संत साहित्य · Tukārām · Abhanga 2378 of 4582

Abhanga 2378

Tukaram warns that a life with no faith in the Name leaves a person dwelling in a kind of hell, dejected and cut off. He goes so far as to say that even talking with someone so thoroughly faithless feels like a stain, one that no amount of washing can remove. Losing your taste for the Name is like watching your remaining days quietly tick away, wasted. Tuka swears by Vitthal himself that he will not even bother answering such a person.

When you notice a cynical voice, inside or outside you, wearing down your sense of meaning

When you protect your own faith or values from someone who mocks them

When you realize a life without any appreciation for what matters feels hollow and rushed

The verse

विठ्ठलनामाचा नाहीं ज्या विश्वास । तो वसे उदास नरकामध्यें ॥१॥ तयासी बोलतां होईंल विटाळ । नेव जाये तो जळस्नान करितां ॥ध्रु.॥ विठ्ठलनामाची नाहीं ज्या आवडी । त्याची काळ घडी लेखिताहे ॥२॥ तुका म्हणे मज विठोबाची आण। जरी प्रतिवचन करिन त्यासी ॥३॥

Literal translation

Who has no faith in Viṭhṭhal-name — dwells dejected in hell. Speaking to such — pollution comes — not removed even by water-bath. Without taste for Viṭhṭhal-name — death-time is being counted. Tuka says: by Viṭhoba's oath — even if I reply to him.

What it means

ANTI-NAME-SKEPTIC POLEMIC ABHANG. Part of the 15-abhang Name-praise sub-section (2369-2383).

The faithless-in-hell: Viṭhṭhala-nāmāchā nāhīm jyā viśvāsa — tō vasē udāsa narakāmadhyē — who has no faith in Viṭhṭhal-name dwells dejected in hell.

The pollution-of-speaking: tayāsī bōlatām hō'īmla viṭāḷa — nēva jāyē tō jaḷa-snāna karitām — speaking to such — pollution comes — not removed even by water-bath. Even-bathing doesn't-purify the-pollution-of-conversing-with-the-faithless.

The death-counting: Viṭhṭhala-nāmāchī nāhīm jyā āvaḍī — tyāchī kāḷa-ghaḍī lēkhitāhē — without taste for Viṭhṭhal-name — the death-time is being counted. Without-taste-for-the-Name, death-time is-being-counted-down.

The Viṭhoba-oath: Tukā mhaṇē maja Viṭhōbāchī āṇa — jarī prati-vachana karina tyāsī — Tuka says: by Viṭhoba's oath — if I even reply to him. By-Viṭhoba's-oath, [I won't] even reply to-such-a-one.

[T]

For someone today

मराठी: ज्याला विठ्ठलनामावर विश्वासच नाही, तो जणू उदास होऊन नरकातच वास करतो, असे तुकाराम महाराज सांगतात. अशा पूर्णपणे श्रद्धाहीन माणसाशी बोलणेसुद्धा विटाळासारखे वाटते, जो कोणत्याही स्नानाने धुतला जात नाही. नामाची गोडी हरवणे म्हणजे आपले उरलेले दिवस विनाकारण मोजले जाणे, हळूहळू संपत जाणे. तुकाराम विठोबाची शपथ घेऊन म्हणतात की अशा माणसाला ते साधे उत्तरही देणार नाहीत.

Where this applies

When you are around someone whose relentless cynicism about faith and meaning wears you down
When you notice yourself losing all appreciation for something that once gave your life meaning
When you have to decide how much space to give a dismissive or mocking voice in your life
When you sense your own days feel emptier because you have stopped valuing what matters to you