Abhanga 3159
Devotion that skips real service to others becomes a burden on God alone, while truth is tested by direct experience, not by performance.
The verse
अवघा भार वाटे देवा । संतसेवा न घडतां ॥१॥
कसोटी हे असे हातीं । सत्य भूतीं भगवंत ॥ध्रु.॥
चुकलोंसा दिसें पंथ । गेले संत तो ऐसा ॥२॥
तुका म्हणे सोंग वांयां । कारण या अनुभवें ॥३॥
Literal translation
Avaghā bhāra vāṭe Devā — all bhāra felt on Deva; sant-sevā na ghaḍatām — when sant-sevā doesn't happen. Kasōṭī he ase hātīm — touchstone is in hand; satya bhūtīm Bhagavanta — truth in every-being (is) Bhagavanta. Chukalōmsā disē panta — I feel I missed the path; gele sant tō aisā — the sants went that-way. Tukā mhaṇe sōnga vāmyā — Tukā says: sōnga is vain; kāraṇa yā anubhave — the kāraṇa is by anubhava.
What it means
Sant-sevā is the touchstone; without it, the Lord-becomes-burdened-(over-me). Truth-is-in-every-being-as-Bhagavanta. Anubhava (direct-experience) is the cause; sōnga (performance) is vain.
For someone today
Tukaram says that when devotion is not lived out through actual service to the sants, the whole weight of the relationship falls back onto God, as though God alone had to carry it. The real test is already in your own hands: the truth is that the divine lives in every being you meet. He admits he sometimes feels he has lost the path the sants walked, and confesses that outward show, or acting the part, is worthless. What matters is direct experience, not performance.
मराठी: तुकाराम म्हणतात की संतसेवा प्रत्यक्षात घडली नाही, तर भक्तीचे सगळे ओझे देवावरच पडते, जणू देवालाच ते एकट्याने पेलावे लागते. खरी कसोटी आधीच आपल्या हातात आहे: सत्य हे आहे की प्रत्येक जीवात भगवंत वसतो. संतांनी चाललेली वाट आपण चुकल्यासारखे कधी कधी वाटते, हे तुकाराम कबूल करतात, आणि सांगतात की केवळ सोंग किंवा दिखावा निरर्थक आहे. खरा अनुभवच महत्त्वाचा आहे, नुसती कृती नव्हे.
Where this applies
- When you go through religious motions without actually serving the people around you
- When you feel like you have drifted from the path that wiser or holier people walked
- When you are tempted to perform devotion for show instead of living it
- When you wonder how to recognize truth and realize it is present in every person you meet