Abhanga 560

Things made of the same material can differ vastly in worth, and truly great people cannot be ranked against each other at all.

The verse

Literal translation

What it means

A same-material-different-mahimāna-saints-incomparable abhang. Two-analogy-image-then-fortiori register. Three claims:

1. फिरंगी वाखर लोखंडाचे विळे — परि ते निराळे गुणमोल — phirangī-vākhara-lōkhaṇḍa viḷē — but nirāḷē — guṇa-mōla. The iron-analogy: phirangī (the foreign-blade, a fine European-imported sword),vākhara(regular sword),lōkhaṇḍa(iron)viḷē(sickle / scythe) — all are iron; but they arenirāḷē(different, distinct) inguṇa-mōla(quality and price). Same-iron-different-quality-and-price. (The phirangī-reference dates the abhang: the European-blade was a 17th-century import.)

2. पायरी प्रतिमा एक चि पाषाण — परि तें महिमान वेगळालें — pāyarī-pratimā — same pāṣāṇa — but mahimāna vēgaḷālē. The stone-analogy: pāyarī (the step-stone of a temple-or-house) and pratimā (the consecrated-idol-image)—both are the same pāṣāṇa (stone);but the mahimāna (greatness, sacred-status) is vēgaḷālē (different).Same-stone-different-mahimāna.

3. तुका म्हणे तैशा नव्हतील परी — संतजना सरी सारिखिया — Tuka says: not even like that — saint-jana — sarī — same. The closing-incomparability-claim: Tuka says: not even like-that; saint-jana —sarī sārikhiya(equal-comparison-comparable) — there is no such-equal-comparison. Saints-cannot-even-be-compared-to-each-other-by-the-iron-or-stone-analogy. Saints-are-incomparable. (The fortiori-move: even at the level of iron-and-stone, same-material differs by quality and use; but among saints, no comparison-of-this-kind even applies — they are sui-generis.)

[T]

For someone today

Tukaram uses two everyday comparisons to make a point about worth. A fine imported blade and a common iron sickle are both made of the same iron, yet they differ enormously in quality and value, and a temple's doorstep and its consecrated idol are cut from the same stone, yet one is just walked on while the other is worshipped. He uses these examples to build toward something bigger, saying that even this comparison does not go far enough when it comes to saints, because true saints cannot be measured or ranked against each other the way materials can. The lesson is not to judge people, especially those you consider spiritually mature, by surface material or outward similarity, since what makes someone truly great cannot be weighed on an ordinary scale.

मराठी: किमतीबद्दल एक मुद्दा मांडण्यासाठी तुकाराम रोजच्या जीवनातील दोन उदाहरणे देतात. एक उत्तम आयात केलेली तलवार आणि एक साधी लोखंडी विळी दोन्ही एकाच लोखंडाच्या बनलेल्या असतात, तरीही त्यांच्या दर्जात आणि किमतीत प्रचंड फरक असतो, आणि मंदिराची पायरी व तिथली प्रतिष्ठापित मूर्ती एकाच दगडातून घडवलेल्या असतात, तरीही एकावर पाय ठेवला जातो आणि दुसरीची पूजा केली जाते. या उदाहरणांच्या पुढे जाऊन ते एक मोठा मुद्दा मांडतात, ते म्हणतात संतांच्या बाबतीत तर ही तुलनासुद्धा पुरेशी नाही, कारण खरे संत एकमेकांशी वस्तूंसारखे मोजले किंवा क्रमवारीत ठेवले जाऊ शकत नाहीत. या ओवीचा धडा असा आहे की लोकांना, विशेषतः जे आध्यात्मिकदृष्ट्या प्रगल्भ आहेत त्यांना, वरवरच्या साम्यावरून जोखू नये, कारण खऱ्या मोठेपणाचे मोजमाप सामान्य तराजूने होऊ शकत नाही.

Where this applies

• Same iron, different quality. Guṇa-mōla-difference.
• Same stone, different mahimāna. Use-difference.
• Saints — incomparable. Sarī-doesn't-apply.
• Don't-rank-saints. Sui-generis.

Related verses

• Abhanga 2464 — For today: Pāṇḍuranga is sukha-rūpa ; no wandering, no shaving, no sādhana-pressure ; Chan
• Abhanga 2490 — The divine is most reachable through the living presence of a true saint, not through a di
• 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