Abhanga 2786
Since God is truly present in every being, treating yourself as above or below another person is a mistaken hierarchy, like trembling at a rope you mistook for a snake.
The verse
गुरुशिष्यपण । हें तों अधमलक्षण ॥१॥
भूतीं नारायण खरा । आप तैसा चि दुसरा ॥ध्रु.॥
न कळतां दोरी साप । राहूं नेंदावा तो कांप ॥२॥
तुका म्हणे गुणदोषी । ऐसें न पडावें सोसीं ॥३॥
Literal translation
Guru-śiṣya-paṇa — guru-and-disciple-ness; hē tōm adhama-lakṣaṇa — that is theadhama-lakṣaṇa(lowest-mark, sign-of-baseness). Bhūtīm Nārāyaṇa kharā — inbhūtas(beings) Nārāyaṇa iskharā(real); āpa taisā chi dujā — one's own (self) is just-the-same as thedujā(second, other). Na kaḷatām dōrī sāpa — not knowing thedōrī(rope) (as)sāpa(snake); rāhūm nēdāvā tō kāmpa — don't let thatkāmpa(trembling) stay. Tukā says: guṇa-dōṣī — aisē na paḍāvē sōsīm — inguṇa-dōṣa— don't fall into thatsōsa(habit, taste, sustained-engagement).
What it means
A striking anti-hierarchy verse. Guru-śiṣya-paṇa — hē tōm adhama-lakṣaṇa — guru-and-disciple-ness — that is the lowest-mark, sign-of-baseness. This is a radical claim. The conventional-tradition values guru-śiṣya hierarchy; Tukārām marks it as adhama-lakṣaṇa — the sign-of-baseness. The reasoning follows in the dhrūpada.
Bhūtīm Nārāyaṇa kharā — āpa taisā chi dujā — in beings Nārāyaṇa is the real — one's own is just-the-same as the second. The reason: Nārāyaṇa is in all-beings. The ātmā in all = my own ātmā. Therefore one's-own is the-same as the other. With this advaita-recognition, guru-śiṣya hierarchy becomes adhama — it positions one being above another when they-are-the-same.
The second verse uses the classic-rope-snake image: na kaḷatām dōrī sāpa — rāhūm nēdāvā tō kāmpa — not knowing the rope-as-snake — don't let that trembling stay. The Vedānta-image: in dim-light, one mistakes the rope for a snake and trembles. The kāmpa (trembling) is the symptom-of-the-error. Once one recognizes-the-rope, the trembling should be released. Tukārām applies this to the guru-śiṣya confusion: recognize the mistake; don't let the trembling stay.
The close: guṇa-dōṣī — aisē na paḍāvē sōsīm — in guṇa-dōṣa — don't fall into the habit-of-suffering. Guṇa-dōṣa (the categorization of qualities-and-faults) is itself a sōsa (sustained-engagement, habit) one falls into — and it produces suffering. The guru-śiṣya hierarchy is a kind of guṇa-dōṣī judgment-making.
This verse is in tension with other Tukārām verses that honor sants and gurus (compare 2706's sant-pāya-jōḍī = bhāgya, 2757's Hari-bhakta-jīvalaga-sōyarē). The resolution is that this verse is critiquing guru-śiṣya-paṇa (the position-of-guru-vs-disciple) — not sant-honor in general. The honoring of sants is not as hierarchy but as bhāva-confluence. The adhama-lakṣaṇa is in the positional-claim of guru-over-disciple, not in the bhāva-of-honor itself.
For someone today
A striking anti-hierarchy verse to balance the sant-honoring tradition. The very notion of guru and disciple is the lowest-mark. In beings, Nārāyaṇa is real — one's own is just-the-same as the other. Not knowing rope-as-snake — don't let the trembling stay. In guṇa-dōṣa — don't fall into the habit-of-suffering. The verse is provocative — it goes against the standard-tradition that honors guru-śiṣya. The reasoning: if Nārāyaṇa is in all-beings equally, positioning one above another is adhama. The bhakta-mode is honoring without hierarchy — recognizing-the-same in the other.
मराठी: संत-सन्मानाच्या परंपरेला समतोल देणारा एक ठाशीव विषमताविरोधी अभंग. गुरु आणि शिष्य ही संकल्पनाच सर्वात हीन लक्षण आहे. सर्व प्राण्यांमध्ये नारायण खराच आहे — स्वतःचं आणि दुसऱ्याचं एकच आहे. दोरीला साप न ओळखणं — ती थरथर टिकू देऊ नकोस. गुणदोषाच्या बाबतीत — त्या सवयीत अडकू नकोस. हा अभंग भडक आहे — कारण तो गुरु-शिष्य नात्याला मान देणाऱ्या परंपरेच्या विरुद्ध जातो. तर्क असा — जर नारायण सर्व प्राण्यांमध्ये सारखाच आहे, तर एकाला दुसऱ्यापेक्षा वरचढ ठरवणं हेच हीन आहे. भक्ताची भूमिका अशी — विषमतेशिवाय आदर करणं — दुसऱ्यात स्वतःचंच रूप ओळखणं.
Where this applies
- When you catch yourself feeling superior to someone because of your role, title, or position of authority
- When you feel inferior or small around someone considered more advanced or accomplished than you
- When you realize a fear or resentment you are holding onto is based on a misunderstanding rather than reality
- When you notice you have fallen into the habit of constantly ranking people as better or worse than each other