संत साहित्य · Tukārām · Abhanga 2466 of 4582

Abhanga 2466

Devotion measured out like a commodity, staged as theater, or handed down by force is hollow and brings shame, not real faith.

When you catch yourself going through spiritual practice mechanically, just to finish a count.

When you see rituals turned into performance or business rather than genuine devotion.

When you feel pressured to accept teaching or advice you haven't truly taken to heart.

The verse

घालुनियां मापीं । देवभक्त बैसले जपीं ॥१॥ तैसी होते सांडउलंडी । निजनिजांची मुडी ॥ध्रु.॥ अमुपीं उखतें । आपण वोस आपण यातें ॥२॥ देव आतां जाला । उगवे संकोच वहिला ॥३॥ अखंड नेलें वेठी । भार सत्याविण गांठी ॥४॥ आडकिला झोंपा । रिता कळिवरचा खोंपा ॥५॥ गोदातीरीं आड । करिते करविते द्वाड ॥६॥ तुका म्हणे बळें । उपदेशाचें तोंड काळें ॥७॥

Literal translation

Putting in measure — Dēva-bhakta sat for japa. Sāṇḍa-ulaṇḍī becomes — each one's own bundle. One beyond measure — self desolate, self goes. Now Dēva has arrived — wishes emerge quickly. Unceasingly taken-as-vēṭhī (forced-labor) — burden without truth in knot. The cot stuck — empty woven-bed. On Godāvarī-bank-cross — making and getting-made, foolish. Tuka says: by force, upadeśa-mouth is black.

What it means

THE ANTI-PRETENDER-RELIGION + GODĀVARĪ-CRITIQUE ABHANG. 7-verse polemical-poem.

The Godāvarī-cross: Gōdā-tīrīm āḍa — karitē karavitē dvāḍa — on Godāvarī-bank-cross — making and getting-made, foolish. Likely critique of-the-Brahmin-priests near-Godāvarī-river (a major tīrtha-region with-many-temples-and-rituals). The making-and-getting-made (= mutual-deception) is-foolish.

The forced-upadeśa: Tukā mhaṇē baḷē — upadēśāchē tōṇḍa kāḷē — by force, upadeśa-mouth is black. Forced-upadeśa blackens-the-mouth.

[T]

For someone today

Devotion treated like a business transaction, counted out in fixed measures, is hollow. Tukārām describes people sitting for japa as if measuring out grain, but real devotion doesn't fit a quota, and that mechanical approach leaves everyone clutching their own empty bundle. He mocks priests who turn a holy riverbank into theater, staging rituals and pulling others into the same charade. He closes with a warning: any teaching pushed onto someone by force rather than given from real conviction only brings shame to the one who forced it.

मराठी: मोजून-मापून केलेली भक्ती, म्हणजे धान्य मोजल्यासारखी केलेली उपासना, पोकळ ठरते. तुकाराम महाराज सांगतात की लोक जपासाठी असे बसतात जणू काही मापाने धान्य मोजत आहेत, पण खरी भक्ती अशा हिशोबात बसत नाही, आणि हा यांत्रिक मार्ग शेवटी प्रत्येकाच्या हाती फक्त स्वतःची रिकामी गाठोडी देतो. गोदावरीच्या तीरावर विधी करणाऱ्या आणि करवून घेणाऱ्या भटांच्या दिखाव्याचीही ते टिंगल करतात. शेवटी ते बजावतात की बळजबरीने दिलेला उपदेश खरा नसतो, तो देणाऱ्याचेच तोंड काळे करतो.

Where this applies

When you or others go through prayer or ritual mechanically, just counting repetitions without feeling them
When you see religious rites turned into a public show or a transaction instead of real devotion
When someone dresses up self-interest or opportunism as spiritual practice
When you feel pressured, or pressure someone else, to accept teaching or advice that hasn't been genuinely taken to heart

Bhakti