संत साहित्य
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संत साहित्य · Tukārām · Abhanga 3173 of 4582

Abhanga 3173

Addictions are self-paid prisons. The person becomes a stranger to their own body — driven by chhanda, not choice. The signature is that pleasure is up-front and pariṇāma (after-result) is duḥkha — invert that test and most "wants" lose their grip.

Tukārām's addictive-craving = wooden-stocks-on-own-foot; duḥkha at-the-after-result canonical warning

The verse

आपुलें वेचूनि खोडा घाली पाव । ऐसे जया भाव हीनबुद्धि तो ॥१॥ विषयांच्या संगें आयुष्याचा नास । पडियेलें ओस स्वहितांचे ॥ध्रु.॥ भुलल्यांचें अंग आपण्या पारिखें । छंदा च सारिखें वर्ततसे ॥२॥ तुका म्हणे दुःख उमटे परिणामीं । लंपटासी कामीं रतलिया ॥३॥

Literal translation

Āpulem vēchūni khōḍā ghālī pāvaspending his own (he) puts (his) foot in the khōḍā; aise jayā bhāva hīnabuddhi tōsuch-(is)-bhāva — that one is hīna-buddhi. Viṣayāñchyā sangē āyuṣyāchā nāsaby viṣaya-sanga, the nāśa of āyuṣya; paḍiyēlēm ōsa svahitāñchethe (field) of sva-hita has fallen ōsa. Bhulalyāñchem anga āpaṇyā pārikhemthe deluded one's anga is alien to (his) own self; chhandā cha sārikhēm varttatasē(he) behaves exactly like (his) chhanda. Tukā mhaṇe duḥkha umaṭē pariṇāmīmTukā says: duḥkha rises in the after-result; lampaṭāsī kāmīm ratalīyāfor the lampaṭa, once rata in kāma.

What it means

A 4-verse anti-addiction warning. The image of khōḍā — wooden foot-stocks used for prisoners — is shocking: the lecher willingly spends his own money to clamp his own foot. The body itself becomes pārikhem (alien) — running on chhanda (habit-impulse) instead of will. The teaching: duḥkha umaṭē pariṇāmīm — pleasure-now, pain-later.

For someone today

Addictions are self-paid prisons. The person becomes a stranger to their own body — driven by chhanda, not choice. The signature is that pleasure is up-front and pariṇāma (after-result) is duḥkha — invert that test and most "wants" lose their grip.

Where this applies