Abhanga 2847
Abandoning real discipline for intoxication is not a higher path, and wherever intoxication becomes the whole practice, God cannot be found there.
The verse
ऐसे संत जाले कळीं । तोंडीं तमाखूची नळी ॥१॥
स्नानसंध्या बुडविली । पुढें भांग वोडवली ॥ध्रु.॥
भांगभुर्का हें साधन । पची पडे मद्यपान ॥२॥
तुका म्हणे अवघें सोंग । तेथें कैचा पांडुरंग ॥३॥
Literal translation
Aisē santa jāle kaḷī — suchsantahave become inKaḷī(Kali-yuga); tōṇḍī tamākhū-cī naḷī — (with) thenaḷī(pipe) oftamākhū(tobacco) in the mouth. Snāna-sandhyā buḍavilī — thesnāna-sandhyā(bathing-and-twilight-prayer) (they have) drowned; puḍhē bhānga vōḍavalī — ahead, thebhānga(cannabis-drink) (they have)vōḍavalī(placed forward, offered). Bhānga-bhurkā he sādhana — bhānga-bhurkā (cannabis-gulping) — this is (their) sādhana; pachī paḍe madya-pāna — following-after, falls (in succession)madya-pāna(alcohol-drinking). Tukā says: avaghē sōnga — all (this) issōnga(disguise); tēthē kaicā Pāṇḍuranga — where (is) Pāṇḍuranga (in) such (a one)?
What it means
The closing-verse of the 4-abhang anti-fake-renunciate cluster (2844-2847). The sharpest-specific-target: the tobacco-cannabis-alcohol-using pseudo-sants.
Aisē santa jāle kaḷī — tōṇḍī tamākhū-cī naḷī — such santa have become in Kali — tobacco-pipe in (their) mouth. The Kali-yuga-degenerated santa class has tobacco-pipes in their mouths. (Tobacco was introduced to India in the late 16th-early 17th century — during Tukārām's lifetime. This is direct social-observation from his time.)
Snāna-sandhyā buḍavilī — puḍhē bhānga vōḍavalī — the snāna-sandhyā (bathing-and-prayer) drowned; ahead, bhānga placed. The snāna-sandhyā — the basic-daily-purification-discipline — has been drowned (abandoned). In its-place, bhānga (cannabis-drink, traditional in some Śaiva/Tāntrika circles) is vōḍavalī (placed-forward as offering). The bhakti-discipline replaced-by-intoxicant-cult.
Bhānga-bhurkā he sādhana — pachī paḍe madya-pāna — bhānga-bhurkā (cannabis-gulping) this is the sādhana — following-after falls madya-pāna. The fake-sādhana progression: cannabis-then-alcohol. Once-intoxicants-are-the-sādhana, madya-pāna (alcohol) naturally-follows.
The close: Tukā mhaṇe avaghē sōnga — tēthē kaicā Pāṇḍuranga — all (this) is sōnga (disguise) — where (is) Pāṇḍuranga in such-a-one? The diagnostic-question: where-can Pāṇḍuranga (the bhakta's-Lord) be-found in someone whose sādhana is intoxication?
For someone today
Tukaram closes this cluster with his most concrete image yet: so-called saints of his own era walking around with a tobacco pipe in their mouth. They have dropped their basic daily discipline of bathing and prayer, and put cannabis in its place as if it were a spiritual offering. First cannabis becomes their practice, then alcohol follows close behind. Tukaram's question is direct and unanswerable: where exactly is God supposed to be found in a person whose entire practice has become intoxication? The lesson is simple, when you drop a real discipline for something that only numbs you, you haven't upgraded your spiritual life, you've abandoned it.
मराठी: या अभंगात तुकाराम सर्वात ठोस चित्र उभे करतात: त्यांच्या काळातले तथाकथित संत तोंडात तंबाखूची चिलीम धरून फिरत असत. त्यांनी रोजची स्नानसंध्येची साधी शिस्त सोडून दिली आणि त्याजागी भांग जणू काही अर्पण असल्यासारखी पुढे केली. आधी भांग हीच त्यांची साधना बनते, आणि मग त्यामागोमाग दारूही येते. तुकारामांचा प्रश्न थेट आणि निरुत्तर करणारा आहे: ज्याची संपूर्ण साधना नशा आहे, त्याच्यात पांडुरंग कुठे सापडणार? धडा साधा आहे, खरी शिस्त सोडून केवळ बधिर करणाऱ्या गोष्टीचा स्वीकार करणे म्हणजे साधना उंचावणे नव्हे, तर ती सोडून देणेच आहे.
Where this applies
- The canonical anti-intoxicant-pseudo-sant polemic
- Closing 4th verse of 4-abhang anti-fake-renunciate cluster (2844-2847)
- Recognizing tobacco-cannabis-as-sādhana hypocrite-signature
- Historical-evidence of 17th-c. corrupt-renunciate practices
- The closing diagnostic: Pāṇḍuranga is absent in intoxication-as-sādhana