Abhanga 3187
Dharma isn't what the crowd approves. It is compassion to all beings + truth. Don't take this on Tukārām's word alone — every sant testifies, and your own anubhava will rise to confirm it.
The verse
जग अमंगळ । लागे देखतां विटाळ ॥१॥
धर्म भूतांची ते दया । सत्य कारण ऐसीया ॥ध्रु.॥
नव्हे माझें मत । साक्षी करूनि सांगें संत ॥२॥
तुका म्हणे जीवें । दावी उमटूनि अनुभवें ॥३॥
Literal translation
Jaga amangaḷa — lāgē dēkhatām viṭāḷa — the world is amangaḷa — seeing (it) brings viṭāḷa. Dharma bhūtāñchī tē dayā — satya kāraṇa aisīyā — dharma is dayā for bhūtas — satya is the cause for such. Navhē mājhēm mata — sākṣī karūnī sāngēm santa — (this is) not my opinion — I take sants as sākṣī and say. Tukā mhaṇe jīvēm — dāvī umaṭūnī anubhavēm — Tukā says: with jīva — I show (this) rising-up by anubhava.
What it means
A 4-verse operational-definition of dharma. Three structural moves: (1) the conventional jaga (worldly society) is itself amangaḷa (inauspicious) and induces viṭāḷa by mere sight — so worldly approval cannot define dharma; (2) the real dharma is bhūta-dayā + satya; (3) authority for this is twofold — sants-as-witness (paramparā) and anubhava (one's own rising-experience). Note the inversion of the standard ritual-language: viṭāḷa is now the world itself, not contact with the impure.
For someone today
Dharma isn't what the crowd approves. It is compassion to all beings + truth. Don't take this on Tukārām's word alone — every sant testifies, and your own anubhava will rise to confirm it.
Where this applies
- Tukārām's dharma = bhūta-dayā + satya; sant-anubhava-double-warrant canonical
- Companion to 2657 (yoga-vs-bhakti: bhakti = bowing to jīva-jantu-bhūta)