Abhanga 460

Real devotion shows in how you treat your parents, the poor, and the people you could easily humiliate, not in the costume of piety you wear in public.

The verse

Literal translation

What it means

A spit-on-the-hypocrite-bhraṣṭa-list abhang. Second of the Āhā re bhāī triplet (459 namō-list, 460 spit-list, 461 is-not-list). The list of seven hypocrite-marks:

1. Wife's slave, parents-udāsīna, beggar-without-door.
2. Vidyā-strength uses to harass and set up dispute against others.
3. No daṇḍavata to local-deity, no Brahmin-atita-feeding.
4. Always-time-nindā; doesn't remember Govinda even in dream.
5. Hoards wealth in private box, belly-bondage; nodāna-dharma.
6. Wears the show-form; doesn't bow the body in bhakti-bhāva.

Each mark is abrīdāvalī-line of thebhraṣṭainkali. The response: spit on his face; drive outside the recited-greatness. Compare 460-as-counterpart-to-459: 459 names whom to bow to, 460 names whom to spit on.

[T]

For someone today

Tukaram gets fierce here, naming the person who talks a big spiritual game but whose actions give him away completely. This is someone ruled by his wife's demands while ignoring his own aging parents, who shuts the door on beggars, who uses his learning to pick fights and humiliate people rather than help them, and who never bows to the local deity or feeds a wandering mendicant. He gossips and criticizes constantly, never once turning his mind toward God even in a dream, and he hoards money for himself while claiming he knows nothing about generosity. Tukaram's verdict is blunt: this man performs the costume of devotion but never actually lets his body bow down in real feeling, and that gap between the show and the substance is exactly what should not be praised or flattered.

मराठी: इथे तुकाराम कडक बोलतात, अशा माणसाबद्दल जो मोठमोठ्या भक्तीच्या गप्पा मारतो पण त्याची कृती त्याला पुरती उघडी पाडते. हा माणूस बायकोच्या हट्टापुढे झुकतो पण म्हातारपणी आई-वडिलांकडे दुर्लक्ष करतो, भिकाऱ्याला दारातून हाकलतो, आपल्या विद्येचा वापर लोकांना छळण्यासाठी व अपमानित करण्यासाठी करतो, आणि गावदेवतेला दंडवत घालत नाही किंवा फिरत्या साधूला अन्नही देत नाही. तो सतत निंदा करत राहतो, स्वप्नातही गोविंदाची आठवण करत नाही, आणि स्वतःसाठी पैसा साठवून ठेवतो पण दानधर्म म्हणजे काय हेच त्याला माहीत नसल्याचे भासवतो. तुकारामांचा निवाडा स्पष्ट आहे, हा माणूस भक्तीचा वेष धारण करतो पण खऱ्या भावाने कधीच अंग नमवत नाही, आणि हा दिखावा व खरेपणा यातील फरकच ओळखायला हवा, त्याची स्तुती नको.

Where this applies

• Bhraṣṭa-kriyā-hīna recognition. Honest.
• Spit on false-greatness. Anti-flattery.
• Seven hypocrite-marks. Diagnostic.
• Sōngawithoutanga-bowing. Real-test.

Related verses

• Abhanga 2374 — Rather than scattering devotion among many lesser deities who demand offerings, Tukaram sa
• Abhanga 2377 — This detailed meditation on Vitthal standing on a brick at Pandharpur, out of love for his
• Abhanga 2387 — Accept whatever life brings with reverence, and place the burden on God rather than carryi
• Abhanga 2402 — For today: happily take rebirths — IF among the Paṇḍharī-Vārkarīs ; Hari-dāsas' company is