Abhanga 3831
Advice is wasted on someone whose desires are impure and whose mind is closed, since without real faith they only talk loudly while remaining empty inside.
The verse
उपदेश किती करावा खळासी । नावडे तयासी बरें कांहीं ॥१॥
शुद्ध कां वासना नव्हे चांडाळाची । होळी संचिताची केली तेणें ॥ध्रु.॥
नाहीं भाव मनीं नाइके वचन । आपला आपण उणें घेतों ॥२॥
तुका म्हणे त्यासी काय व्याली रांड । करी बडबड रिती दिसे ॥३॥
Literal translation
Upadeśa — how-much-for-khaḷa — doesn't-like-anything-good. Vāsanā-not-śuddha — chāṇḍāḷa — sanchita-on-fire. No-bhāva-doesn't-hear-vachan — diminishes-self. Tukā: what-rāṇḍa-bore-him — only-baḍabaḍa-rītī.
What it means
A 3-verse anti-khaḷa polemic. How much upadeśa for the wicked? — he doesn't like anything good. Is his desire not pure — a chāṇḍāḷa's — he has set fire to his own karma-store. No bhāva in mind, he won't hear the teaching — he diminishes himself. What kind of woman bore him! — he just chatters, looking empty. The closing line karī baḍabaḍa rītī disē (he-chatters-but-looks-empty) is a sharp diagnosis — the khaḷa's-mouth-is-full-and-his-substance-is-empty.
For someone today
Tukaram vents his frustration with a person who refuses all good advice, no matter how much of it is offered. He says such a person's inner desires are so impure that they have burned up whatever good they had stored from before, and because there is no real faith in their heart, they simply won't listen to any teaching, only harming themselves further. In the end, he says, all that comes out of such a person is empty chatter, noise without any real substance behind it. The lesson is a warning about closing your ears to guidance and mistaking loud talk for real understanding.
मराठी: तुकाराम अशा माणसाबद्दलची आपली निराशा व्यक्त करतात जो कितीही चांगला उपदेश दिला तरी तो ऐकतच नाही. ते सांगतात की अशा माणसाच्या मनातल्या वासना इतक्या अशुद्ध असतात की त्याने आधीच्या साठवलेल्या पुण्याईची होळी करून टाकली आहे, आणि मनात खरी श्रद्धा नसल्यामुळे तो कोणतीही शिकवण ऐकतच नाही, फक्त स्वतःचेच नुकसान करून घेतो. शेवटी ते म्हणतात की अशा माणसाकडून फक्त पोकळ बडबड बाहेर पडते, नुसता आवाज, त्यामागे खरा अर्थ काहीच नसतो. हा अभंग मार्गदर्शनाकडे कान बंद करण्याविरुद्ध आणि मोठ्याने बोलणे म्हणजे खरे समजूतदारपणा समजण्याच्या चुकीविरुद्ध इशारा देतो.
Where this applies
- When someone refuses every piece of good advice offered to them
- When a person talks loudly and confidently but shows no real depth of understanding
- When you notice someone sabotaging their own good fortune through stubbornness
- When you struggle to reach a person whose mind is closed to any real teaching