Abhanga 3558
Spending lavishly on outward religious show while denying basic kindness to family, guests, and those in genuine need is a life exhausted by burden without ever grasping what truly matters.
The verse
दगडाच्या देवा बगाड नवस । बाईंल कथेस जाऊं नेदी ॥१॥
वेची धनरासी बांधलें स्मशान । दारीं वृंदावन द्वाड मानी ॥ध्रु.॥
चोरें नागविला न करी त्याची खंती । परी द्विजा हातीं नेदी रुका ॥२॥
करी पाहुणेर विव्हाया जावयासी । आल्या अतीतासी पाठमोरा ॥३॥
तुका म्हणे जळो धिग त्याचें जिणें । भार वाही सीण वर्म नेणे ॥४॥
Literal translation
Dagaḍāchyā devā bagāḍa navasa — vow-and-bagāḍa to the stone-deva; bāīla kathesa jāum nedī — wife doesn't let (him) go to kathā. Vechī dhanarāsī bāmdhale smaśāna — (he) spends treasure to build smaśāna; dārīm vrndāvana dvāḍa mānī — treats a vrndāvana at door as ill-omen. Chōre nāgavilā na karī tyāchī khamtī — robbed by thief, has no grief over it; parī dvijā hātīm nedī rukā — but won't give a rukā into a Brāhmaṇa's hand. Karī pāhuṇera vivhāyā jāvayāsī — hosts a marriage-party (of) son-in-law's coming; ālyā atītāsī pāṭhamōrā — turns back on the atithi who came. Tukā mhaṇe jaḷō dhiga tyāche jiṇe — Tukā says: burn, fie, his living; bhāra vāhī sīṇa varma neṇe — carries burden, śīṇa (fatigue), knows not the varma.
What it means
A 4-verse anti-hypocrite indictment. Worships-stone-deva-with-extreme-vows (bagāḍa); spends-on-smaśāna-and-marriage-feasts; but-blocks-wife-from-kathā, treats-vrndāvana-at-door-as-bad-omen, refuses-coin-to-Brāhmaṇa, turns-back-on-atithi — burden-carrier-without-varma. The contrast: outward-religious-and-social-spending vs. the inner-priorities-of-bhakti.
For someone today
A diagnostic checklist: where does your dhana-rāśī go vs. where does your kathā/atithi/saint time-and-resources go? Outer-vow-fulfillment is not bhakti; you can be bhāra-vāhī (load-bearing) and still know-no varma (essence).
Where this applies
- Tukārām's anti-hypocrite social-criticism: misplaced-spending indictment
- Companion to anti-fake-renunciate cluster (2844-2847) and anti-fake-guru (2962)