Abhanga 3445
A person without real sincerity stays half-committed, takes up practice only to abandon it repeatedly, and never develops any true depth.
The verse
लांब धांवे पाय चोरी । भरोवरी जनाच्या ॥१॥
आतां कैसें होय याचें । सिजतां काचें राहिलें ॥ध्रु.॥
खाय ओकी वेळोवेळां । कैसी कळा राहेल ॥२॥
तुका म्हणे भावहीण । त्याचा सीण पाचावा ॥३॥
Literal translation
Lāmba dhāve pāya chōrī — runs far, hides-feet; bharōvarī janāñcyā — according-to-the-bharōvarī of people. Ātām kaise hōya yāñce — now how will this go; sijatām kāche rāhile — being-half-cooked, it remained. Khāya ōkī veḷō-veḷām — eats, vomits time-and-again; kaise kaḷā rāhela — what kaḷā will remain. Tukā mhaṇe bhāvahīṇa — Tukā says: bhāva-hīna; tyāñcā sīṇa pāchāvā — his sīṇa is to be called-out.
What it means
A short 3-verse striking-pejorative by Tukārām.
The portrait of-the-bhāva-hīna: 1. Runs-far, hides-feet — according-to-show-of-people (= performs externally) 2. Half-cooked (sijatām-kāche) remained (= incomplete-as-bhakta) 3. Eats-and-vomits time-and-again (= unable-to-digest-bhakti; spits-it-out) 4. No-kaḷā (refinement) will-remain
Closing: bhāva-hīna's sīṇa (fatigue, failure) is-to-be-called-out.
The 17th-c image is striking — half-cooked food, eating-and-vomiting — a vivid-pejorative for-the-failed-bhakta.
For someone today
Tukārām's bhāva-hīna pejorative. (He) runs far, hiding his feet — putting on a show for other people. Now, how will this go? — being half-cooked — it has remained. He eats and vomits — time and again — what state will remain? The bhāva-hīna — his fatigue is to be called out. The verse offers the bhakti diagnosis: bhāva-hīna is half-cooked, eats-and-vomits, and never settles into anything lasting.
मराठी: तुकारामांचा हा अभंग भावहीन माणसाचे वर्णन करतो — जो लोकांना दाखवण्यासाठी नुसता आव आणतो, आतून मात्र रिकामा असतो. त्याची भक्ती अर्धवट शिजलेल्या अन्नासारखी असते — ना नीट पचते, ना टिकते; तो वारंवार सुरुवात करतो आणि सोडून देतो. तुकाराम म्हणतात, अशा भावहीन माणसाचा शीण उघड करावा — ही स्थिती कधीच स्थिर होत नाही.
Where this applies
- When you notice someone performing sincerity for an audience while their heart stays elsewhere
- When you keep starting a spiritual or personal practice and abandoning it before it takes root
- When you feel exhausted from effort that never actually deepened into anything real
- When you want language for calling out insincerity instead of politely overlooking it