संत साहित्य · Tukārām · Abhanga 3663 of 4582

Abhanga 3663

Genuine worth eventually proves itself and spreads on its own, while pretense falters, and the truest measure of anything is honest reflection, not status or formality.

When you wonder whether your genuine effort will eventually be recognized without forcing it.

When you notice someone's pretense or false front beginning to fail.

When someone expects automatic respect from their position rather than earning it through real substance.

The verse

सत्या माप वाढे । गबाळाची चाली खोडे ॥१॥ उतरे तें कळें कसी । विखरोणें सर्वदेशीं ॥ध्रु.॥ घरामध्ये राजा । नव्हे हो वा पाटपूजा ॥२॥ तुका म्हणे साचें । रूप तें दर्पणाचें ॥३॥

Literal translation

Satya's-māpa-grows — gabāḷa-gait-fails. Passes-assay — spreads-all-over. King-in-house — not-pāṭa-pūjā. Tukā: sāchē — rūpa-tē-darpaṇāchē.

What it means

A 3-verse text. Truth's measure grows; the commoner's gait falters; what passes the assay spreads all over; the king in his house is not worth formal-honor; the true form is that of a mirror. The closing rūpa tē darpaṇāchē (the form is the mirror's) is a striking sūtra: the real is not what stands but what reflects.

For someone today

Tukārām: the-real-form is-the-mirror's.

Where this applies

Tukārām's sāchē-rūpa-darpaṇāchē canonical
Companion to 3482 (kasī-agi fire-test)

Autobiographical