Abhanga 826

No real tradition honors vice, a shared name does not make two things the same, and the true test of a person is what actually grows in their life, since the same rain falls on everyone but reveals each by its fruit.

The verse

Literal translation

What it means

A no-prestige-to-avaguṇa-śiṣṭācāra-from-before-don't-beat-drum-over-durbaḷa-name-not-truth-madya-vs-madhu-share-syllable-but-don't-drink-on-that-basis-Tuka's-ucchiṣṭa-prasāda-distinguishes-bhēdā-bhēda-by-rain-jurisprudence abhang. Anti-pākhāṇḍa-distinguishing-judgment register. Four claims:

1. अवगुण-कोणी-प्रतिष्ठिलें-नाहीं — शिष्टाचार-मागें-चालू-आहे. No-prestige-to-avaguṇa-claim. No-one (in the cultured-tradition) haspratiṣṭhilē(given-formal-honor / made-respectable) toavaguṇa(faults, vices); theśiṣṭācāra(theācāraof theśiṣṭa= the rules-of-the-cultured-and-restrained) has come downmāgēm(from before, from earlier-times, from the tradition). Tradition has never honored faults. (Anti-pākhāṇḍa premise: cult-leaders who honor faults — say, drinking-wine-as-prasāda — are inventing, not following.)

2. दुर्बळाच्या-नावें-डांगोरा-पिटावा — हा-नव्हे-बरा-सत्य-वाद. Don't-beat-drum-over-durbaḷa's-name-claim. To beat theḍāngōrā(the public-announcement-drum, the loud-public-proclamation) in the name of thedurbaḷa(the weak, the vulnerable, the helpless) — this isnavhē barā satya-vāda(not a good truth-claim, not a sound-truth-statement). Don't loudly-proclaim by exploiting the helpless. (Targeting cult-leaders who weaponize the durbaḷa — claiming to speak-for-them while doing things in their name that harm them.)

3. मद्य-मधु-एक-राशी-नांवें — परि-त्या-आधारें-कां-खावें?. Madya-vs-madhu-share-syllable-but-don't-drink-claim. Madya (intoxicating-liquor, alcohol) and madhu (honey) are eka-rāsī nāmvēm (in-the-same-class-of-name — i.e., they share the syllable madhu / both can be called madhu in some-Sanskrit-usages — madhu means sweet but also in some contexts liquor);but-then, on-that-ādhāra (basis), why should one drink (alcohol)?Sharing-a-name doesn't justify identity-of-substance. (Vivid anti-pākhāṇḍa-argument: cult-leaders who justify alcohol-drinking by quoting Sanskrit words forhoney are committing this fallacy. Tuka exposes the equivocation.)

4. Tuka: माझा-उच्छिष्ट-प्रसाद — वृष्टि-न्यायें-भेदा-भेद-निवडी. Ucchiṣṭa-prasāda-distinguishes-by-rain-jurisprudence-claim. Tuka says: myucchiṣṭa-prasāda (literally: leftover-from-eating, but devotionally: the prasāda — what remains after the deity has-partaken — the bhakta's-share)—distinguishes bhēdā-bhēda (difference-and-non-difference, the discrimination-of-distinctions) by the vṛṣṭi-nyāya (the rain-jurisprudence).Rain-jurisprudence-distinguishes-bhēdā-bhēda. (Thevṛṣṭi-nyāya— the rain falls-equally on all, but each plant absorbs and-yields-differently according-to-its-nature; the same rain becomes neem-bitterness in-the-neem and mango-sweetness in-the-mango. Tuka'succhiṣṭa-prasāda— his offered-word — works the same way: thevacanafalls-on-all, but thebhēdā-bhēda(which-is-rightly-honored-vs-wrongly-honored,avaguṇavsguṇa) isdistinguished by this rain-jurisprudence — i.e., the prasāda itself sorts the receivers.)

[T]

For someone today

Tukaram warns against dressing up bad behavior as tradition or virtue: no respectable lineage has ever actually given honor to vice, so if something is being justified that way, someone is twisting the truth. He also calls out a specific trick, invoking the suffering of the weak or vulnerable does not make a claim true, so be wary of appeals that hide behind other people's hardship. He exposes a wordplay trap too, alcohol and honey may share a word in Sanskrit, but a shared name does not make them the same substance, so do not let clever word games talk you into something harmful. In the end he says the real test is like rain, it falls the same on everyone, but what actually grows from each person's life, their fruit, reveals who they truly are.

मराठी: तुकाराम इशारा देतात की वाईट वर्तनाला परंपरा किंवा सद्गुण म्हणून सजवू नये, कारण कुठल्याही आदरणीय परंपरेने कधीही दुर्गुणांना प्रतिष्ठा दिलेली नाही, आणि जर कोणी तसे सांगत असेल तर तो सत्याशी खेळ करत आहे. ते एक विशिष्ट युक्तीही उघड करतात, दुर्बळांच्या किंवा असहायांच्या नावाने केलेला दावा त्यामुळे खरा ठरत नाही, म्हणून दुसऱ्यांच्या दुःखाआड लपणाऱ्या दाव्यांपासून सावध राहावे. शिवाय ते शब्दखेळाचा सापळाही दाखवतात, मद्य आणि मध या दोन्हींत संस्कृतमध्ये काही अक्षरसाधर्म्य असले तरी नुसते नाव सारखे असल्याने दोन्ही पदार्थ सारखे होत नाहीत, त्यामुळे चतुर शब्दखेळाला बळी पडून हानिकारक गोष्टीत ओढले जाऊ नये. शेवटी ते सांगतात की खरी कसोटी पावसासारखी असते, तो सर्वांवर सारखाच पडतो, पण प्रत्येकाच्या आयुष्यात प्रत्यक्ष काय उगवते तेच त्याचे खरे स्वरूप उघड करते.

Where this applies

• No prestige to faults. Tradition.
• Don't exploit weak. Honesty.
• Reject equivocation. Logic.
• Rain-jurisprudence. Self-revealing.

Related verses

• Abhanga 3265 — Fear and confusion come from mistaking appearances, like a reflection or a rope in the dar
• Abhanga 3737 — The formless became form purely so devotion could exist, and worshipping that form is not
• Abhanga 3995 — You do not need endless arguments or complicated practices to be freed from your past; sim
• Abhanga 4128 — You don't need mastery of ritual or technique to serve wholeheartedly, since sincere devot