Abhanga 3060
Endless toil that never tastes its own reward is like a bull carrying sugar but eating only husk; real sweetness comes only from genuine inner gain, not from the labor itself.
The verse
साकरेच्या गोण्या बैलाचिये पाठी । तयासी सेवटीं करबाडें ॥१॥
मालाचे पैं पेटे वाहाताती उंटें । तयालागीं कांटे भक्षावया ॥ध्रु.॥
वाउगा हा धंदा आशा वाढविती । बांधोनियां देती यमा हातीं ॥२॥
ज्यासी असे लाभ तो चि जाणे गोडी । येर तीं बापुडीं सिणलीं वांयां ॥३॥
तुका म्हणे शहाणा होई रे गव्हारा । चोर्यासीचा फेरा फिरों नको ॥४॥
Literal translation
Sākareñcyā gōṇyā baiḷāñciye pāṭhī — sugar-sacks on the bull's back; tayāsī sevaṭīm karabāḍe — for it, at-end, karabāḍa (husk). Mālāñce paim peṭe vāhātātī umṭe — the boxes of māla are carried by camels; tayālāgīm kāṇṭe bhakṣāvayā — for them, thorns to-eat. Vāugā hā dhamdā āśā vāḍhavitī — this useless-business grows āśā; bāmdhōnīyām detī yamā hātīm — binds and gives (you) into yama's hand. Jyāsī ase lābha tō chi jāṇe gōḍī — one who has lābha — he alone knows the goḍī; yera tīm bāpuḍīm siṇalīm vāmyā — the others, bāpuḍī, toil in-vain. Tukā mhaṇe śahāṇā hōī re gavhārā — Tukā says: become wise, gavhārā; chōryāsīñcā pherā phirōm nakō — don't do the 84-(lakh-yoni)-cycle.
What it means
A striking 4-verse samsāra-toilers parable by Tukārām.
The 2 images: 1. Sugar-sacks-on-bull's-back; bull-eats-only-husk-at-the-end 2. Luxury-cargo-on-camels; camels-eat-thorns
Both images: the laborer-animal carries-valuable-goods but-receives-only-coarse-fodder. The application: the samsāra-toiler carries-the-Lord's-goods but-receives-only-yama-binding and-thorny-rewards.
The framing: useless-business grows-āśā; one-with-lābha (= bhakti-lābha) knows-the-goḍī; others-are-bāpuḍī (helpless) toiling-in-vain. Closing-call: become-wise, don't-cycle-the-84-lakh-yonis.
The chōryāśī (84-lakh) is the standard-Hindu-figure-for-the-number-of-life-forms — to be reborn-through-all-of-them is-the-cycle that-bhakti-stops.
For someone today
Tukaram paints two vivid pictures of thankless labor. A bull hauls sacks of sugar on its back all day, and at the end all it gets to eat is dry husk. A camel carries boxes of valuable goods across the desert, and all it gets to eat is thorns. That, Tukaram says, is what most people's busy lives look like: chasing endless desire, carrying immense effort, but never actually tasting the sweetness of what they are working for. Only the person who has real spiritual gain, real closeness to what matters, tastes anything sweet at all; everyone else wears themselves out for nothing. He ends by urging you to become wise and step off this cycle rather than going around it again and again.
मराठी: तुकाराम इथे थकवणाऱ्या कष्टांची दोन ठळक चित्रे रंगवतात. बैल दिवसभर पाठीवर साखरेची पोती वाहतो आणि शेवटी त्याला खायला फक्त कोंडा मिळतो. उंट वाळवंटातून मौल्यवान मालाची खोकी वाहतो आणि त्याला खायला काटे मिळतात. तुकाराम म्हणतात की बहुतेक माणसांचे धावपळीचे आयुष्य असेच असते, अंतहीन इच्छांच्या मागे लागून प्रचंड कष्ट उपसतात, पण ज्यासाठी झटतात त्याची गोडी मात्र त्यांना कधीच चाखायला मिळत नाही. ज्याला खरा लाभ मिळतो, ज्याची खरी जवळीक साधली आहे, त्यालाच खरी गोडी कळते, बाकीचे उगीच थकून जातात. शेवटी तुकाराम आग्रहाने सांगतात की शहाणा हो आणि हा फेरा पुन्हा पुन्हा फिरत राहू नकोस, त्यातून बाहेर पड.
Where this applies
- Tukārām's bull-and-camel for-samsāra-toilers parable
- Bull-eats-husk, camel-eats-thorns canonical-image
- 84-lakh-yoni-cycle — chōryāśī-pherā reference