Abhanga 349
Guard your ears from foul talk, never mock others' devotion, and remember that status never excuses wrongdoing; real corruption shows in coldness toward one's own parents.
The verse
अमंगळ वाणी । नये ऐकों ते कानीं ॥१॥ जो हे दूषी हरिची कथा । त्यासि क्षयरोगव्यथा ॥ध्रु.॥ याति वर्ण श्रेष्ठ । परि तो चांडाळ पापिष्ठ ॥२॥ तुका म्हणे पाप । माय नावडे ज्या बाप ॥३॥
Literal translation
Amangaḷa-vāṇī — should not be heard in the ears. He who criticizes Hari's kathā — for him kṣaya-rōga-vyathā. Yāti-varṇa supreme — but he is cāṇḍāḷa pāpiṣṭha. Tuka says: (such a) pāpa — to whom mother-father are not dear.
मराठी: अमंगळ वाणी — नये ऐकों ते कानीं. जो हे दूषी हरिची कथा — त्यासि क्षयरोगव्यथा. याति वर्ण श्रेष्ठ — परि तो चांडाळ पापिष्ठ. तुकाराम म्हणतां — पाप — माय नावडे ज्या बाप.
Word-by-word gloss
| Marathi | Meaning |
|---|---|
| अमंगळ वाणी नये ऐकों ते कानीं | "amangaḷa-vāṇī (inauspicious-speech) — should not be heard in the ears" |
| जो हे दूषी हरिची कथा | "he who dūṣī (criticizes / defiles) Hari's kathā" |
| त्यासि क्षयरोगव्यथा | "for him — kṣaya-rōga-vyathā (consumption-disease-pain)" |
| याति वर्ण श्रेष्ठ | "yāti-varṇa śrēṣṭha (caste-class supreme)" |
| परि तो चांडाळ पापिष्ठ | "but he is cāṇḍāḷa pāpiṣṭha (wicked-sinful)" |
| माय नावडे ज्या बाप | "to whom māya-bāpa (mother-father) are not dear" |
What it means
A short anti-Hari-kathā-critic abhang. Three claims:
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अमंगळ वाणी — नये ऐकों ते कानीं — amangaḷa-vāṇī should not be heard in the ears. The first-rule: don't let inauspicious-speech enter your ears. (The speech-protection of the bhakta. Compare 244 evil-speech ruins the citta.)
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जो हे दूषी हरिची कथा — त्यासि क्षयरोगव्यथा — he who criticizes Hari's kathā — for him consumption-disease-pain. Dūṣī — defiles, criticizes, finds-fault. The Hari-kathā-critic — receives kṣaya-rōga-vyathā (the pain of kṣaya — wasting-consumption). The fault-finding-with-Hari-kathā has wasting-disease consequence. (Compare 246 defiling Ganga and fire — chāṇḍāḷa receives suffering; same self-suffering rule.)
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याति वर्ण श्रेष्ठ — परि तो चांडाळ पापिष्ठ — yāti-varṇa supreme — but he is cāṇḍāḷa-pāpiṣṭha. The caste-doesn't-save-the-pāpiṣṭha rule: though caste-class be supreme, the Hari-kathā-critic is cāṇḍāḷa-pāpiṣṭha. High-caste does not protect from the pāpiṣṭha-status when one is a Hari-kathā-critic. (Cāṇḍāḷa in Tukaram's recoded register = wicked-acting one, not the literal-caste — compare 75, 213, 246.)
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तुका म्हणे पाप — माय नावडे ज्या बाप — Tuka says: pāpa — to whom mother-father are not dear. The closing-marker: the pāpa (the sin / the sinful one) — is recognized by disregard for mother and father. (Maya nāvaḍē — to whom mother is not dear; jyā bāpa — (or) father.) The general-marker of the pāpa: no love for mother-father.
[T]
For someone today
What comes out of someone's mouth about sacred things tells you what's really inside them. Tukaram warns against letting foul, inauspicious talk into your ears at all, and says that whoever mocks or belittles devotional stories about Hari brings a kind of wasting sickness on himself. No amount of high birth or social status protects a person from becoming genuinely low and sinful if they act this way; status is no shield for bad conduct. Tuka adds a simple test: a truly sinful person is one who has no love left for his own mother and father.
मराठी: एखाद्याच्या तोंडून पवित्र गोष्टींबद्दल काय बाहेर पडतं, त्यावरून त्याच्या मनात खरंच काय आहे हे कळतं. तुकाराम सांगतात की अमंगळ, वाईट बोलणं कानांत येऊ देऊ नये, आणि जो हरिकथेची, भक्तीची टिंगल करतो किंवा तिला कमी लेखतो, तो स्वतःवरच एक प्रकारचा क्षयासारखा त्रास ओढवून घेतो. उच्च कुळात जन्म झाला किंवा मोठा दर्जा असला, तरी असं वागणाऱ्या माणसाला ते वाईट व नीच वृत्तीपासून वाचवत नाही — दर्जा हा वाईट वागण्याचं समर्थन नसतो. तुका एक साधी कसोटी सांगतात: ज्याला स्वतःच्या आई-वडिलांबद्दलच प्रेम उरलेलं नाही, तोच खरा पापी माणूस.
Where this applies
- Don't let amangaḷa-vāṇī into ears. Ear-protection.
- Hari-kathā critic gets kṣaya-rōga. Self-suffering.
- Caste doesn't save pāpiṣṭha. Anti-caste-protection.
- No love for māya-bāpa marks the pāpa. Domestic-marker.