Abhanga 3729
Endless craving only wears you down, and chasing hollow surface appeal instead of real substance ends up breaking your heart.
The verse
कइंचें कारण । तृष्णा वाढविते सीण ॥१॥
काय करूनि ऐसा संग । सोसें चि तूं पांडुरंग ॥ध्रु.॥
रूपीं नाहीं गोडी । हांवे हांवे उर फोडी ॥२॥
तुका न पडे भरी । ऐशा वरदळाचे थोरी ॥३॥
Literal translation
What-cause — trṣṇā-grows-fatigue. What-to-do-with-such-sanga — bear-yourself-Pāṇḍuranga. No-gōḍī-in-rūpa — repeated-hāmvē-breaks-chest. Tukā: doesn't-fall-into-bharī-of-varadaḷa-thōra.
What it means
A 3-verse anti-surface text. What's the cause? — craving grows fatigue; what can be done with such company? — bear it yourself; no taste in the form, repeated desire breaks the chest; Tukā doesn't fall into the count of such surface-grandeur.
For someone today
Tukaram asks what is really behind all this, and answers that craving itself is what keeps wearing a person down. He turns to Pandurang and admits that dealing with this kind of company, this endless pull of desire, is something one simply has to bear on their own. When there is no real sweetness in mere outward appearance, chasing after it again and again only ends up breaking the heart. Tukaram says he refuses to be impressed or fooled by that kind of hollow, surface grandeur.
मराठी: तुकाराम विचारतात की खरे कारण काय आहे, आणि उत्तर देतात की तृष्णाच माणसाला सतत झिजवत ठेवते. ते पांडुरंगाला सांगतात की अशा संगतीचा, या सततच्या इच्छेच्या ओढीचा सामना स्वतःलाच करावा लागतो. जेव्हा नुसत्या बाह्यरूपात खरी गोडी नसते, तेव्हा तिच्यामागे वारंवार धावल्याने शेवटी काळीज फुटते. तुकाराम म्हणतात की अशा पोकळ, वरवरच्या मोठेपणाला ते भुलणार नाहीत.
Where this applies
- Tukārām's trṣṇā-grows-fatigue; varadaḷa-thōra canonical