Abhanga 1730
The fearful warnings that keep you away from devotion and good company are themselves the path that leads you astray.
The verse
मायबाप करिती चिंता । पोर नाइके सांगतां ॥१॥ नको जाऊं देउळासी । नेतो बागुल लोकांसी ॥ध्रु.॥ कर्णद्वारें पुराणिक । भुलवी शब्दें लावी भीक ॥२॥ वैष्णवां संगती । हातीं पडलीं नेणों किती ॥३॥ आम्हां कैंचा मग । करिसी उघडियांचा संग ॥४॥ तुका म्हणे जाणें नरका । त्यांचा उपदेश आइका ॥५॥
Literal translation
Parents worry — the child doesn't listen when told. "Don't go to the temple — the bogeyman takes people away." Through the ear, the paurāṇika beguiles with words, lays beggary. In vaiṣṇava-sanga — don't know how many have fallen into his hand. To us, what then? — will you make uncovered-sanga with us? Tuka says: going to narka — listen to their upadeśa.
Word-by-word gloss
| Marathi | Meaning |
|---|---|
| मायबाप करिती चिंता | "mother-father — worry" |
| पोर नाइके सांगतां | "the child — doesn't listen — when told" |
| नको जाऊं देउळासी | "don't go — to the temple" |
| नेतो बागुल लोकांसी | "the bāgula — takes people away" |
| कर्णद्वारें पुराणिक | "through ear-channel — the paurāṇika" |
| भुलवी शब्दें लावी भीक | "beguiles with words — lays beggary" |
| वैष्णवां संगती | "in vaiṣṇava-sanga" |
| हातीं पडलीं नेणों किती | "fallen in hand — don't know how-many" |
| आम्हां कैंचा मग | "to us — what then" |
| करिसी उघडियांचा संग | "will you make — uncovered-sanga" |
| तुका म्हणे जाणें नरका | "Tuka says — going to narka" |
| त्यांचा उपदेश आइका | "their upadeśa — listen" |
What it means
Anti-parental-warning + anti-fake-purāṇika-satire abhang.
The opening: māya-bāpa karitī cintā — pōra nā'ikē sāngatām — parents worry — child doesn't listen when told. The worldly-prudent parents are worried about the bhakti-attracted-child.
The parents' warnings (in the parents' voice):
-
nakō jā'ūm dē'uḷāsī — nētō bāgula lōkāmsī — "don't go to the temple — the bogeyman takes people away". The inversion: bāgula (the bogeyman the parents normally use to scare children) is now invoked-against the temple — the parents fear the temple, which they paint as the bogeyman-place.
-
karṇa-dvārē purāṇika — bhulavī śabdē lāvī bhīka — through ear, the paurāṇika beguiles with words, lays beggary. The parents claim: the paurāṇika (= temple-priest / kīrtana-leader) beguiles people through the ear and turns them into beggars. (= The worldly-society fears bhakti will turn people into renunciate-beggars.)
-
vaiṣṇavām sangatī — hātīm paḍalīm nēṇōm kitī — in vaiṣṇava-sanga — don't know how many have fallen into his hand. The parents continue: who knows how many have-been-trapped by Vaiṣṇava-association.
The bhakta's-irony: āmhām kaiñcā maga — karisī ughaḍiyāñcā sanga — to us — what then? — will you make uncovered-sanga (with us)? (Ughaḍa = open / uncovered; uncovered-sanga = open-bhakti-association.) The parents conclude that the bhakta is dangerous-to-meet.
The closing-irony: Tukā mhaṇē jāṇēm narakā — tyāñcā upadēśa ā'ikā — Tuka says: going to narka — listen to their upadeśa. The brilliant-irony: if you want to go to narka — listen to their (= the worldly-prudent-parents) upadeśa. (= the parental-warnings against bhakti are themselves the road to narka.)
This abhang inverts the standard parental-warning genre — the parents-warn-against-the-temple, against the paurāṇika, against vaiṣṇava-sanga — and Tukaram brilliantly-flips it: listening to such warnings is the road to narka.
[T]
For someone today
For today: parents worry — the child won't listen when told; "don't go to the temple — the bogeyman takes people away there"; "through the ear, the priest beguiles with words and turns people into beggars"; "in Vaiṣṇava association — who knows how many have already fallen into his hand"; "what about us? — will you really keep open-association with us?"; Tuka says — if you want to go to narka, then listen to their advice.
Where this applies
- When family or friends discourage you from a spiritual practice by calling it dangerous or foolish
- When someone frames devotion or community as something that will ruin you, without evidence
- When well-meaning caution keeps you from stepping into something that could actually be good for you
- When you notice fear based advice is really just protecting comfort, not protecting you