Abhanga 523

Even real self-discipline can be undone by staying close to temptation, so keeping your distance protects a commitment better than trusting willpower alone.

The verse

Literal translation

What it means

A famous strī-samga-nakō-even-of-wood-stone-clay abhang. Strong brahmacarya-claim with the precise agni-sādhu-samghaṣṭana analogy. Four claims:

1. स्त्रियांचा तो संग नको नारायणा — काष्ठा या पाषाणामृत्तिकेच्या — strī-samga don't, Nārāyaṇa — even of kāṣṭha-pāṣāṇa-mṛttikā. The opening-petition: strī-samga (company-of-women) — don't (give me), Nārāyaṇa; even ofkāṣṭha(wood),pāṣāṇa(stone),mṛttikā(clay) (= even an inanimate-statue of a woman, made of wood, stone, or clay).Strī-samga-don't-even-of-statues.Radical-brahmacarya-petition.

2. नाठवे हा देव न घडे भजन — लांचावलें मन आवरे ना — deva not remembered — bhajana not happens — lāñcāvalē mana doesn't restrain. The diagnosis: the deva is notnāṭhavē(remembered, called-to-mind); bhajana doesn'tghaḍē(occur, take-place); thelāñcāvalē(greedy-pulled, allured, bribed-by-attraction)manadoesn'tāvarē(restrain, control). Strī-samga-causes-deva-forgetting-and-mana-uncontrol.

3. दृष्टिमुखें मरण इंद्रियाच्या द्वारें — लावण्य तें खरें दुःखमूळ — through dṛṣṭi-mukha — death — through indriya's door — lāvaṇya is true duḥkha-mūḷa. The lāvaṇya-as-duḥkha-mūḷa-claim: through thedṛṣṭi-mukha(sight-mouth, the visual-perception) — death (maraṇa); through theindriya's (sense-organ's) door; lāvaṇya (loveliness, beauty)— is the trueduḥkha-mūḷa(root-of-suffering). Loveliness-itself-is-the-root-of-suffering. (Compare Buddhist analysis: taṇhā enters through the senses; here lāvaṇya enters through the eye.)

4. तुका म्हणे जरी अग्नि जाला साधु — परी पावे बाधूं संघष्टणें — Tuka says: even if agni became sādhu — yet bādha by samghaṣṭana. The closing-analogy: Tuka says: even ifagni(fire) became asādhu(saint, ascetic); yet —bādha(it harms) bysamghaṣṭana(close-rubbing, friction). Even-saintly-fire-burns-by-rubbing. The analogy: a saintly-fire (a fire that has-become-a-saint, i.e., a saint who is fire-like in tapas) — even-this-saint-fire — if you rub-against-it, it burns. Samghaṣṭana-with-strī even of saintly-self-causes-fall.

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For someone today

This verse is Tukaram's frank admission that willpower alone isn't enough to protect a commitment. He uses a vivid image: even fire that has become saintly still burns when you rub against it, meaning even someone who has built real self-discipline can still be undone by staying close to what tempts them. He names attraction entering through the eyes as something that unsettles the mind and makes it forget God, calling loveliness itself the root of suffering when it derails your focus. The practical lesson is not to trust your own strength so much that you stay near what pulls you off course, but to simply keep your distance instead.

मराठी: ही ओवी तुकारामांची स्पष्ट कबुली आहे की, केवळ इच्छाशक्ती पुरेशी नसते. ते एक ठाम प्रतिमा वापरतात — अग्नी कितीही साधू झाला तरी जवळ घासला की जाळतोच, म्हणजेच खरी शिस्त लावलेला माणूसही मोहाच्या जवळ राहिला तर ढळू शकतो. डोळ्यांतून येणारं आकर्षण मन विचलित करतं आणि देवाचं स्मरण विसरायला लावतं, म्हणून ते सौंदर्यालाच दुःखाचं मूळ म्हणतात, जेव्हा ते लक्ष भरकटवतं. यातून मिळणारा व्यवहारी धडा असा — स्वतःच्या शक्तीवर इतका विश्वास ठेवू नये की मोहाच्या जवळच राहावं, त्याऐवजी सरळ अंतर राखावं.

Where this applies

• Strī-samga — even statues. Radical-brahmacarya.
• Samga → deva-forgetting. Causal-chain.
• Lāvaṇya=duḥkha-mūḷa. Eye-as-door.
• Saintly-fire still burns. Don't-trust-saintliness.

Related verses

• Abhanga 2494 — Living in devotion turns an ordinary day into a festival and removes the fear of birth and
• Abhanga 4481 — Tukaram promises that sincerely calling on the Lord's name, knowingly or unknowingly, with
• Abhanga 4482 — Tukaram teaches that no ritual equals sincerely speaking the Lord's name, that self-center
• Abhanga 2557 — For today: now I've become master — what I do, the authority is mine .