Abhanga 3183
The ego is the real untouchable — not other humans. When you refuse to touch the I-claim, you become the lamp of your own line. Ahamkāra is the inner murderer that won't allow truth near.
The verse
अहंकार तो नासा भेद । जगीं निंदे ओंवळा ॥१॥
नातळे तो धन्य यासी । जाला वंषीं दीपक ॥ध्रु.॥
करवितो आत्महत्या । नेदी सत्या आतळों ॥२॥
तुका म्हणे गुरुगुरी । माथां थोरी धरोनि ॥३॥
Literal translation
Ahamkāra tō nāsā bhēda — jagīm nimdē ōmvaḷā — ahamkāra is the nāsa-bheda — the world reviles (it as) ōmvaḷā. Nātaḷē tō dhanya yāsī — jālā vamṣīm dīpaka — (he who) does not touch it — is dhanya — has become the dīpaka of (his) vamśa. Karavitō ātma-hatyā — nēdī satyā ātaḷōm — (it) causes ātma-hatyā — does not let satya be touched. Tukā mhaṇe gurugurī — māthām thōrī dharōnī — Tukā says: (it) gurguri-s — holding (its) greatness on (its) head.
What it means
A 4-verse anti-ahamkāra text. Ahamkāra — the I-doer-claim — is named ōmvaḷā (the strong ritual word for impure, untouchable). The reversal: the one who does not touch ahamkāra becomes a lamp of his lineage. The most striking line: ahamkāra causes ātma-hatyā (self-killing) — it kills the deeper self by refusing to let satya (truth) come close. It growls gurguri (the sound of a low growl) and walks with imagined "greatness" on its head.
For someone today
The ego is the real untouchable — not other humans. When you refuse to touch the I-claim, you become the lamp of your own line. Ahamkāra is the inner murderer that won't allow truth near.
Where this applies
- Tukārām's ahamkāra = ātma-hatyā; non-touch = vamśa-lamp canonical
- 17th-c bhakti reversal of ōmvaḷā (the purity-impurity word) onto ego