the deity.)
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येती दगड तैसे वरी — मंत्रपुष्पें देवा शिरीं — coming as stones — on the deva's head — the mantra-flowers. Specifically: the mantra-flowers (= flowers blessed-with-mantras and offered on the deva's head) — come as stones. The blessed-flower becomes a stone-curse when the saint-violation has happened. The form is reversed by the violation.
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अतीतासि गाळी — देवा नैवेद्यासी पोळी — insulting the atīta — polī given as naivedya to the deva. Atīta — one-who-has-passed — usually the mendicant / sannyāsi-traveler. If you insult the atīta and then offer naivedya-polī to the deva, the naivedya is empty. (The atīta is the saint-form-arriving-at-your-door; insulting the atīta = saint-atikrama; the deva-naivedya then is empty-form.)
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तुका म्हणे देवा — ताडण भेदकांची सेवा — Tuka says: deva — beating-down the bhedakas is the sevā. The closing-claim. Bhedakas — discriminators / dividers — those who create division between deva-and-saint, between bhakta-and-bhakta, between bhakti-band-and-others. The deva's true sevā (service offered, accepted) is the beating-down of the bhedakas. The deva accepts the protection-of-the-saints from the bhedakas as the real-pūjā.
[T] [Compare 244 of-the-deva-while-disrespecting-the-deva is great wonder; same critique applied to saint-disrespect.]
For someone today
Tukaram makes a strict claim: if you have mistreated or disrespected a saint, no amount of temple worship afterward can make it right — that worship actually becomes wrongdoing. The flowers you offer with sacred chants on God's image turn, in effect, into stones; the outward gesture of devotion is reversed into something harmful because of what came before it. If you insult a wandering holy visitor at your door and then perform an elaborate ritual meal-offering to God, that offering is empty — the visitor was the real test of whether your devotion was genuine. And Tukaram closes with what he considers God's truest form of service: standing up for saints and devotees against those who belittle or divide them — that, more than any ritual, is what God actually wants from us.
मराठी: तुकाराम एक कडक दावा करतात — तुम्ही एखाद्या साधूचा अपमान केला किंवा त्याच्याशी वाईट वागलात, तर त्यानंतर कितीही देवपूजा केली तरी ती दुरुस्त होत नाही — उलट ती पूजाच अधर्म ठरते. मंत्राने पवित्र केलेली फुले देवाच्या मूर्तीवर वाहिली, तरी ती जणू दगड होऊन पडतात; आधी घडलेल्या गोष्टीमुळे भक्तीचे बाह्य रूप उलट, हानिकारक ठरते. दारी आलेल्या भटक्या साधूचा अपमान करून मग देवाला विस्तृत नैवेद्य दाखवलात, तर तो नैवेद्य पोकळ ठरतो — तो साधू म्हणजे तुमची भक्ती खरी आहे की नाही याची खरी कसोटी होता. आणि तुकाराम शेवटी देवाची खरी सेवा काय हे सांगतात — साधू आणि भक्तांना कमी लेखणाऱ्या किंवा त्यांच्यात फूट पाडणाऱ्यांविरुद्ध उभे राहणे — कोणत्याही विधीपेक्षा देवाला हेच खरे अपेक्षित आहे.
Where this applies
- Saint-atikrama makes deva-pūjā adharma. Strict priority.
- Mantra-flowers become stones. Form reversed.
- Atīta-test: insult the atīta → naivedya empty.
- Beating-down the bhedakas is the real sevā.