संत साहित्य · Tukārām · Abhanga 2365 of 4582

Abhanga 2365

Mixing lies or theft into something true ruins the truth itself, and no true expert can be fooled by someone hiding what they have done.

When you are about to stretch the truth a little inside something that is mostly honest

When you try to impress someone with a showy fix instead of admitting a real problem

When you realize the person you are trying to fool already knows exactly what happened

The verse

कालवूनि विष । केला अमृताचा नास ॥१॥ ऐशा अभाग्याच्या बुद्धि । सत्य लोपी नाहीं शुद्धि ॥ध्रु.॥ नाक कापुनि लावी सोनें । कोण अळंकार तेणें ॥२॥ तुका म्हणे बावी । मोडूनि मदार बांधावी ॥३॥ कण भुसाच्या आधारें । परि तें निवडितां बरें ॥ काय घोंगालि पाधाणी । ताकामध्यें घाटी लोणी ॥ध्रु.॥ सुइणीपुढें चेंटा । काय लपविसी चाटा ॥२॥ तुका म्हणे ज्ञान । दिमाकाची भनभन ॥३॥

Literal translation

Mixing poison — ruined amṛta. Such fate-stricken minds — covering truth, no purity. Cutting the nose, applying gold — what ornament is that. Tuka says: the well — break it, and build a mound. Grain found via chaff — yet best separated. What use is foam-on-the-pond — butter from buttermilk. Before the midwife, the placenta — what trick do you hide. Tuka says: [such] knowledge — just buzzing-arrogance-of-the-head.

What it means

TWO ABHANGS — POISON-RUINS-AMṚTA + BEFORE-THE-MIDWIFE-HIDE-THE-PLACENTA. Third-and-fourth of Sālōmālō-anti-plagiarist cluster (2363-2370).

THE POISON-IN-AMṚTA IMAGE: kālavūni viṣa — kēlā amṛtāchā nāsa — mixing poison — ruined amṛta. Mixing-poison ruins-amṛta. Sālōmālō's-plagiarism is-like mixing-poison-into-Tukārām's-amṛta-abhangs.

THE CUT-NOSE-APPLY-GOLD IMAGE: nāka kāpuni lāvī sōnē — kōṇa aḷankāra tēṇē — cutting the nose, applying gold — what ornament is that. Cutting-the-nose and-applying-gold-[ornament] — what-ornament-is-that? The plagiarist destroys-the-thing-he-tries-to-ornament.

The break-the-well: Tukā mhaṇē bāvī — mōḍūni madāra bāndhāvī — Tuka says: the well — break it, build a mound. Breaking-the-well to-build-a-mound — destroying-a-useful-thing for-decorative-purpose.

Second abhang — the midwife-test: su'iṇī-puḍhē chēṇṭā — kāya lapavisī chāṭā — before the midwife, the placenta — what trick do you hide. Su'iṇī = midwife. Chēṇṭā = placenta. Before-the-midwife-(who has-seen-everything-of-childbirth), [trying to-hide] the-placenta — what-trick can-you-hide? The expert-cannot-be-deceived — Tukārām is-the-midwife who-sees-through-the-plagiarist's-deception.

The knowledge-buzz: Tukā mhaṇē jñāna — dimākāchī bhanabhana — Tuka says: [such] knowledge — just buzzing-arrogance-of-the-head. Such-jñāna is-just-buzzing-arrogance.

[T]

For someone today

Mix in poison, and you spoil the nectar entirely. Cutting off someone's nose and then decorating it with gold, what kind of ornament is that? You would have to break down a perfectly good well just to build a useless mound. Trying to hide the truth from a midwife who has seen it all before, what trick could possibly work? Such so-called knowledge, Tuka says, is nothing but the empty, arrogant buzzing of a swollen head.

मराठी: विषात मिसळून अमृताचाच नाश केला जातो. नाक कापून त्यावर सोनं लावलं तर तो कसला अलंकार? विहीर फोडून त्याचा ढिगारा बांधण्यासारखं आहे हे. सुईणीसमोर वार लपवायचा प्रयत्न करून काय उपयोग? असं ज्ञान म्हणजे, तुका म्हणतो, केवळ फुगलेल्या डोक्याची पोकळ गुर्मी आहे.

Where this applies

When someone tries to pass off a small lie inside an otherwise true story
When a person tries to cover up a mistake with a flashy but hollow gesture
When you try to hide something from someone who already knows the full picture
When you are tempted to think a little dishonesty will not spoil something good