Abhanga 2948
If you truly honor the divine in everyone, exempt no single person from that respect, because even one exception can undo all the rest of your devotion.
The verse
देव अवघें प्रतिपादी । वंदी सकळां एक निंदी ॥१॥
तेथें अवघें गेलें वांयां । विष घास एके ठायां ॥ध्रु.॥
सर्वांग कुरवाळी । उपटी एकच रोमावळी ॥२॥
तुका म्हणे चत्ति । नाहीं जयाचें अंकित ॥३॥
Literal translation
Deva avaghe pratipādī — (he who) speaks-of (preaches) Deva everywhere; vandī sakaḷām eka nindī — bows-to all (but) criticizes one. Tethe avaghe gele vāmyām — there, all has gone invāmyām(vain); viṣa ghāsa eke ṭhāyām — (like)viṣa(poison) andghāsa(bread) in the same place. Sarvānga kuravāḷī — caressing the whole body; upaṭī ekacha rōma-vaḷī — (yet) plucking out onerōma-vaḷī(line of hair). Tukā says: chitti — (his) chitta; nāhī jayāñce ankita — is notankita(marked, branded) of whose-(Deva-it-claims-to-be).
What it means
A short vain-praise-vitiated-by-one-criticism warning verse. Deva avaghe pratipādī — vandī sakaḷām eka nindī — praises-Deva-everywhere — bows-to-all-(yet)-criticizes-one. The diagnostic-claim: if the bhakta praises-Deva-everywhere but criticizes-just-one-person, all the praise goes-vain.
Two-fold-illustration: 1. Viṣa ghāsa eke ṭhāyām — poison and bread in the same place — even-one-poisonous-grain ruins-the-whole-bread. 2. Sarvānga kuravāḷī — upaṭī ekacha rōma-vaḷī — caressing-the-whole-body but-plucking-one-hair-line — the-caress-doesn't-feel-loving-when-one-hair-line is-plucked-out.
The close: Tukā mhaṇe chitti — nāhī jayāñce ankita — (his) chitta is not marked-as-belonging-to-whose-(Deva-it-claims-to-be). The bhakta-who-criticizes-one is not-genuinely-the-Lord's; his chitta isn't really ankita (branded) for the Lord.
(Pairs with 2810 uñca-niñca-neṇe-Bhagavanta; bhāva-bhakta-dekhōnīyām — the Lord doesn't distinguish-among-bhaktas, so neither-should-the-bhakta.)
For someone today
Tukaram warns that someone who praises God everywhere and bows to everyone but still speaks harshly of even one person has undone all of that devotion. He compares it to poison mixed into bread: even a small amount ruins the whole loaf, or to caressing someone's entire body while plucking out a single strand of hair, the pain of that one act overshadows all the gentleness. His point is that if you truly see the divine in everyone, no one should be exempt from your kindness, so criticizing even one person shows the devotion wasn't complete to begin with.
मराठी: तुकाराम इशारा देतात की जो सगळीकडे देवाची स्तुती करतो आणि सगळ्यांना नमस्कार करतो, पण एकाच व्यक्तीबद्दल कठोर बोलतो, त्याने आपली सगळी भक्ती वाया घालवली आहे. ते याची तुलना भाकरीत मिसळलेल्या विषाशी करतात - थोडंसं विषही संपूर्ण भाकरी खराब करतं, किंवा संपूर्ण अंगावरून मायेने हात फिरवताना एकच केस उपटण्याशी करतात - त्या एका कृतीचं दुःख बाकीच्या सगळ्या मृदुतेवर मात करतं. मुद्दा हा की जर तुम्हाला खरोखर सगळ्यांमध्ये देव दिसत असेल, तर कोणालाही तुमच्या मायेतून वगळता येणार नाही, त्यामुळे एका व्यक्तीवरही टीका केली की भक्ती पूर्ण नव्हती हे उघड होतं.
Where this applies
- When you're generally kind and respectful but harbor real contempt for one particular person
- When you want to check whether your spiritual practice is genuinely consistent or has a blind spot
- When you're evaluating whether someone's public piety matches how they treat everyone privately