Abhanga 3794
Giving generosity, trust, or resources to an unworthy or dishonest person harms both giver and receiver, like building a boat out of stone that only sinks whoever rides it.
The verse
करी आणिकांचा अपमान । खळ छळवादी ब्राम्हण। तया देतां दान । नरका जाती उभयतां ॥१॥
तैसें जालें दोघांजणां । मागतिया यजमाना । जाळियेलें वनां । आपणासहित कांचणी ॥ध्रु.॥
घडितां दगडाची नाव । मोल क्लेश गेले वाव । तरता नाहीं ठाव । बुडवी तारूं तरतीया ॥२॥
चोरा दिधला सांटा । तेणें मारियेल्या वाटा । तुका म्हणे ताठा । हें तंव दोघे नाडती ॥३॥
Literal translation
Insulter-khaḷa-chaḷavādī-brāhmaṇa — giving-dāna — both-to-naraka. Like-the-two — yajamāna-burned-in-forest-with-kānchaṇī. Stone-boat-built — mōla-klēśa-wasted — sinks-the-passenger. Gave-treasure-to-thief — beaten-on-road. Tukā: pride — both-suffer.
What it means
A 3-verse anti-dāna-to-unworthy social-ethics text. One who insults others, a wicked-quarrelsome brāhmaṇa — giving him dāna sends both to naraka. Just so it happened to the two — the very yajamāna who asked was burned in the forest along with his gold. (It is like) building a stone-boat: money and effort wasted, no place from which to cross, and the raft sinks the passenger. Giving a treasure to a thief — he beats (you) on the road. Pride — both (giver and receiver) suffer. Three vivid images, including a folk-tale reference (the two burned in the forest with their gold). The doctrine — dāna goes to pātra (worthy receiver); giving to a khaḷa harms both.
For someone today
Tukaram warns that giving generously to someone corrupt or dishonest, like a quarrelsome person who insults others, does not help either side, it drags both the giver and the receiver into ruin. He tells of a host who gave gifts to an unworthy person and ended up burned along with his own gold, a costly lesson in misplaced generosity. He compares it to building a boat out of stone: all the money and effort poured into it go to waste, since instead of carrying you across, it sinks you. Handing your treasure to a thief works the same way, since he simply robs you further down the road, and Tukaram says that giving out of pride rather than discernment harms everyone involved.
मराठी: तुकाराम इशारा देतात की भांडखोर, इतरांचा अपमान करणाऱ्या अप्रामाणिक व्यक्तीला उदार दान देणे कोणालाच फायद्याचे नाही, त्यामुळे देणारा आणि घेणारा दोघेही नाशाला जातात. ते एका यजमानाची गोष्ट सांगतात, ज्याने अयोग्य व्यक्तीला दान दिले आणि शेवटी स्वतःच्या सोन्यासकट जळून गेला, चुकीच्या उदारतेचा मोठा धडा. ते याची तुलना दगडाची होडी बांधण्याशी करतात: त्यात ओतलेला सगळा पैसा आणि श्रम वाया जातो, कारण पार नेण्याऐवजी ती तुम्हालाच बुडवते. चोराला ठेव सोपवणेही तसेच आहे, कारण तो पुढे रस्त्यात तुम्हालाच लुबाडतो, आणि तुकाराम म्हणतात की विवेकाऐवजी अहंकारातून केलेले दान सगळ्यांचेच नुकसान करते.
Where this applies
- When you are tempted to give trust, money, or help to someone whose character does not deserve it
- When generosity given out of pride or show ends up harming both you and the person you helped
- When you invest time or resources into something that was doomed to fail from the start, wasting effort with nothing to show
- When you hand something valuable to someone untrustworthy and later suffer for that misplaced trust