Abhanga 3182
Reject performative service. Don't pursue rituals you don't believe in just because the "pure" class endorses them — chintana alone is enough. Service unrooted in love is mere stiffness.
The verse
असा जी सोंवळें । आहां तैसे चि निराळे ॥१॥
आम्हीं नयों तुमच्या वाटा । काय लटिका चि ताठा ॥ध्रु.॥
चिंतन चि पुरे । काय सलगी सवें धुरे ॥२॥
तुका म्हणे देवा । नका नावडे ते सेवा ॥३॥
Literal translation
Asā jī sōmvaḷē — āhām taisē chi nirāḷē — (you who) are sōmvaḷē — stay separate exactly as you are. Āmhīm nayōm tumchyā vāṭā — kāya laṭikā chi tāṭhā — we do not come to your paths — what is this empty stiffness. Chintana chi purē — kāya salagī savēm dhurē — chintana alone is enough — what salagī (familiarity) ahead. Tukā mhaṇe Devā — nakā nāvaḍē tē sēvā — Tukā says: O Deva — do not (let me) — the sēvā that is not liked.
What it means
A 4-verse polemic against the sōmvaḷē (ritually-pure) class that holds itself apart by external purity rules. Tukārām's response is sharp: you stay separate — we won't even come to your paths. Chintana (inward meditation on the Name) is itself complete — no need for the salagī (over-familiarity) of ritual-claimed closeness. The signature line: do not (let me do) the sēvā that is unloved — service-without-bhāva is not service.
For someone today
Reject performative service. Don't pursue rituals you don't believe in just because the "pure" class endorses them — chintana alone is enough. Service unrooted in love is mere stiffness.
Where this applies
- Tukārām's we-don't-walk-ritualists'-paths; chintana-alone-suffices canonical
- Companion to 2755 (śūdra-vamśī declaration) and 2817 (bhāva-chi-kāraṇa)