Abhanga 3610
Real shame belongs where your actual behavior is dishonest, not merely in how devoutly you appear before others or children.
The verse
संसाराचें धांवे वेठी । आवडी पोटीं केवढी ॥१॥
हागों जातां दगड सांची । अंतरीं ही संकल्प ॥ध्रु.॥
लाज तेवढी नारायणीं। वांकडी वाणी पोरांपें ॥२॥
तुका म्हणे बेशरमा । श्रमावरी पडिभरू ॥३॥
Literal translation
Run-for-samsāra-vēṭha — what-āvaḍī-in-pōṭa. Even-going-to-shit-save-stones — sankalpa-in-antara. Lāja-only-at-Nārāyaṇa — warped-speech-before-children. Tukā: shameless — heaping-on-śrama.
What it means
A sharp 3-verse anti-hypocrite text. The image: people are so calculating-about-the-world that even when defecating, they save-up cleaning-stones with planning in their inner-mind; yet only at Nārāyaṇa do they feel shame; and they distort their speech when children are around. One of the corpus's rawest social-images.
For someone today
Tukārām points out how relentlessly people chase after worldly gain, look at how much longing for it fills their belly. He gives a raw, almost absurd example: people calculate and plan even in the smallest, most trivial matters, saving up little conveniences ahead of time, always scheming inside. Yet the one place they actually feel shy or embarrassed is around Nārāyaṇa, and they even twist their words carefully when children are listening nearby, worrying about appearances there but nowhere else. He calls this out plainly, people without real shame just keep piling more effort into their endless calculating instead of examining themselves.
मराठी: तुकाराम दाखवून देतात की लोक संसारिक लाभासाठी किती अथकपणे धावतात, बघा त्यांच्या पोटात किती हाव भरलेली असते. ते एक कच्चं, जवळजवळ विचित्र उदाहरण देतात, अगदी क्षुल्लक गोष्टींतही लोक हिशोब करतात, आधीच छोट्या सोयी साठवून ठेवतात, मनात सतत योजना आखत असतात. पण जिथे त्यांना खरोखर लाज, संकोच वाटतो ते फक्त नारायणासमोर, आणि मुलं जवळ असली की ते आपले शब्दही जपून वापरतात, तिथे तेवढी काळजी घेतात, इतरत्र मात्र नाही. ते हे स्पष्टपणे सांगतात, खरी लाज नसलेले लोक स्वतःकडे बघण्याऐवजी आपल्या याच अंतहीन हिशोबीपणात आणखी मेहनत ओतत राहतात.
Where this applies
- When you notice yourself calculating and planning even in the most trivial, everyday matters
- When you feel more self-conscious about religious appearances than about your actual behavior
- When you soften or twist your words in front of children while acting differently elsewhere
- When relentless worldly ambition leaves little room to examine your own hypocrisy