Abhanga 548

Treating body comfort as the highest wisdom is a mistake, because even a king can rule while staying inwardly unattached, as if standing in fire.

The verse

Literal translation

What it means

A body-protection-is-adhama-jñāna abhang. Counter-witness register: the saints did the opposite. Five claims:

1. पिंड पोसावे हें अधमाचें ज्ञान — विलास मिष्टान्न करूनियां — piṇḍa-pōṣaṇē — adhama-jñāna — vilāsa-miṣṭānna. The opening-charge: piṇḍa-pōṣaṇē (feeding-the-body)isadhama-jñāna(low-knowledge, base-wisdom); withvilāsa(luxury) andmiṣṭānna(sweets). Body-feeding-with-luxury-is-low-knowledge.

2. शरीर रक्षावें हा धर्म बोलती — काय असे हातीं तयाचिया — body-protect — dharma called — what in hand? The what's-in-his-hand-charge: they say body-protection isdharma; but what is in his hand? (= what control does he have over the body?) Body-protection-isn't-in-our-hands.

3. क्षणभंगुर हें जाय न कळतां — ग्रास गिळि सत्ता नाहीं हातीं — kṣaṇa-bhangura — goes — not knowing — grāsa — no sattā in hand. The no-sattā-claim: thiskṣaṇa-bhangura(moment-fragile) [body] — goes — without our knowing;even swallowing a grāsa (mouthful) — no sattā (power, control) in hand.We-don't-even-control-the-mouthful-we-swallow.

4. कर्वतिलीं देहें कापियेलें मांस — गेले वनवासा शुकादिक — bodies karvatilīm — flesh cut — Śuka and others — vana-vāsa. The counter-witness-claim: bodies werekarvatilīm(sawed); flesh waskāpīyēlēm(cut); Śuka and others — went to vana-vāsa (forest-dwelling).The saints did the opposite of body-protection: they let bodies be sawed, went to forest-dwelling. (References: the legend of bodies being sawed in martyrdom;Śuka the great-renunciate-son-of-Vyāsa who went to the forest.)

5. तुका म्हणे राज्य करितां जनक — अग्नीमाजी एक पाय जळे — Tuka says: ruling — Janaka — one foot in agni burned. The closing-Janaka-image: Tuka says: while ruling; Janaka — one foot inagniburned. Janaka-ruled-with-one-foot-in-fire. (The Janaka-image: even-while-ruling-the-kingdom (the perfect-householder-king), Janaka's one-foot-was-in-the-fire — that is, his body-and-life were always-already-let-go-in-fire. The jīvanmukta-as-householder-king.)

[T]

For someone today

Tukaram challenges the common idea that taking care of the body with fine food and comfort is the highest wisdom, calling it a low kind of knowledge instead. He points out that we do not even control the single mouthful of food we swallow, so the sense of control that body care promises is an illusion. As proof he points to the saints of the past, who let their bodies be harmed and went off into the forest rather than protect themselves, doing the opposite of what people call self-preservation. Even a king like Janaka, who ruled a kingdom, is remembered as if one foot always stood in fire, meaning that even a life of comfort can be lived without clinging to it.

मराठी: शरीराची काळजी घेणे आणि चांगले खाणे हीच सर्वोच्च शहाणपण आहे, या सामान्य कल्पनेला तुकाराम आव्हान देतात आणि तिला खालच्या दर्जाचे ज्ञान म्हणतात. ते सांगतात की आपण गिळलेल्या एका घासावरही आपले नियंत्रण नसते, त्यामुळे शरीराची काळजी घेतल्याने मिळणारा नियंत्रणाचा भास खोटा आहे. याचा पुरावा म्हणून ते भूतकाळातील संतांकडे बोट दाखवतात, ज्यांनी स्वतःच्या शरीराला इजा होऊ दिली आणि स्वतःचे रक्षण करण्याऐवजी वनात गेले, म्हणजे लोक ज्याला आत्मरक्षण म्हणतात त्याच्या अगदी उलट केले. जनक राजासारखा राजासुद्धा, ज्याने राज्य केले, त्याचे वर्णन असे केले जाते की जणू त्याचा एक पाय नेहमी आगीत होता, म्हणजे सुखसोयीचे जीवनही त्याला चिकटून न राहता जगता येते.

Where this applies

• Body-feeding = adhama. Low-knowledge.
• No sattā on grāsa. No-control.
• Saints sawed bodies. Counter-witness.
• Janaka one-foot in fire. Jīvanmukta-king.

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 .