Abhanga 2667
The verse offers an honest playful-warning about what genuine bhakti-encounter actually does. They come looking dispossessed — but they will eat your meal and carry away everything you owned, and leave no trail. The implication: do not invite the Vaiṣṇavas (or the bhakti-encounter, or genuine spiritual-company) into your house if you want to keep your previous sarvasva (entire-belongings) intact. They will not steal one piece at a time; they take everything. And there is no recovering it — they leave no māga.
The verse
वैष्णवें चोरटीं । आलीं घरासी करंटीं ॥१॥
आजि आपुलें जतन । करा भांडें पांघुरण ॥ध्रु.॥
ज्याचे घरीं खावें । त्याचें सर्वस्वें ही न्यावें ॥२॥
तुका म्हणे माग । नाहीं लागों देत लाग ॥३॥
Literal translation
The Vaiṣṇavē (Vaiṣṇavas) are thieves; they have come to the house as karaṇṭīm (the ill-fortuned, the unfortunate, the dispossessed). Today, guard your own — your bhāṇḍē (vessels) and pānghuraṇa (coverings, wraps). At whose house they eat — they will take away even the sarvasva (whole-belongings). Tukā says: they leave no māga (trail, track) to be followed.
What it means
A playful, half-warning, half-celebration verse. Vaiṣṇavē chōraṭīm — ālīm gharāsī karaṇṭīm — the Vaiṣṇavas are thieves; they have come to the house as ill-fortuned ones. The image is set up as if to warn householders: thieves have arrived, disguised as poor-comers. Karaṇṭīm — the ill-fortuned, dispossessed, hapless — is how they appear.
The dhrūpada extends the mock-warning: āji āpulēm jatana — karā bhāṇḍē pānghuraṇa — today preserve your own — your vessels and coverings. The householder is told to keep watch over the kitchen-utensils and the wrap-cloths.
The second verse: jyāñchē gharīm khāvē — tyāñchē sarvasva hī nyāvē — whose house they eat at — they will take away the whole-belongings, too. The thievery is total — the Vaiṣṇavas don't just take small items; they eat the meal and then take everything. The play-on-warning is also a play-on-blessing: the Vaiṣṇavas come as karaṇṭīm but they take sarvasva.
The close: māga nāhī lāgōm deta lāga — they leave no trail to follow back. Māga lāgaṇē — to follow the track — was the standard way of catching thieves in a village. The Vaiṣṇavas leave no such trail; one cannot follow them back to recover the sarvasva they have taken.
The verse is one of Tukārām's playful-tease descriptions of how the bhakti-encounter actually works: it takes everything. The bhakti-shift is not a small religious-supplementation; it changes one's whole life. The Vaiṣṇavas in this image are the gentle thieves who arrive disguised as the dispossessed and leave with one's entire life-inventory.
For someone today
The verse offers an honest playful-warning about what genuine bhakti-encounter actually does. They come looking dispossessed — but they will eat your meal and carry away everything you owned, and leave no trail. The implication: do not invite the Vaiṣṇavas (or the bhakti-encounter, or genuine spiritual-company) into your house if you want to keep your previous sarvasva (entire-belongings) intact. They will not steal one piece at a time; they take everything. And there is no recovering it — they leave no māga.
The verse is half-warning and half-promise. The warning: bhakti will cost everything. The promise: bhakti will cost everything, including the things you didn't know you were holding onto.
Where this applies
- Playful description of how bhakti-encounter actually changes one's whole life
- The half-warning: don't invite the Vaiṣṇavas if you want to keep your inventory
- Recognizing that the trail-back is not provided — the change is one-direction
- The image of gentle thieves disguised as the dispossessed