Abhanga 2845
The verse
परद्रव्य परनारी । अभिळासूनि नाक धरी ॥१॥
जळो तयाचा आचार । व्यर्थ भार वाहे खर ॥ध्रु.॥
सोहोर्याची स्थिती । क्रोधें विटाळला चित्ती ॥२॥
तुका म्हणे सोंग । दावी बाहेरील रंग ॥३॥
Literal translation
Para-dravya para-nārī — (after coveting) para-dravya (others' wealth), para-nārī (others' woman); abhiḷāsūnī nāka dharī — (having) coveted (with abhiḷāṣa), (he) holds his nāka (nose, i.e., makes-a-show-of-purity by-pinching-his-nose-against-pollution). Jaḷō tayāñcā āchāra — burn his āchāra (formal-conduct, ritual-purity-pretensions); vyartha bhāra vāhe khara — vainly (does) the khara (donkey) bear (the load). Sōhōryāñcī sthitī — (his is) the state of a sōhōryā (sō-hō utterer; a Sō'ham-meditator, a yogi-grade); krōdhē viṭāḷalā chittī — (but his) chitta is viṭāḷalā (defiled, polluted) by krōdha (anger). Tukā says: sōnga — (he is a) sōnga (disguise, costume); dāvī bāherila ranga — (it) shows only the bāherila ranga (outer color).
What it means
The 2nd-verse of the 4-abhang anti-fake-renunciate cluster (2844-2847). Targets the hypocrite-purity-pretender.
Para-dravya para-nārī — abhiḷāsūnī nāka dharī — (having coveted) others' wealth, others' woman — (he) holds his nose. The image: the man inwardly covets para-dravya and para-nārī, yet outwardly holds-his-nose-in-disgust-at-impurity. The nose-holding is a brahminical-purity-gesture of avoiding-pollution-by-smell-of-impure-thing. Tukārām calls-out the hypocrisy: the man pretends-fastidious-purity outwardly while coveting-others'-wealth-and-women inwardly.
Jaḷō tayāñcā āchāra — vyartha bhāra vāhe khara — burn his āchāra — vainly the donkey bears the load. The āchāra (formal-purity-conduct) is worth-burning. The khara (donkey) vainly-bears-the-load — the donkey carries-much-weight without-benefit-to-itself; so does the hypocrite-purity-pretender carry āchāra-rules without-spiritual-benefit. (The khara-image is a classic-Sanskrit insult for someone-who-bears-a-load-without-understanding-it.)
Sōhōryāñcī sthitī — krōdhē viṭāḷalā chittī — (in) sōhōryā state, (but) chitta defiled by krōdha. Sōhōryā — a sō-hō meditator, one-who-claims-the-advaita Sō'ham realization. But-his-chitta is viṭāḷalā by krōdha — defiled-by-anger. The advaita-claim plus anger-defilement is the diagnostic.
The close: Tukā mhaṇe sōnga — dāvī bāherila ranga — Tukā: (he is a) sōnga (disguise) — (which) shows only the outside color. The sōnga (costume, disguise) shows-only-outer-color; the inside is corrupt.
For someone today
A canonical anti-hypocrite-purity polemic. (After coveting) others' wealth, others' woman — (he) holds his nose. Burn his āchāra — vainly the donkey bears the load. (In) sō'ham-yogi state, (but) chitta defiled by krōdha. (He is) a costume — shows only the outside color. Three diagnostics: (1) nose-holding-purity-gesture-while-inwardly-coveting is the classic-hypocrite signature; (2) ritual-conduct-without-inner-purity is a donkey-load — worthless-burden; (3) sō'ham-meditator who-shows-krōdha is a fake-advaitin. The closing-claim: sōnga shows only the bāherila ranga (outer color) — the inside is the same-corruption. Note: this is Tukārām applying the anubhava-not-words criterion (2833) to renunciate-claims — if the realization-claim is contradicted by visible-krōdha, the claim is fake.
Where this applies
- The canonical anti-hypocrite-purity polemic
- 2nd verse of the 4-abhang anti-fake-renunciate cluster (2844-2847)
- Recognizing nose-holding for show-of-purity while-inwardly-coveting
- The donkey-vainly-bears-the-load image for āchāra-without-inner-purity
- Sō'ham-meditator-with-krōdha — fake-advaitin diagnostic