संत साहित्य
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संत साहित्य · Tukārām · Abhanga 845 of 4582

Abhanga 845

A stubborn bad habit will not fade away on its own, so sometimes direct, public correction is the only thing that finally breaks it.

When for the bargā's sake, dung is eaten; doesn't release the food when crushed — and you have to recognize this register
When the shamed bears the beating with honor — and you accept this image
When stray-cattle drags toward filth; bad-habit doesn't go-away — and you allow this image

The verse

बरगासाटीं खादलें शेण । मळितां अन्न न संडी ॥१॥ फजित तो केला आहे । ताडण साहे गौरव ॥ध्रु.॥ ओढाळाची ओंगळ ओढी । उगी खोडी नवजाय ॥२॥ तुका फजीत करी बुच्या । विसरे कुच्या खोडी तेणें ॥३॥

Literal translation

Bargā — for-sake — śēṇa — eaten. Maḷitām — anna — not — saṇḍī. Phajita — that — made. Tāḍaṇa — sāhē — gaurava. Ōḍhāḷa — ōmgaḷa-ōḍhī. Ugī khōḍī — na-vajāya. Tuka — phajīta — bucyā. Visarē — kucyā khōḍī — tēṇē.

मराठी: बरगा-साठीं शेण खादलें — मळितां (पिळतांना) अन्न संडत नाहीं. फजित त्याला केलं आहे — तो ताडण-गौरवें साहे (मानानं). ओढाळाच्या ओंगळ-ओढी (फसेल-कडे) — ती उगी-खोडी (काहीच-न-कारणाची-वाईट-सवय) जात नाहीं. Tuka बुच्याला (मूर्खाला) फजीत करी — त्याच्या-कुच्या-खोडी विसरे तेणें.

Word-by-word gloss
Marathi Meaning
बरगासाटीं खादलें शेण "bargā — for-sake — śēṇa — eaten"
मळितां अन्न न संडी "maḷitām — anna — not — saṇḍī"
फजित तो केला आहे "phajita — that — has-been-made"
ताडण साहे गौरव "tāḍaṇa — sāhē — gaurava"
ओढाळाची ओंगळ ओढी "ōḍhāḷa — ōmgaḷa-ōḍhī"
उगी खोडी नवजाय "ugī khōḍī — na-vajāya"
तुका फजीत करी बुच्या "Tuka — phajīta — bucyā"
विसरे कुच्या खोडी तेणें "visarē — kucyā khōḍī — tēṇē"

What it means

A dung-eaten-for-bargā-sake-doesn't-release-food-shamed-bears-beating-with-honor-stray-cattle-drags-filth-bad-habit-doesn't-go-Tuka-shames-fool-forgets-bad-habits abhang. Corrective-shaming-anti-pākhāṇḍa register. Three claims:

  1. बरगा-साठी-शेण-खादलं — मळितां-अन्न-न-संडी — फजित-केला — ताडण-गौरवें-साहे. Dung-eaten-shamed-but-bears-with-honor-claim. For thebargā (the dried-dung-fuel-cake; or, bargā = ash-cake?) sake, śēṇa (dung) was-eaten;when maḷitām (crushed, squeezed-out — like squeezing out for examination), it doesn't saṇḍī (release / let-go-of) the anna — i.e., the dung-eaten still has not given-up the food it represents (it's still dung, not food);he has been made phajita (shameful);yet he sāhē (bears) the tāḍaṇa (beating) with gaurava (honor).Eaten-dung-for-fuel-doesn't-release-food; shamed-bears-beating-as-honor. (Strange image: someone whoate dung for the cake's sake(a perversity) — when squeezed, the dung doesn'trelease the foodit should have produced; he isshamedfor this perversity, but hebears the beating as if it were honor. Likely a polemic against pākhāṇḍa-cult-practices that mistake-perversity-for-honor.)

  2. ओढाळ-ओंगळ-ओढी — उगी-खोडी-न-वजाय. Stray-cattle-drags-filth-bad-habit-doesn't-go-claim. Theōḍhāḷa's (the wandering-cattle / stray-cow that strays-from-the-herd) ōmgaḷa-ōḍhī (drag-toward-filth — the stray-cow goes after garbage);the ugī khōḍī (just-a-bad-habit, the unprovoked-bad-habit) na-vajāya (doesn't go-away on-its-own).Stray-cattle-drags-filth; bad-habit-doesn't-go-away. (Two-images: the stray-cattle naturally-drags-toward-filth; and a bad-habit doesn't disappear by-itself.)

  3. Tuka: फजीत-करी-बुच्या — कुच्या-खोडी-विसरे. Tuka-shames-fool-forgets-bad-habits-claim. Tuka makes himphajīta (shameful) — bucyā (hardened-fool, bull-headed-one);(he) visarē (forgets) the kucyā khōḍī (the bad-habits) tēṇē (by-that, by-that-shaming).Public-shaming-makes-the-bull-headed-fool-forget-bad-habits. (Tuka's claim: corrective-shaming, calling-out thebucyāpublicly, is what makes thebucyāforgetthe bad-habits — i.e., shamingworks as corrective.)

[T]

For someone today

Tukaram describes someone who treats his own shame as a badge of honor, like a man who ate dung for the sake of a fuel cake and, when beaten and mocked for it, bears the beating as if it were praise. He compares this to a stray animal that keeps wandering back to filth: left alone, a bad habit simply does not fall away on its own. So Tuka says he calls the stubborn fool out publicly and shames him, because that open shaming is what finally makes the person drop the ingrained bad habit.

मराठी: तुकाराम सांगतात की काही लोक स्वतःच्या लाजिरवाण्या गोष्टीलाच अभिमानाचं कारण मानतात, जसं एखाद्याने फक्त गोवरीसाठी शेण खाल्लं आणि नंतर त्यासाठी मार खाऊनही तो तो मार मानाचा समजून सहन करतो. हे अगदी भटकणाऱ्या गुरासारखं आहे, जे पुन्हा पुन्हा घाणीकडेच ओढलं जातं; एखादी वाईट सवय आपोआप जात नाही. म्हणून तुका म्हणतात, ते हट्टी मूर्खाला जाहीरपणे लाजवतात, कारण अशी उघड शरम दिली तरच तो आपली जुनी वाईट सवय विसरतो.

Where this applies

Bhakti

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