Abhanga 3856
Avoiding the company of good people and speaking sweetly while acting without real virtue are signs of a deeper spiritual harm.
The verse
जयासी नावडे वैष्णवांचा संग । जाणावा तो मांग जन्मांतरीं ॥१॥
अपवित्र वाचा जातीचा अधम । आचरण धर्म नाहीं जया ॥ध्रु.॥
मंजुळवदनीं बचनागाची कांडी । शेवटीं विघडी जीवप्राणा ॥२॥
तुका म्हणे ज्याचा पिता नाहीं शुद्ध । तयासी गोविंद अंतरला ॥३॥
Literal translation
Jayāsī nāvaḍe vaiṣṇavāñcā sanga — one to-whom Vaiṣṇava-sanga not pleasing; jāṇāvā tō mānga janmāntarīm — know him as mānga in prior-birth. Apavitra vāchā jātīñcā adhama — impure vāchā, of adhama-jāti; ācharaṇa dharma nāhīm jayā — no ācharaṇa-dharma in him. Mamjuḷavadanīm bachanāgāñcī kāmḍī — bachanāga (poison-stalk) with sweet-mouth; śevaṭīm vighaḍī jīva-prāṇā — at end, tears jīva-prāṇa. Tukā mhaṇe jyāñcā pitā nāhīm śuddha — Tukā says: whose pitā not śuddha; tayāsī Govinda antaralā — Govinda distant from him.
What it means
A 3-verse polemic. Tukārām claims: one-who-doesn't-like-Vaiṣṇava-sanga is-spiritually-low and-far-from-Govinda. Uses 17th-c language including the mānga (low-caste-from-prior-birth) framing — must-be-read in-its-historical-context, not as endorsing-caste-essentialism.
For someone today
This is one of Tukaram's harsher, more polemical verses, using the caste language of his own time to say that avoiding the company of devoted people reveals something wrong inside a person. He describes such a person as having impure speech and no real righteous conduct at all. He compares sweet talk without real virtue to a poison stalk with a honeyed mouth, which seems pleasant but ends up destroying life itself. The verse should be read as Tukaram's blunt warning that rejecting good company and speaking sweetly while acting corruptly are signs of real spiritual harm, not as an endorsement of judging people by birth.
मराठी: हा तुकारामांचा एक अधिक कठोर, वादग्रस्त अभंग आहे, ज्यात त्या काळातील जातिवाचक भाषा वापरून ते सांगतात की भक्त-सज्जनांचा सहवास टाळणे हे माणसाच्या आतल्या दोषाचे लक्षण आहे. अशा व्यक्तीची वाणी अशुद्ध असते आणि तिच्या आचरणात खरा धर्म नसतो असे ते म्हणतात. गोड बोलणे पण आतून सद्गुण नसणे याची तुलना ते गोड तोंडाच्या विषारी काडीशी करतात, जी वरून आनंददायक वाटते पण शेवटी जीव घेते. हा अभंग तुकारामांचा स्पष्ट इशारा आहे की चांगल्या सहवासाला नाकारणे आणि गोड बोलून वाईट वागणे हे खरे आध्यात्मिक नुकसान दर्शवते, जन्मावरून माणसाची पारख करण्याचे समर्थन म्हणून वाचू नये.
Where this applies
- Anti-Vaiṣṇava-disliker polemic
- Uses 17th-c context-language; bound-to-time