Abhanga 2344
English: What's the use of speaking-reciting — without practice it goes in vain.
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
English: 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
For today: speech-without-practice-vain; mouth-vāṇī of amṛta-sweetness but-false-hunger; pressing-stone won't-make-it-soft; bee collects but hunter prizes; gathering wealth gathers dirt; ★ one who eats his own deed — Tukā venerates his feet ★.
Where this applies
- Speech-without-practice-vain.* Kathanī-paṭhaṇī-rahaṇī-vāñyām.
- Bee-collects-but-hunter-prizes.* Madhu-māśī-pāradhiyā.
- One-who-eats-his-own-deed-venerated. Āpalēm-kēlēm-āpaṇa-khāya-vandī-pāya.