संत साहित्य · Tukārām · Abhanga 3322 of 4582

Abhanga 3322

Genuine inner transformation is permanent, like gold made by the philosopher's stone or a yam made edible by cooking, once truly changed, there is no going back.

When you doubt whether your own spiritual growth is real or will fade away.

When you see someone who has genuinely changed at the core and no longer resembles who they used to be.

When you want reassurance that lasting peace comes only from real inner change, not a surface fix.

The verse

परिसाचे अंगें सोनें जाला वळिा । वाकणें या कळा हीन नेव्हे ॥१॥ अंतरीं पालट घडला कारण । मग समाधान तें चि गोड ॥ध्रु.॥ पिकली सेंद पूर्वकर्मा नये । अव्हेरु तो काय घडे मग ॥२॥ तुका म्हणे आणा पंगती सुरण । पृथक ते गुण केले पाकें ॥३॥

Literal translation

By-pāris's-anga, gold becomes-vaḷavaḷā — this-kaḷā doesn't-become-hīna. Inner-pālaṭa is-the-kāraṇa; then samādhāna is-gōḍa. Ripened-doesn't-return-to-pūrva-karma — what-avhēra. Tukā: bring-suraṇa-to-pangati — by-pāka guṇa-set-apart.

What it means

Two-fold canonical image: (a) pāris-touched-gold doesn't-revert, (b) cooked-suraṇa (yam, which is itchy raw) becomes pure. The inner-change is the cause; once-ripened, no avhēra. Common Vārkarī image for irreversible-transformation.

For someone today

Tukaram uses two homely images to describe real spiritual transformation, touched by the philosopher's stone, metal becomes gold and never reverts, because the change happens at the core, not on the surface. He says lasting peace only tastes sweet when the change inside a person is that genuine. Once a fruit has fully ripened it does not go back to being raw, so there is nothing left to reject or doubt about it. He points to something as ordinary as a yam, raw it is inedible and irritating, but once cooked its whole quality changes and it becomes fit to be served to everyone. That, he says, is what real inner change does, it does not just improve you, it makes you into something different.

मराठी: तुकाराम दोन साध्या रोजच्या प्रतिमांतून खऱ्या अंतर्बदलाचं वर्णन करतात, परिसाच्या स्पर्शाने धातूचं सोनं होतं आणि ते पुन्हा पूर्वस्थितीत जात नाही, कारण तो बदल आतून घडलेला असतो, वरवरचा नसतो. खरी शांती तेव्हाच गोड लागते जेव्हा माणसाच्या आत असाच खरा बदल घडतो, असं ते म्हणतात. फळ एकदा पिकलं की ते पुन्हा कच्चं होत नाही, मग त्याला नाकारण्याचं काहीच कारण उरत नाही. ते सुरणासारखं साधं उदाहरण देतात, कच्चा सुरण खाण्यायोग्य नसतो, तो चावतो, पण शिजवल्यावर त्याचा गुणधर्मच बदलतो आणि तो पंगतीत वाढण्याजोगा होतो. खरा अंतर्बदल असाच असतो, तो फक्त सुधारणा नसते, तो माणसाला पूर्णपणे वेगळं बनवतो.

Where this applies

When you wonder whether a spiritual change in you is real or just temporary
When you are going through a slow, unglamorous transformation and want reassurance it will hold
When you compare someone before and after a real change and see they have become a genuinely different person
When you need a homely, everyday image, like cooking a yam, to explain how transformation makes something usable that was not before

Autobiographical