Abhanga 325

Wheat is all one kind of grain, yet stones mixed in among it can spoil the whole harvest — coming from the same source does not guarantee the same result. Real discernment means paying attention to the details: where something comes from, what it actually is, and how much of it there is, not just assuming uniform quality. Tukaram makes a bold claim here: a person's caste or class is not simply fixed by birth — what someone becomes shows through their effort and what they cultivate, so the same starting point can yield very different outcomes. In the end, worth comes from genuine quality, not from hollow, flattering words.

The verse

Literal translation

What it means

A short anti-essentialist jāti abhang. Three claims:

1. गहूं एकजाती — परी त्या पाधाणी नासिती — wheat is one jāti — but pādhāṇī ruin it. The opening-image. Wheat isone-class (= one-essence as grain). But thepādhāṇī (those that have stones-mixed-in) — ruin (the harvest / the use). Same source, different result by impurity-mixing. (Compare 288's jewels and stones from one quarry.)

2. वर्म जाणावें तें सार — कोठें काय थोडें फार — know the varma, the sāra — where, what, little or great. Discrimination requires varma-knowledge. Where the wheat is, where the pādhāṇī is, how much, in what quantity. Quantitative-and-qualitative discrimination required.

3. कमाईच्या सारें — जाति दाविती प्रकार — by the sāra of kamāī — the jāti shows the prakāra. The radical claim. By thekamāī(cultivation / effort / labor), thejātishows itsprakāra(varieties / shapes). Reading: the kamāī (effort, what is done) determines what prakāra the jāti shows. Jāti is not fixed-essence-by-birth; jāti shows its prakāra by what iscultivated. (This is anti-essentialist: the same jāti can show as wheat or as pādhāṇī by what is cultivated.)

4. तुका म्हणे मोल — गुणा — मिथ्या फिके बोल — mola for guṇa — mithyā fīkē-bola. The closing-claim. Mola (value / price) is for guṇa (quality) — not for mithyā fīkē-bola (false-insipid-words). Real-quality has value; insipid-words don't. (Compare 289's bahu-tomḍē vācāḷa = root of laṭikēm; same critique.)

[T]

For someone today

Wheat is all one kind of grain, yet stones mixed in among it can spoil the whole harvest — coming from the same source does not guarantee the same result. Real discernment means paying attention to the details: where something comes from, what it actually is, and how much of it there is, not just assuming uniform quality. Tukaram makes a bold claim here: a person's caste or class is not simply fixed by birth — what someone becomes shows through their effort and what they cultivate, so the same starting point can yield very different outcomes. In the end, worth comes from genuine quality, not from hollow, flattering words.

मराठी: गहू हे एकाच जातीचे धान्य असते, पण त्यात मिसळलेले खडे संपूर्ण पीक बिघडवू शकतात — एकाच स्रोतातून आलेले असले तरी परिणाम सारखाच असेल याची खात्री नसते. खरी पारख करण्यासाठी बारकाईने पाहावे लागते — कुठून आले, नेमके काय आहे, आणि किती प्रमाणात आहे; नुसत्या स्रोतावरून एकसारखा दर्जा गृहीत धरू नये. तुकाराम इथे एक धाडसी विधान करतात: माणसाची जात किंवा प्रतिष्ठा केवळ जन्माने ठरत नाही — माणूस काय बनतो हे त्याच्या कर्तृत्वातून आणि त्याने काय जोपासले यातून दिसते, त्यामुळे एकाच मुळापासून खूप वेगळे परिणाम येऊ शकतात. शेवटी, खरी किंमत खऱ्या गुणवत्तेला असते, पोकळ, गोड बोलण्याला नाही.

Where this applies

• One source, pādhāṇī can ruin. Same-essence ≠ uniform-result.
• Varma-knowledge: where, what, how much. Discrimination required.
• Jātishowsprakārabykamāī. Anti-essentialist.
• Molaforguṇa, not forfīkē-bola. Value-axis is quality.

Related verses

• Abhanga 2381 — For today: Name has no-price; just two letters — Rāma Rāma; no caste, no religion, no jāti
• Abhanga 3855 — Judge the actual quality of a thing or person, not the humble or unlikely place it came fr
• Abhanga 4205 — Devotion asks for nothing but love and the Name in every state of being, and it declares t
• Abhanga 4273 — If your time, money, and attention flow easily to everything except God and genuine goodne