Abhanga 3826
Just as a careless cook ruins food by putting the wrong ingredient in the wrong dish, devotion without real understanding, offered at the wrong time or in the wrong way, spoils rather than nourishes.
The verse
सुगरणीबाईं थिता नास केला । गुळ तो घातला भाजीमध्यें ॥१॥
क्षीरीमध्यें हिंग दुधामध्यें बोळ । थितें चि वोंगळ कैसें केलें ॥ध्रु.॥
दळण दळोनी भरूं गेली पाळी । भरडोनि वोंगळी नास केला ॥२॥
कापुराचे सांते आणिला लसण । वागवितां सीण दुःख होय ॥३॥
रत्नाचा जोहारी रत्न चि पारखी । येर देखोदेखीं हातीं घेती ॥४॥
तुका म्हणे जरी योग घडे निका । न घडतां थुंका तोंडावरी ॥५॥
Literal translation
Sugaraṇi-bāī-spoiled-ready — gur-in-bhāji. Hing-in-khīrī, bōḷa-in-milk — spoiled-ready. Grinding — spoiled-by-bharaḍōnī. For-camphor-brought-garlic — pain-in-handling. Pearl-jeweler-recognizes — others-take-by-imitation. Tukā: if-yoga-not-right — spit.
What it means
A 5-verse wrong-context polemic. The cook-woman spoiled what was ready — putting jaggery into the savory dish, asafoetida into the sweet milk-pudding, myrrh into milk — she made the good food foul. She went to grind — and by grinding wrong, ruined it. For the camphor-season, she brought garlic — in handling such wrong things, only suffering. (Only) the pearl-jeweler recognizes the pearl — others pick (it) up by imitation. If the right union happens — fine; if not — spit (on his face). Six homely-kitchen mismatches as analogies for mismatched-context in bhakti — putting the wrong thing in the wrong place. Final line: real recognition (jeweler) vs imitation; if right yoga (occasion + person) doesn't happen, harsh dismissal.
For someone today
Tukaram describes a cook who ruins good food by putting jaggery in a savory dish, asafoetida in a sweet pudding, and myrrh in milk, then grinds her grain badly and buys garlic when she should have bought camphor. Every mistake comes from putting the right thing in the wrong place. He adds that only a true jeweler can recognize a real pearl, while others just copy what they see others doing. If devotion and its true occasion don't actually come together in the right way, he says bluntly, it deserves to be spat on rather than praised as real. This is a warning against going through the motions of faith without real understanding, the way a cook without skill spoils every dish she touches.
मराठी: तुकाराम एका स्वयंपाकिणीचे वर्णन करतात जी चांगले अन्न बिघडवते, भाजीत गूळ घालते, खीरीत हिंग घालते, दुधात बोळ घालते, दळण चुकीचे दळते आणि कापुराच्या वेळी लसूण आणते. प्रत्येक चूक बरोबर गोष्ट चुकीच्या जागी ठेवल्यामुळे होते. ते पुढे सांगतात की खरा जोहारीच खऱ्या मोत्याला ओळखतो, बाकीचे लोक फक्त दुसऱ्यांना बघून नक्कल करतात. भक्ती आणि तिचा खरा प्रसंग जर योग्य प्रकारे जुळले नाहीत, तर ते स्पष्टपणे सांगतात की त्यावर थुंकावे, त्याला खरे मानू नये.
हा अभंग खोट्या समजाशिवाय केवळ कर्मकांडाने भक्ती करण्याविरुद्ध इशारा देतो, जसे अकुशल स्वयंपाकीण प्रत्येक पदार्थ बिघडवते तसे.
Where this applies
- When someone performs rituals without understanding their real meaning
- When a person copies what others are doing in faith without genuine insight
- When you notice effort going to waste because it was applied in the wrong place or time
- When you want to tell the difference between genuine devotion and mere imitation