Abhanga 3029
Skillful words used only to win admiration for yourself achieve nothing real, and are hollow unless God is genuinely present in the work.
The verse
एकाचिये सोईं कवित्वाचे बांधे । बांधिलिया साध्य काय तेथें ॥१॥
काय हातीं लागे भुसाचे कांडणीं । सत्यासी दाटणी करुनि काय ॥ध्रु.॥
कवित्वाचे रूढी पायां पाडी जग । सुखावोनि मग नरका जाय ॥२॥
तुका म्हणे देव केल्याविण साहे । फजिती आहे लटिक्या अंगीं ॥३॥
Literal translation
Ekāñciye sōīm kavitvāñce bāmdhe — for one's-own-purpose bindingkavitva; bāmdhiliyā sādhya kāya tethe — what sādhya is achieved by such binding. Kāya hātīm lāge bhusāñce kāṇḍaṇīm — what comes-in-hand frombhusa-kāṇḍaṇī(beating-the-husk); satyāsī dāṭaṇī karunī kāya — doingdāṭaṇī(crushing) on the truth — what (is achieved). Kavitvāñce rūḍhī pāyām pāḍī jaga — kavitva's rūḍhimakes the world fall at (its) feet; sukhāvōnī maga narakā jāya — (the poet) becomes happy with that — then goes tonaraka. Tukā mhaṇe Deva kelyāviṇa sāhe — Tukā says: without makingDevaasāha(companion); phajitī āhe laṭikyā angīm — phajitī(shame) is in the body of thelaṭikā.
What it means
A striking 3-verse self-reflexive anti-poetic-rhetoric verse by Tukārām.
The master-poet himself critiques kavitva-rūḍhi (poetic-fashion). The argument: 1. Kavitva bound-for-one's-own-purpose achieves no sādhya 2. It's like beating-the-husk (where the grain has-already-left) — no result 3. It's crushing-the-truth under poetic-convention 4. The poetic-fashion makes-the-world-fall-at-the-poet's-feet 5. The poet becomes-happy-with-that and then-goes-to-naraka 6. Without-making-Deva-a-companion, shame-is-in-the-false-one's-body
This is a self-reflexive-warning from-the-master-poet about-the-corruptions-of-his-own-craft. Compare-the-2962-anti-fake-guru polemic and-the-2865-laṭika-laṭika-māyā recognition. Tukārām is-acutely-aware that-poetic-skill can-be-used-for-self-aggrandizement and-that-this-leads-to-naraka.
The closing-line is the test: Deva-must-be-the-companion (sāha); otherwise the-poet's body-itself is-shamed. This is the bhakti-criterion for-authentic-poetry — not technique, not fame, but Deva-saha (with-Deva).
For someone today
Tukārām turns his critical eye on his own craft here. He asks what's really achieved when poetry is shaped only to serve the poet's own ends — it's like beating already-empty husks, getting nothing for the effort, or crushing the truth just to make it fit a clever form. When poetic fashion makes the world fall at your feet, and you take pleasure in that praise, he warns, it actually leads you toward ruin. Real substance comes only when God is genuinely present as a companion in the work — without that, however impressive it looks, it's shameful and false at its core. It's a master poet's honest warning about the corruptions his own craft is prone to: skillful words used only to win admiration for yourself achieve nothing real, and are hollow unless God is genuinely present in the work.
मराठी: तुकाराम येथे स्वतःच्याच कवित्वावर टीकात्मक नजर टाकतात. केवळ स्वतःच्या स्वार्थासाठी बांधलेल्या कवितेतून खरोखर काय साध्य होते, असा ते प्रश्न विचारतात — ते जणू आधीच रिकाम्या भुशाला झोडपण्यासारखे आहे, त्यातून हाती काहीच लागत नाही, किंवा सत्याला केवळ चतुर रूप देण्यासाठी दाबून बसवण्यासारखे आहे. काव्यरचनेची रूढी जगाला आपल्या पायाशी आणते, आणि त्या स्तुतीत सुखावून कवी शेवटी नरकाकडे वाटचाल करतो, असा ते इशारा देतात. खऱ्या अर्थाने काही साध्य होते ते फक्त तेव्हाच, जेव्हा त्या रचनेत परमेश्वर खरोखर सोबती म्हणून असतो — तसे नसेल तर रचना कितीही प्रभावी दिसली तरी ती आतून खोटी आणि लज्जास्पद असते. आपल्याच कलेत लपलेल्या भ्रष्टतेबद्दल एका श्रेष्ठ कवीचा हा प्रामाणिक इशारा आहे — केवळ स्वतःच्या कौतुकासाठी वापरलेले चतुर शब्द खरे काहीच साधत नाहीत, आणि त्यात परमेश्वर खरोखर नसेल तर ती पोकळच असतात, हेच हा अभंग सांगतो.
Where this applies
- When you create something skillful and notice you are more interested in praise than truth
- When you feel proud that people admire your talent, and want to check what that admiration is doing to you
- When you are tempted to bend the truth to make your work sound cleverer
- When you want to know whether your work, however impressive, actually connects to something real