संत साहित्य · Tukārām · Abhanga 2344 of 4582

Abhanga 2344

Words without matching practice are empty, and true respect belongs to those who live off their own honest effort rather than another's labor.

When you notice your actions do not match the wise things you say out loud.

When you keep pushing at a person or situation that refuses to change, like trying to soften a stone.

When you have to choose between honest effort and grabbing wealth that is not really yours to take.

The verse

कथनी पठणी करूनि काय । वांचुनि रहणी वांयां जाय ॥१॥ मुखीं वाणी अमृतगोडी । मिथ्या भुकें चरफडी ॥ध्रु.॥ पिळणी पाक करितां दगडा । काय जडा होय तें ॥२॥ मधु मेळवूनि माशी । आणिका सांसी पारधिया ॥३॥ मेळऊनि धन मेळवी माती । लोभ्या हातीं तें चि मुखीं ॥४॥ आपलें केलें आपण खाय । तुका वंदी त्याचे पाय ॥५॥

Literal translation

What's the use of speaking-reciting — without practice it goes in vain. Mouth-vāṇī of amṛta-sweetness — flutters with false hunger. Pressing-cooking a stone — what does the dull thing become? The bee collects honey — another (the hunter) gets the prize. Gathering wealth, he gathers dirt — in the greedy's hand, it becomes the mouth. One who eats his own deed — Tukā venerates his feet.

What it means

ONE-WHO-EATS-HIS-OWN-DEED ABHANG. 5+1-verse on the futility-of-speech-without-practice + own-deed-own-eating.

The bee-and-hunter image: madhu mēḷavūni māśī — āṇikā sāmsī pāradhiyā — the bee collects honey — another (the hunter) gets the prize. The-bee-collects-honey, but-another-(the-honey-hunter)-gets-the-prize. (= one-may-toil but-another-may-enjoy the-fruit.)

The own-deed-own-eating (THE TUKĀRĀM-PRINCIPLE): āpalēm kēlēm āpaṇa khāya — Tukā vandī tyāchē pāya — one who eats his own deed — Tukā venerates his feet. The-one who-eats-his-own-deed (not-someone-else's-toil-fruit) — Tukā venerates-his-feet. The bhakta-ethical-stance: respect-the-self-reliant who-don't-live-off-others'-honey.

[T]

For someone today

What good is talking and reciting, if it isn't backed by how you actually live? It all goes to waste. Sweet words of nectar on the lips mean nothing if the hunger behind them is false. You can press and cook a stone all you like, it will never turn soft. The bee gathers the honey, yet it is the hunter who walks off with the prize. Gathering wealth through greed is really just gathering dirt, it ends up going straight from a greedy hand into a greedy mouth. But the one who eats only what his own effort has earned, Tuka bows at that person's feet.

मराठी: नुसतं बोलून आणि पाठ करून काय उपयोग, प्रत्यक्ष आचरणाशिवाय ते सगळं वाया जातं. तोंडात अमृतासारखी गोड वाणी असली तरी खोट्या भुकेने ती व्यर्थ ठरते. दगडाला कितीही दाबून शिजवलं तरी तो कधी मऊ होत नाही. मधमाशी मध गोळा करते, पण त्याचं बक्षीस दुसराच शिकारी मिळवतो. लोभाने धन गोळा केलं की तो नुसती माती गोळा करतो, ती लोभी हातातून सरळ लोभी तोंडात जाते. पण जो स्वतःच्या कमाईचंच खातो, त्याच्या पायांना तुका वंदन करतो.

Where this applies

When you preach values you do not actually live by, and something in you feels hollow doing it
When you keep trying to change someone or something that simply will not soften, no matter how hard you push
When you watch someone else take credit or profit from work you did
When you are tempted to build wealth through greed rather than earn it through your own honest effort

Bhakti