संत साहित्य
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संत साहित्य · Tukārām · Abhanga 3110 of 4582

Abhanga 3110

Tukaram argues it would shame the sacred texts if devotees who bear God's name still look poor and pitiful, since sincere devotion should not go unanswered.

When you've given your full devotion or effort and still feel poor or unrewarded for it.
When you notice a gap between what your tradition promised and what you're actually experiencing.
When you want to insist that sincere, immediate commitment deserves an equally real response.

The verse

लाजती पुराणें । वेदां येऊं पाहे उणें ॥१॥ आम्ही नामाचे धारक । किविलवाणीं दिसों रंक ॥ध्रु.॥ बोलिले ते संतीं । बोल वायांविण जाती ॥२॥ तुका म्हणे देवा । रोकडी हे मोडे सेवा ॥३॥

Literal translation

Lājatī purāṇe — the purāṇas would feel shame; vedām yeūm pāhe uṇe — the Vedas would come to deficiency. Āmhī nāmāñce dhāraka — we are the nāma-dhārakas; kivilavāṇīm disōm ranka — we look pitiful, poor. Bōlile te samtīm — the bōl spoken by sants; bōla vāyāmviṇa jātī — the words go in vain. Tukā mhaṇe Devā — Tukā says: Deva; rokaḍī he mōḍe sevā — the rokaḍī sevā breaks.

What it means

A short 3-verse protest by Tukārām, using-the-canonical if-bhakta-fails, sacred-texts-feel-shame argument.

The protest: Purāṇas-would-feel-lāja; Vedas-would-come-uṇe (deficient). We're Name-dhārakas-yet-look-poor. Sants'-words go-in-vain. Deva, the-rokaḍī (ready-cash, immediate) sevā breaks.

The rokaḍī metaphor is striking — cash-payment service. The bhakta-pays-immediate-Name-cash but-the-Lord-doesn't-deliver — the-service-relationship breaks.

Compare-3091 (Durvāsa's your-birudas-go-in-vain).

For someone today

Tukārām's protest that the sacred texts would feel shame. The purāṇas would feel shame; the Vedas would fall short. We who bear your Name still look pitiful, poor. The words spoken by the sants would go in vain. Deva, this immediate exchange of devotion breaks down. The verse allows this bhakti leverage: that the great sacred texts themselves feel shame when the devotee falls.

मराठी: तुकारामांचा हा निषेध आहे की पवित्र ग्रंथांनाही लाज वाटेल. पुराणे लाजतील; वेदही उणे ठरतील. आम्ही तुझ्या नामाचे धारक असूनही केविलवाणे, गरीब दिसतो. संतांनी सांगितलेले शब्द व्यर्थ जातील. देवा, ही तत्काळ देवाणघेवाणीची सेवा मोडते. हा अभंग हा भक्तिदबाव मान्य करतो: भक्त पडला की पवित्र ग्रंथांनाही लाज वाटते.

Where this applies