Abhanga 3916
Tukaram laments that clever arguments against ritual, sacred images, storytelling, and temple visits have, one by one, quietly drowned real devotion instead of protecting it.
The verse
कैसी करूं आतां सांग तुझी सेवा । शब्दज्ञानें देवा नाश केला ॥१॥
आतां तुझें वर्म न कळे अनंता । तुज न संगतां बुडूं पाहें ॥ध्रु.॥
संध्या स्नान केली आचाराची नासी । काय तयापासीं म्हणती एक ॥२॥
बुडविली भक्ती म्हणीते पाषाण । पिंडाचें पाळण स्थापुनियां ॥३॥
न करावी कथा म्हणती एकादशी । भजनाची नासी मांडियेली ॥४॥
न जावें देउळा म्हणती देवघरीं । बुडविलें या परी तुका म्हणे ॥५॥
Literal translation
How-to-do-sevā — śabda-jñāna-destroyed. Varma-not-known-Anantā — without-telling-you-drown. Sandhyā-snāna-they-say-āchāra-nāśa. Image-just-pāṣāṇa-piṇḍa-pāḷaṇa-buries-bhakti. No-kathā-on-Ekādaśī-they-say — bhajana-nāśa. Don't-go-to-dēuḷa — keep-at-home. Tukā: drowned-in-this-way.
What it means
THE canonical 5-verse lament against confused-reformist over-reaches. How do I do your service now — word-knowledge has destroyed it. Your essence is not known, Ananta — without telling you, I might drown. (Some) say: doing sandhyā-snāna destroys dharma; what's the use in it, they say. (Some) drown bhakti by calling the image just-stone — establishing only body-nourishment. (Some) say don't do kathā on Ekādaśī — they've set up the destruction of bhajana. (Some) say don't go to the temple — keep god at home. Tukā says: bhakti has been drowned this way. Striking direct critique of 17th-c. anti-ritualist reformist over-reaches that Tukārām saw as themselves destroying bhakti: rejecting sandhyā, calling idol just-stone, refusing temple-going, refusing Ekādaśī-kathā. Tukārām's middle-way: keep the practices, but with bhāva. Pair with 2881 (canonical Ekādaśī-vrata), 2864 (clap-hands kīrtana).
For someone today
Tukaram voices real distress at how clever, over-intellectualized arguments have chipped away at simple devotion. He lists the confused advice he keeps hearing: skip the twilight ritual because it's supposedly outdated, call the sacred image just a stone and focus only on feeding the body, avoid telling the Ekadashi story because it's supposedly unnecessary, don't even bother going to the temple since you can just keep God at home. He says each of these clever arguments, one by one, has quietly drowned real devotion rather than protecting it. His plea is to hold onto sincere practice with real feeling instead of being talked out of it by overly clever reasoning.
मराठी: तुकाराम अशा गोंधळात टाकणाऱ्या हुशार युक्तिवादांनी साध्या भक्तीला हळूहळू कसे कोरून काढले याबद्दल खरी अस्वस्थता व्यक्त करतात. त्यांना ऐकू येणारा गोंधळलेला सल्ला ते मांडतात, संध्यास्नान सोडा कारण ते जुनाट झाले आहे, मूर्ती फक्त दगड आहे असे म्हणून फक्त शरीर पोसण्यावर लक्ष द्या, एकादशीची कथा सांगू नका कारण ती अनावश्यक आहे, देवळात जाण्याची गरजच नाही कारण देव घरीच ठेवता येतो. यातील प्रत्येक हुशार युक्तिवादाने खरी भक्ती जपण्याऐवजी तिला हळूहळू बुडवले आहे असे ते म्हणतात. निखळ भावनेने साधी उपासना चालू ठेवा, अति हुशार तर्काने तिच्यापासून परावृत्त होऊ नका असे त्यांचे कळकळीचे सांगणे आहे.
Where this applies
- Tukārām's anti-confused-reformist-advisor canonical
- Pair with 2881 (Ekādaśī-vrata), 2864 (clap-hands kīrtana)
- Rare-Tukārām moderate-stance against over-reach in both directions