Abhanga 3182
Service done without real love in the heart is not service at all, so do not chase rituals or closeness you do not truly feel.
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)