Abhanga 2115

Making devotion needlessly hard drives people away and brings disgrace, while the sages wrote scripture to make the path accessible, not difficult.

The verse

Literal translation

What it means

Those-who-uproot-bhajana-by-easy-vidhi-populate-Yama-city + ṛṣis-knew-they-wrote-for-people abhang.

The opening accusation: Yama-purī tyāṇī vasavilī jāṇā — uchchēda bhajanā vidhi kēlā — they populated Yama-city, know — uprooted bhajana by (their) vidhi. They've-populated Yama-purī — by uprooting-bhajana with-their-(easy-)-vidhi.

The reason: avaghaḍa kōṇī na karī sāngatām — sulabha bahutām gōḍa vāṭē — nobody, when told, does the hard — the easy is sweet to many. Nobody-does-the-hard-when-told; the-easy is-sweet-to-many.

The defense of the ṛṣis: kāya tē nēṇatē hōtē māgē ṛṣī — ādhāra lōkāmsī grantha kēlē — were the ṛṣis of old ignorant — they made granthas as support for people. Were-the-ancient-ṛṣis ignorant? — they-made-granthas as-the-people's-support. Tukārām defends-scriptural-tradition against-those-who-reject-it.

The world-of-property: dravya dārā kōṇēm sthāpiyēlē dhana — piṇḍāchē pāḷaṇa viṣaya-bhōga — who set up dravya-dārā-dhana — piṇḍa-protection, viṣaya-enjoyment. Who-established the wealth-and-wife-and-property of-piṇḍa-protection-and-viṣaya-enjoyment? (= the worldly-life is grounded-in-ṛṣi-instruction too, properly understood).

The closing: Tukā mhaṇē dōhīm ṭhāyīm hā phajita — pāvē Yama-dūta-janā hātīm — Tuka says: disgrace in both places — falls into Yama-dūta's hands. He's-disgraced both-here-and-there; falls-into Yama-dūta's-hands.

[T]

For someone today

For today: they populated Yama-city — uprooted bhajana by their vidhi; nobody when told does the hard — the easy is sweet to many; were the ṛṣis of old ignorant — they made granthas as support; who set up dravya-dārā-dhana — piṇḍa-protection, viṣaya-enjoyment?; Tuka says — disgrace in both places — falls into Yama-dūta's hands.

Where this applies

• When religious or spiritual teachers pile on so many strict rules that people give up trying.
• When you assume ancient scripture was meant to be obscure rather than helpful and accessible.
• When you judge a simple, easy devotional practice as somehow less legitimate than a difficult one.
• When gatekeeping around faith or practice pushes ordinary people away entirely.

Related verses

• Abhanga 2448 — The easiest path to God is repeating divine names with love at home, right where you are,
• Abhanga 2464 — For today: Pāṇḍuranga is sukha-rūpa ; no wandering, no shaving, no sādhana-pressure ; Chan
• Abhanga 2477 — Like a child too absorbed in play to notice how tired he is, let go and trust the parent c
• Abhanga 2481 — Pandharpur surpasses even the greatest pilgrimage cities because people there set aside pr