Abhanga 3761
Words alone prove nothing; only holding steady through a real test, without breaking your word, earns someone the name of being truly honest.
The verse
नाहीं सरों येत कोरडएा उत्तरीं । जिव्हाळ्याची बरी ओल ठायीं ॥१॥
आपुलिया हिता मानिसी कारण । सत्या नारायण साहे असो ॥ध्रु.॥
निर्वाणीं निवाड होतो आगीमुखें । तप्त लोह सुखें धरितां हातीं ॥२॥
तुका म्हणे नेम न टळतां बरें । खर्यासी चि खरें ऐसें नांव ॥३॥
Literal translation
Nāhīm sarom yeta kōraḍyā uttarīm — (one) cannot get by with dry words; jivhāḷyāchī barī ōla ṭhāyīm — the moisture of heart-warmth is good in (its) place. Āpuliyā hitā mānisī kāraṇa — if you regard your own hita as the cause; satyā Nārāyaṇa sāhe asō — let Nārāyaṇa-of-truth stand as witness. Nirvāṇīm nivāḍa hōtō āgīmukhe — at the final pinch the decision happens at the fire-mouth; tapta lōha sukhem dharitām hātīm — holding red-hot iron in hand with pleasure. Tukā mhaṇe nema na ṭaḷatām bare — Tukā says: not violating the vow is best; kharyāsī chi khare aise nāmva — only the true (deserves) the name 'true'.
What it means
A 3-verse text on the test of truth. Dry-words-don't-suffice — moisture-of-heart-warmth-is-real-substance; satya-Nārāyaṇa stands-as-witness-for-the-true; trial-by-fire — holding-red-hot-iron-with-pleasure (medieval ordeal-image); not-violating-vow is-best — only-the-true-deserves-the-name-true.
For someone today
Tukārām declares: integrity is tested at the breaking-point, not in casual conversation; only what holds in the fire deserves the name 'true'.
Where this applies
- Tukārām's trial-by-fire + only-true-is-true canonical
- Companion to nema (vow) and satya-Nārāyaṇa texts