Abhanga 2844
Gājarāñcī pungī — a pungī (snake-charmer's flute) made-of-carrot (i.e., a useless-toy-flute); taisē navē jāle jōgī — such (worthless) have become the new jogis.
The verse
गाजराची पुंगी । तैसे नवे जाले जोगी ॥१॥
काय करोनि पठन । केली अहंता जतन ॥ध्रु.॥
अल्प असे ज्ञान । अंगीं ताठा अभिमान ॥२॥
तुका म्हणे लंड । त्याचें हाणोनि फोडा तोंड ॥३॥
Literal translation
Gājarāñcī pungī — a pungī (snake-charmer's flute) made-of-carrot (i.e., a useless-toy-flute); taisē navē jāle jōgī — such (worthless) have become the new jogis. Kāya karōnī paṭhana — what good was the paṭhana (recitation, scripture-reading); kelī ahantā jatana — (by which) they jatana kelī (preserved, kept-safe) the ahantā (I-ness)? Alpa ase jñāna — (their) jñāna (knowledge) is alpa (little); angī tāṭhā abhimāna — in (their) anga (body) — the tāṭhā (stiffness, rigidity) of abhimāna (pride). Tukā says: laṇḍa — (he is) a laṇḍa (rogue, scoundrel); tyāñce hāṇōnī phōḍā tōṇḍa — striking, smash his tōṇḍa (mouth).
What it means
The opening verse of the 4-abhang anti-fake-renunciate cluster (2844-2847). One of Tukārām's sharpest polemics against the corrupt-jogis of his time.
Gājarāñcī pungī — taisē navē jāle jōgī — (like) a carrot-flute — such have become the new yogis. The gājarāñcī pungī — a carrot shaped like a pungī (snake-charmer's flute) — looks like a real-flute but produces no sound, doesn't work. The image: the new-jogis look like real-yogis but produce no real-spiritual-result.
Kāya karōnī paṭhana — kelī ahantā jatana — what good was the paṭhana — they preserved the ahantā. The diagnostic: reciting scripture, instead of eradicating ego, has jatana-kelī (carefully-preserved) the ahantā. The paṭhana served-the-ahantā, not eradication.
Alpa ase jñāna — angī tāṭhā abhimāna — little is their jñāna — in (their) anga is the stiffness of abhimāna. The little-knowledge-much-pride diagnostic. Tāṭhā (stiffness) is a precise-image: the body is stiff-with-self-importance — the fake-yogi can't-bend, can't-bow.
The close: Tukā mhaṇe laṇḍa — tyāñce hāṇōnī phōḍā tōṇḍa — Tukā: (he is) a laṇḍa (rogue) — striking, smash his mouth. The verbally-sharp close — smash-his-mouth (so he-stops-talking-his-fake-discourse). This is Tukārām at his most-direct.
For someone today
A sharp anti-fake-yogi polemic. (Like a) carrot-flute — such have become the new yogis. What good was the paṭhana — they preserved the ahantā. Little jñāna — and in (their) body, the stiffness of abhimāna. (He is) a rogue — striking, smash his mouth. The diagnostic: (1) check whether paṭhana-or-sādhana is eradicating ahantā or preserving it; (2) the stiffness-of-pride (tāṭhā-abhimāna) is the symptom-sign of fake-renunciate; (3) the gājarāñcī-pungī image — looks-like-the-real-thing but produces-no-sound. Tukārām's-direct-attack-language (laṇḍa, hāṇōnī phōḍā tōṇḍa) shows that this is not gentle critique but social-protest.
Where this applies
- The canonical gājarāñcī-pungī anti-fake-yogi polemic
- Opening of the 4-abhang anti-fake-renunciate cluster (2844-2847)
- Recognizing paṭhana-without-self-eradication preserves ahantā
- The tāṭhā-of-abhimāna — stiffness-of-pride as fake-renunciate diagnostic