संत साहित्य · Tukārām · Abhanga 3386 of 4582

Abhanga 3386

There are doors where intellect is uninvited. The house of bhakti does not need brahma-jñāna's calling card. Effort by itself is not the price of entry.

Tukārām's brahma-jñāna-pleads-at-bhakta's-door, overlooked; bhakti-supremacy canonical

The verse

ब्रम्हज्ञान दारीं येतें काकुलती । अव्हेरिलें संतीं विष्णुदासीं ॥१॥ रिघों पाहे माजी बळें त्याचें घर । दवडिती दूर म्हणोनियां ॥२॥ तुका म्हणे येथें न चाले सायास । पडिले उदास त्याच्या गळां ॥३॥

Literal translation

Brahma-jñāna dārīm yete kākulatī — avhērile samtīm Viṣṇu-dāsīm — brahma-jñāna comes to the door pleading — the Viṣṇu-dāsa samts overlook (refuse) it. Righōm pāhe mājī baḷe tyāche ghara — davaḍitī dūra mhaṇoniyām — it tries to force into his house — they drive it far. Tukā mhaṇe yethē na chāle sāyāsa — paḍile udāsa tyāchyā gaḷām — Tukā says: here effort doesn't work — it has fallen udāsa at his throat.

What it means

A 3-verse polemical inversion: brahma-jñāna comes pleading; the Viṣṇu-dāsa-samts ignore it. The image: jñāna forcing its way into the house and being driven far. Final line: here effort does not work. The bhakti-claim: jñāna's sāyāsa (laborious-effort) is alien to a house where bhakti already rules. Compare 2934 (Vedānta-carries-water).

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