Abhanga 2817
A canonical bhāva-foundation daily-meditation. Why worship stone, brass, eight-metals without bhāva, with wicked-devotion? Bhāva itself is the cause, bhāva itself is the cause — this is said to be the sādhana of mokṣa. What will the rosary do when you do sense-japa? What will paṇḍita-voice do? — proud-of-letters becomes puffed-up. What will skilled singing do when inside is dirty-bad-intellect? Without bhāva, you do formal-sevā — how will that make you worthy of Deva? The verse permits a daily-self-test: am I doing form-without-bhāva? The doubled bhāva chi kāraṇa line is the bhakti-foundational-mantra. The four kāya karīla (what will it do?) questions are diagnostic-tests for each-religious-practice.
The verse
कासिया पाषाण पूजिती पितळ । अष्ट धातु खळ भावें विण ॥१॥
भाव चि कारण भाव चि कारण । मोक्षाचें साधन बोलियेलें ॥ध्रु.॥
काय करिल जपमाळा कंठमाळा । करिशी वेळोवेळां विषयजप ॥२॥
काय करिशील पंडित हे वाणी । अक्षराभिमानी थोर होय ॥३॥
काय करिशील कुशल गायन । अंतरीं मळीण कुबुद्धि ते ॥४॥
तुका म्हणे भाव नाहीं करी सेवा । तेणें काय देवा योग्य होशी ॥५॥
Literal translation
Kāsiyā pāṣāṇa pūjitī pitaḷa — why worship pāṣāṇa (stone), pitaḷa (brass); aṣṭa-dhātu khaḷa bhāve viṇa — (or) aṣṭa-dhātu (eight-metals) — khaḷa (wickedly), without bhāva? Bhāva chi kāraṇa bhāva chi kāraṇa — bhāva itself is the cause, bhāva itself is the cause; mokṣāñce sādhana boliyele — (this) has been said as the sādhana of mokṣa. Kāya karīla japa-māḷā kaṇṭha-māḷā — what will the japa-māḷā (recitation-rosary) and kaṇṭha-māḷā (neck-rosary) do; karisi veḷōveḷā viṣaya-japa — (when) you do viṣaya-japa (sense-japa) time-and-again. Kāya kariśīla paṇḍita he vāṇī — what will (your) paṇḍita-vāṇī (paṇḍita-voice) do?; akṣara-abhimānī thōra hōya — (only) the akṣara-abhimānī (proud-of-letters) becomes thōra (big, puffed-up). Kāya kariśīla kuśala gāyana — what will skilled gāyana (singing) do; antarī maḷīṇa kubuddhi te — (when) inside is maḷīṇa (dirty) kubuddhi (bad-intellect)? Tukā says: bhāva nāhī karī sevā — without bhāva (you) do (formal) sevā; tēṇē kāya Devā yōgya hōśī — by that, how (will) you become yōgya (worthy) of Deva?
What it means
This is one of the most-canonical Tukārām bhāva-foundation texts, daily-quoted in Vārkarī kīrtans.
The opening test: kāsiyā pāṣāṇa pūjitī pitaḷa — aṣṭa-dhātu khaḷa bhāve viṇa — why worship stone, brass, or eight-metals — without bhāva, with wicked-devotion? The challenge to idol-worship-without-bhāva: it's pointless. The aṣṭa-dhātu (eight-metals-mixed) is a specific class of high-quality-Indian-metallurgy used for elite-idols; even-this is useless without bhāva.
The canonical refrain: bhāva chi kāraṇa bhāva chi kāraṇa — mokṣāñce sādhana boliyele — bhāva itself is the cause, bhāva itself is the cause — (this) is said to be the sādhana of mokṣa. The doubled bhāva chi kāraṇa is the emphatic-claim. Mokṣāñce sādhana — the sādhana of mokṣa — is bhāva itself. (Compare 2792's bhāvāvīṇa avaghā sīṇa.)
The four uselessness-without-bhāva tests: 1. Japa-māḷā + kaṇṭha-māḷā — useless when you do viṣaya-japa in parallel (the rosary in the hand counts beads; the mind counts viṣaya — what good?) 2. Paṇḍita-vāṇī — produces only akṣara-abhimānī getting thōra (puffed-up by pride-of-letters) 3. Kuśala-gāyana (skilled singing) — useless when inside is maḷīṇa kubuddhi 4. Formal sevā without bhāva — does not make one yōgya of Deva
The close: bhāva nāhī karī sevā — tēṇē kāya Devā yōgya hōśī — without bhāva, (you) do (formal) sevā — by that, how (will) you become yōgya of Deva? The test: yōgya of Deva. Without bhāva, no formal-practice makes one yōgya.
For someone today
A canonical bhāva-foundation daily-meditation. Why worship stone, brass, eight-metals without bhāva, with wicked-devotion? Bhāva itself is the cause, bhāva itself is the cause — this is said to be the sādhana of mokṣa. What will the rosary do when you do sense-japa? What will paṇḍita-voice do? — proud-of-letters becomes puffed-up. What will skilled singing do when inside is dirty-bad-intellect? Without bhāva, you do formal-sevā — how will that make you worthy of Deva? The verse permits a daily-self-test: am I doing form-without-bhāva? The doubled bhāva chi kāraṇa line is the bhakti-foundational-mantra. The four kāya karīla (what will it do?) questions are diagnostic-tests for each-religious-practice.
Where this applies
- The canonical bhāva-foundation daily-quoted text
- The four-fold form-without-bhāva-is-useless list (idol, rosary, paṇḍita, singing)
- Bhāva chi kāraṇa — daily-quoted refrain
- The diagnostic-test: how-will-this-make-me-yōgya-of-Deva-without-bhāva?