Abhanga 2958
No outer setting, whether a saint's company, a holy city, or scripture itself, can help someone whose inner state remains fixed on sense pleasure and wrongdoing.
The verse
ज्यासी विषयाचें ध्यान । त्यासी कैंचा नारायण ॥१॥
साधु कैंचा पापीयासी । काय चांडाळासी काशी ॥ध्रु.॥
काय पतितासी पिता । काय अधमासी गीता ॥२॥
तुका म्हणे निरंजनी । शट कैंचा ब्रम्हज्ञानी ॥३॥
Literal translation
Jyāsī viṣayāñce dhyāna — (for one) whosedhyānais onviṣaya(sense-objects); tyāsī kaiñcā Nārāyaṇa — for him, where (is) Nārāyaṇa? Sādhu kaiñcā pāpīyāsī — where (is the)sādhufor apāpī?; kāya chāṇḍāḷāsī Kāśī — what (is) Kāśī for achāṇḍāḷa? Kāya patitāsī pitā — what (is the)pitāfor apatita; kāya adhamāsī Gītā — what (is the)Gītāfor anadhama? Tukā says: niranjanī — in theniranjana(pure-realm); śaṭa kaiñcā brahma-jñānī — what (is the place for) aśaṭa(deceiver, fraud) (calling himself)brahma-jñānī?
What it means
A short impossibility-list discrimination verse. The structure: five-fold-list of mismatched-pairings — each item-and-its-supposed-context cannot-coexist when-the-inner-state is-wrong.
Verse 1: Jyāsī viṣayāñce dhyāna — tyāsī kaiñcā Nārāyaṇa — whose dhyāna on viṣaya — for him, where Nārāyaṇa? The opening-rule.
Verses 2-3 (the list): - sādhu and pāpī — the wicked-one cannot-meet-the-saint - Kāśī and chāṇḍāḷa — pilgrimage doesn't-help-the-degraded - pitā and patita — even-the-father is-lost-on-the-fallen - Gītā and adhama — scripture is-lost-on-the-base-conduct
The close: Tukā mhaṇe niranjanī — śaṭa kaiñcā brahma-jñānī — in the niranjana, where the śaṭa (fraud) (calling himself) brahma-jñānī. The pure-realm has no-place-for the fake-brahma-jñānī.
For someone today
If your mind is fixed on sense pleasures, Tukaram asks, how can Narayana truly be present for you? A wicked person doesn't really benefit from a saint's company, just as visiting a holy city like Kashi does nothing for someone stuck in degraded ways. Even a loving father can't reach a child who has fallen, and even the Gita means little to someone living a base and careless life. No outer setting can fix a wrong inner state — so, Tukaram says, in the pure realm there is no place for a fraud who merely calls himself enlightened.
मराठी: तुकाराम विचारतात, जर तुझे मन विषयसुखांतच रमलेले असेल, तर तुझ्यासाठी नारायण खरोखर कुठे आहे? दुष्ट माणसाला संताच्या सहवासाचा खरा फायदा होत नाही, तसेच अधोगत माणसासाठी काशीसारखे तीर्थही निरुपयोगी ठरते. पडलेल्या मुलापर्यंत प्रेमळ पित्यालाही पोहोचता येत नाही, आणि हलक्या, बेजबाबदार आयुष्य जगणाऱ्यासाठी गीताही फारसा अर्थ राखत नाही. चुकीची अंतःस्थिती कोणतीही बाह्य गोष्ट सुधारू शकत नाही — म्हणून तुकाराम म्हणतात, त्या शुद्ध क्षेत्रात स्वतःला ज्ञानी म्हणवणाऱ्या ढोंगी माणसाला कोणतेही स्थान नाही.
Where this applies
- When you assume visiting a holy place will erase harm you keep doing at home
- When you expect reading scripture alone to change conduct you have never examined
- When you keep chasing sense pleasures while telling yourself you are seeking God
- When you meet someone who claims to be spiritually enlightened but behaves like a fraud