Abhanga 2744
Pōṭāsāṭhī khaṭapaṭa karisī avaghā vīḷa — for the pōṭa (stomach), you do khaṭapaṭa (hassle, fuss) the whole vīḷa (time); Rāma Rāma mhaṇatām tujhī basalī dāntakhīḷa — saying Rāma Rāma, your dāntakhīḷa (jaw-lock, lock-of-teeth) sits.
The verse
पोटासाठीं खटपट करिसी अवघा वीळ । राम राम म्हणतां तुझी बसली दांतखीळ ॥१॥
हरिचें नाम कदाकाळीं कां रे नये वाचे । म्हणतां राम राम तुझ्या बाचें काय वेचें ॥ध्रु.॥
द्रव्याचिया आशा तुजला दाही दिशा न पुरती । कीर्तनासी जातां तुझी जड झाली माती ॥२॥
तुका म्हणे ऐशा जीवा काय करूं आता । राम राम न म्हणे त्याचा गाढव मातापिता ॥३॥
Literal translation
Pōṭāsāṭhī khaṭapaṭa karisī avaghā vīḷa — for the pōṭa (stomach), you do khaṭapaṭa (hassle, fuss) the whole vīḷa (time); Rāma Rāma mhaṇatām tujhī basalī dāntakhīḷa — saying Rāma Rāma, your dāntakhīḷa (jaw-lock, lock-of-teeth) sits. Harīñce nāma kadā-kāḷī kā re nayē vāche — why does Hari's name never come to your vāchā (speech)?; mhaṇatām Rāma Rāma tujhya bāñce kāya vēchē — saying Rāma Rāma, what does your bāña (father) vēche (lose, spend)? Dravyāñcyā āśā tujalā dāhī diśā na puratī — for dravya (wealth)'s desire, the ten directions don't purati (suffice) you; kīrtanāsī jātām tujhī jaḍa jhālī mātī — going to kīrtana, your mātī (clay/body) has become jaḍa (heavy). Tukā says: aiśā jīvā kāya karūm ātām — what to do with such a jīva now?; Rāma Rāma na mhaṇē tyāñca gāḍhava mātāpitā — one who doesn't say Rāma-Rāma — his mātāpitā (mother-and-father) are donkeys.
What it means
This is one of Tukārām's most-recited anti-name-laziness rebukes, daily-quoted across Maharashtra. The unrelenting-tone is the verse's character.
The opening line is famous: pōṭāsāṭhī khaṭapaṭa karisī avaghā vīḷa — Rāma Rāma mhaṇatām tujhī basalī dāntakhīḷa — for the stomach you hassle the whole time — but saying Rāma-Rāma, your jaw-lock sits. The diagnostic-image: dāntakhīḷa (jaw-lock, the locking-shut of teeth) — sits down when one tries to say Rāma Rāma. The body that works-tirelessly-for-the-stomach suddenly locks when the Name is requested.
The dhrūpada: Harīñce nāma kadā-kāḷī kā re nayē vāche — mhaṇatām Rāma Rāma tujhya bāñce kāya vēchē — why does Hari's name never come to your speech? Saying Rāma-Rāma, what does your father lose? The famous kāya vēchē (what is lost) line. Saying Rāma-Rāma costs nothing — not your wealth, not your inheritance (bāñce = father's-wealth). The cost-of-the-Name is zero, and yet the resistance is total.
The second verse extends the diagnosis: dravyāñcyā āśā tujalā dāhī diśā na puratī — kīrtanāsī jātām tujhī jaḍa jhālī mātī — for wealth-desire, the ten directions don't suffice you — but going to kīrtana, your clay-body has become heavy. The reversal of energy: for wealth, you traverse all ten directions tirelessly; for kīrtana, the mātī (clay, body) suddenly jaḍa jālī (becomes heavy). The body that can travel for money cannot travel for kīrtana. The asymmetry is unmistakable.
The close is the most-stinging: Rāma Rāma na mhaṇē tyāñca gāḍhava mātāpitā — one who doesn't say Rāma-Rāma — his mother-and-father are donkeys. The hard close — donkey mother-and-father. The kind of fajita (public-shame, see 2733) that Tukārām is willing to deploy when softer-correction won't work.
For someone today
The verse offers an unrelenting daily-quoted rebuke. For the stomach you hassle all day — but Rāma-Rāma locks your jaw. Hari's name never comes to your speech — but saying Rāma-Rāma costs nothing. For wealth, ten directions don't suffice; for kīrtana, your body has become heavy. What to do with such a jīva? One who doesn't say Rāma-Rāma — his mother-and-father are donkeys. The verse is socially-uncomfortable on purpose. Kāya vēchē (what does it cost?) is the central-question; the resistance-to-cost-free practice is the diagnostic.
You can use the verse as a self-test: do I have unlimited-energy for the stomach but limited-energy for the Name? Does my body get heavy at kīrtana but light at money-pursuits? If yes, you're in the diagnosis. The verse's unrelenting-tone is the medicine.
Where this applies
- The canonical anti-name-laziness daily-quoted rebuke
- Recognizing the jaw-locks-when-trying-Rāma-Rāma pattern
- The body-heavy-when-going-to-kīrtana resistance-symptom
- The hard what-does-it-cost-you self-test for cost-free spiritual-practices