Abhanga 2750
A person who was once good can be quietly ruined by attachment, learning to deceive on its schedule until debts pile up unnoticed and everything gets consumed.
The verse
बहु होता भला । परि ये रांडेनें नासिला ॥१॥
बहु शिकला रंग चाळे । खरें खोटें इचे वेळे ॥ध्रु.॥
नव्हतें आळवितें कोणी । इनें केला जगॠणी ॥२॥
ज्याचे त्यासी नेदी देऊं । तुका म्हणे धांवे खाऊं ॥३॥
Literal translation
Bahu hōtā bhalā — (he) was verybhalā(good); parī yē rāṇḍēnē nāsilā — but thisrāṇḍa(whore/widow, here = māyā/samsāra personified) hasnāsilā(ruined). Bahu śikalā ranga chāḷē — he learned manyranga-chāḷē(color-plays, deceits-and-tricks); kharē khōṭē iche veḷē — true-and-false (juggled) at her time. Navhatē āḷavitē kōṇī — no one wasāḷavitē(calling); iñē kelā jaga-rṇī — she made (him)jaga-rṇī(debtor-to-the-world). Jyāñce tyāsī nēdī dēūm — what-is-whose, she does-not-let-give-back; Tukā says: dhāmve khāūm — she runs tokhāūm(eat, devour).
What it means
A sharp diagnostic-verse. Bahu hōtā bhalā — parī yē rāṇḍēnē nāsilā — (he) was very good — but this rāṇḍa has ruined (him). The image of māyā or samsāra as a rāṇḍa (a low-status woman, often translated as whore or widow in the negative-folk-sense, but in this verse functioning as the deceiver-figure). The previously-good man has been ruined by attachment to her.
The dhrūpada: bahu śikalā ranga-chāḷē — kharē khōṭē iche veḷē — he learned many color-plays — true-and-false at her time. Ranga-chāḷē — color-plays, performances-of-deceit. The previously-good man has learned to perform kharē-khōṭē (true-and-false) in her time (according to her schedule). The deceiver has taught her victim deception.
The second verse names the result: navhatē āḷavitē kōṇī — iñē kelā jaga-rṇī — no one was calling (him); she made (him) debtor-to-the-world. Without anyone-calling, without anyone-demanding, she has loaded him with jaga-rṇa (debt-to-the-world). The debt is self-incurred at her instigation.
The close: jyāñce tyāsī nēdī dēūm — dhāmve khāūm — what-is-whose, she doesn't let-give-back; runs to eat. The rāṇḍa-figure prevents the debtor from paying-back (returning what is due); she runs to eat-consume what she has gathered. The greed-mode is total.
The verse is one of Tukārām's most-dramatic personifications of māyā as the deceiver-figure. Compare 2750's rāṇḍa with elsewhere's māyā and trṣṇā-personified.
For someone today
A sharp diagnostic verse on how good people get ruined by attachment to this deceiver figure. He was very good — but this rāṇḍa ruined him; he learned to put on shows of deceit — true and false, all on her schedule; no one was calling — she made him a debtor to the world; what belongs to whom, she won't let him give back; she runs to devour it all. The pattern: a once-good person learns deceit on the deceiver's own schedule; debt piles up without anyone demanding it; returning things to their rightful owners is blocked; the deceiver consumes everything. The diagnostic test: am I learning to juggle true and false on someone else's schedule? Have I become a debtor to the world without anyone even asking me to? If yes, this deceiver figure is at work.
मराठी: चांगली माणसं मोहात कशी उद्ध्वस्त होतात, याचं हे एक तीक्ष्ण निदान आहे. तो खूप चांगला होता — पण या रांडेने त्याला उद्ध्वस्त केलं; तो तिच्या वेळापत्रकाप्रमाणे खरं-खोटं दाखवण्याचे रंगखेळ शिकला; कोणी हाकही मारली नव्हती — तरी तिने त्याला जगाचा कर्जदार बनवलं; जे ज्याचं आहे ते परत करू देत नाही; ती सगळं गिळंकृत करायला धावते. यातला नमुना असा आहे: एकेकाळचा चांगला माणूस फसवणुकीच्या मोहिनीच्या वेळापत्रकानुसार फसवायला शिकतो; कोणी न मागताच कर्ज साचत जातं; योग्य मालकांना परत देणं अडवलं जातं; ही मोहिनी सगळं गिळंकृत करते. स्वतःची परीक्षा घे: मी दुसऱ्याच्या वेळापत्रकानुसार खरं-खोटं जुळवायला शिकतो आहे का? कोणी न मागताच मी जगाचा कर्जदार बनलो आहे का? उत्तर होय असेल, तर ही मोहिनीरूपी रांड काम करते आहे असं समज.
Where this applies
- When you notice you've started bending the truth to keep someone or something happy
- When you realize you've taken on obligations nobody actually asked you to take
- When a habit or attachment that once seemed harmless has slowly changed your character
- When you feel like you're giving everything to something that never gives back