Abhanga 2792
Genuine heartfelt devotion, even from the unlearned, reaches what clever scholarship alone cannot, and without real feeling, all religious effort becomes empty exhaustion.
The verse
शाहाणपणें वेद मुका । गोपिका त्या ताकटी ॥१॥
कैसें येथें कैसें तेथें । शहाणे ते जाणती ॥ध्रु.॥
यज्ञमुखें खोडी काढी । कोण गोडी बोरांची ॥२॥
तुका म्हणे भावाविण । अवघा सीण केला होय ॥३॥
Literal translation
Śāhāṇa-paṇē Veda mukā — byśāhāṇa-paṇa(wisdom, scholar-cleverness), the Veda ismukā(mute); gopikā tyā tāka-ṭī — thegopikā(cowherd-women), those (are) thetāka-ṭī(tāka-eaters, drinkers-of-buttermilk). Kaise yethē kaise tēthē — how-here-how-there; śahāṇe tē jāṇatī — (only) the wise ones know. Yajña-mukhē khōḍī kāḍhī — theyajña-mukha(yajña-fire-mouth, the formal-yajña-performer) finds fault; kōṇa gōḍī bōrāñcī — whatgōḍī(taste) is inbōrā(berries)? Tukā says: bhāvāvīṇa avaghā sīṇa kelā hōya — withoutbhāva, all becomessīṇa(exhaustion-effort).
What it means
A striking contrast-verse between wisdom-knowledge-without-bhāva and unlearned-bhāva-with-substance. Śāhāṇa-paṇē Veda mukā — by śāhāṇa-paṇa (wisdom-scholar-cleverness), the Veda is mute. The diagnostic-claim: too-much-cleverness makes-the-Veda-mute. The śāhāṇa (clever-scholar) reduces-the-Veda-to-silence by over-analysis.
Gopikā tyā tāka-ṭī — the gopikās (cowherd-women) are the tāka-eaters (drinkers-of-tāka/buttermilk). The contrast: the unlearned cowherd-women are the ones drinking-the-substance (tāka = buttermilk, the essence-extracted-from-milk). The gopikās who-loved-Krṣṇa-with-bhāva got the substance; the scholars-with-wisdom-without-bhāva muted the Veda.
The dhrūpada: kaise yethē kaise tēthē — śahāṇe tē jāṇatī — how-here-how-there — only the wise ones know. The ironic-tone: the wise are the ones who-talk-about it but don't experience. The how-here-how-there (this-debate, that-debate) is the śahāṇa's domain.
The second verse offers a sharper-image: yajña-mukhē khōḍī kāḍhī — kōṇa gōḍī bōrāñcī — the yajña-fire-mouth finds fault — what taste is in mere bōrā (berries)? The yajña-mukha (the formal-ritual-of-Vedic-fire) finds-fault with simple-bhakti. Kōṇa gōḍī bōrāñcī — what taste is there in berries? — likely refers to Śabarī's-half-eaten-berries that she offered to Rāma. The formal-yajña-tradition would find-fault with such an offering — but for Rāma-with-bhāva, those berries were gōḍī (sweet, tasteful).
The close: bhāvāvīṇa avaghā sīṇa kelā hōya — without bhāva, all becomes exhaustion-effort. The diagnostic-test: bhāva-or-sīṇa. Without bhāva, religious-effort is sīṇa (exhaustion, tiring, fatiguing without arrival).
For someone today
A useful contrast-verse. Wisdom makes the Veda mute; gopikās (cowherd-women) are the tāka-eaters. How is it here, how is it there — only the wise ones know (i.e., only-talk). The yajña-mukha finds fault with bhakti — what taste in berries? Without bhāva, all is exhaustion-effort. The structural-claim: bhāva > śāhāṇa-paṇa. The unlearned-with-bhāva access-substance; the wise-without-bhāva only-talk. The Śabarī's-berries reference is poignant: those half-eaten berries were rejected by the formal tradition but accepted-by-Rāma. The bhāva-test is the final-criterion.
मराठी: एक उपयुक्त विरोधाभासी अभंग. शहाणपण वेदाला मुका करतं; गोपिका ताक पिणाऱ्या आहेत. इथे कसं, तिथे कसं — फक्त शहाणेच ते जाणतात, म्हणजे नुसतं बोलतात. यज्ञाचं मुख भक्तीत दोष काढतं — बोरांमध्ये कसली चव? भावाशिवाय सगळं म्हणजे नुसती दमछाक. रचनेतला दावा असा — शहाणपणापेक्षा भाव श्रेष्ठ. अशिक्षित पण भावपूर्ण माणसं सारतत्त्वापर्यंत पोहोचतात; शहाणे पण भावहीन माणसं फक्त बोलत राहतात. शबरीच्या उष्ट्या बोरांचा संदर्भ हृदयस्पर्शी आहे — ती अर्धवट खाल्लेली बोरं औपचारिक परंपरेने नाकारली असती, पण रामाने स्वीकारली. भावाची कसोटीच अंतिम निकष आहे.
Where this applies
- The bhāva-test vs the formal-knowledge test in religion
- Recognizing that gopikās (the unlearned) are the actual-tasters
- The Śabarī's-berries vs yajña-mukha-finds-fault contrast
- The diagnostic: without bhāva, all effort is exhaustion