Abhanga 2670
The verse offers a precise diagnostic of self-defeating wickedness. The mechanism is internal: his own buddhi trips him, his speech blathers, the fault-finding gaze toward the worthy kindles flame in himself. The lesson is double — for the witness: don't fear the khaḷa's gaze, because it burns him, not you. For the self-examiner: notice when your own dōṣa-drṣṭi toward the worthy kindles flame — that is the khaḷa-bhaḍa you have ignited in yourself. The closing claim is also a Vārkarī-egalitarian one: khaḷa-ness has nothing to do with caste-position — it is a different category, defined by the fault-finding-gaze.
The verse
दुर्जनाची जाती । त्याचे तोंडीं पडे माती ॥१॥
त्याची बुद्धि त्यासी नाडी । वाचे अनुचित बडबडी ॥ध्रु.॥
पाहें संतांकडे । दोषदृष्टी सांडी भडे ॥२॥
उंच निंच नाहीं । तुका म्हणे खळा कांहीं ॥३॥
Literal translation
The durjana's (wicked one's) jātī (lineage, kind) — dust falls in his mouth. His buddhi (intellect) nāḍī (trips, snares) him; his speech baḍabaḍī (blathers) unfitting (anuchita) things. He looks at sants — the dōṣa-drṣṭi (fault-vision) sāṇḍī bhaḍē (leaves a kindled-flame). There is no high-or-low — Tukā says — the khaḷa is something else.
What it means
A small diagnostic-verse about the self-defeating mechanism of the wicked-person. Durjanāchī jātī — tyāche tōmḍīm paḍē mātī — the wicked one's kind — dust falls in his mouth. The image is precise: when the durjana speaks ill, it is as if dust falls into his own mouth — his words pollute him before they reach the world.
The dhrūpada locates the engine: tyāchī buddhi tyāsī nāḍī — vāchē anuchita baḍabaḍī — his own buddhi (intellect) trips him; his speech blathers the unfitting. The wicked person is not tripped-by-others; his own buddhi is the tripping-mechanism. Anuchita baḍabaḍī — unfitting blathering — is the symptom; the buddhi-snare is the cause.
The second verse names a specific behavior: pāhē santāmkaḍē — dōṣa-drṣṭi sāṇḍī bhaḍē — he looks toward the sants — and the fault-vision kindles a flame. When the durjana even looks at the sants, what arises in him is dōṣa-drṣṭi — the fault-finding gaze — and the gaze itself bhaḍē (kindles a flame) — burning him, not the sants. The fault-finding gaze toward the worthy is its own punishment.
The close: uñcha niñcha nāhī — khaḷā kāmhī — no high-or-low — the khaḷa is something else. Khaḷa (the wicked) is not a position on the high-and-low axis; it is kāmhī — something else, a different kind. The verse refuses to locate khaḷa-ness within the social-hierarchy of uñcha-niñcha; the khaḷa is a category distinct from caste-or-status.
For someone today
The verse offers a precise diagnostic of self-defeating wickedness. The mechanism is internal: his own buddhi trips him, his speech blathers, the fault-finding gaze toward the worthy kindles flame in himself. The lesson is double — for the witness: don't fear the khaḷa's gaze, because it burns him, not you. For the self-examiner: notice when your own dōṣa-drṣṭi toward the worthy kindles flame — that is the khaḷa-bhaḍa you have ignited in yourself. The closing claim is also a Vārkarī-egalitarian one: khaḷa-ness has nothing to do with caste-position — it is a different category, defined by the fault-finding-gaze.
Where this applies
- Recognizing self-defeating wickedness in oneself or in others
- The fault-finding gaze as its own punishment-mechanism
- Refusing to locate khaḷa-ness on the caste-axis — it is kāmhī (something else)
- The diagnostic-test: does my buddhi keep tripping me into anuchita-baḍabaḍī?