संत साहित्य · Tukārām · Abhanga 2488 of 4582

Abhanga 2488

Devotion performed for show, like a hired mourner's tears or a firefly's cold glow, looks bright but carries no real feeling and disappears under pressure.

When you go through the motions of prayer or ritual without any real feeling behind them.

When you praise someone's piety just because it looks impressive on the surface.

When you wonder whether your own commitment would survive if it stopped being noticed or rewarded.

The verse

मोलें घातलें रडाया । नाहीं असुं आणि माया ॥१॥ तैसा भिक्तवाद काय । रंगबेगडीचा न्याय ॥ध्रु.॥ वेठी धरिल्या दावी भाव । मागें पळायाचा पाव ॥२॥ काजव्याच्या ज्योती । तुका म्हणे न लगे वाती ॥३॥

Literal translation

Hired to cry — no tears or māyā. Such bhakti-talk — colorful-glitter justice. Forced shows bhāva — behind, the foot is for fleeing. Firefly's light — Tuka says — no wick needed.

What it means

THE ANTI-PRETENDER-BHAKTI ABHANG.

The hired-mourner image: mōlē ghātalē raḍāyā — nāhīm asum āṇi māyā — hired to cry — no tears or māyā. Hired-mourners (paid-to-cry-at-funerals) have-no-real-tears or-māyā. A vivid critique of professional-bhakti.

The firefly-image: kājavyāchyā jyōtī — Tukā mhaṇē na lagē vātī — firefly's light — no wick needed. A firefly's-light needs-no-wick (= self-illumined-but-light-less). Pretender-bhakti is-like-firefly-glow — apparent but-useless.

[T]

For someone today

For today: hired-mourner has no real tears; bhakti-talk is glitter-coating ; firefly's light needs no wick — self-illumined-fake .

Where this applies

When you catch yourself performing devotion or grief for an audience rather than feeling it
When someone's spiritual talk sounds impressive but never holds up once things get hard
When you notice a person's commitment vanishes the instant there's no reward or recognition in it
When you're tempted to mistake a good show of feeling for the real thing, in yourself or others

Bhakti