Abhanga 3919
Tukaram says growing matted hair and smearing sacred ash means nothing if underneath it you're still chasing fine food and pride, calling this empty performance rather than real discipline.
The verse
लांबवूनि जटा नेसोनि कासोटा । अभिमान मोटा करिताती ॥१॥
सर्वांगा करिती विभूतिलेपन । पाहाती मिष्टान्न भक्षावया ॥२॥
तुका म्हणे त्यांचा नव्हे हा स्वधर्म । न कळतां वर्म मिथ्यावाद ॥३॥
Literal translation
Long-jaṭā-kāsōṭā-huge-abhimāna. Vibhūti-on-anga-wants-miṣṭāna. Tukā: not-svadharma — mithyāvāda.
What it means
Verse 2 of the 7-abhang anti-fake-renunciate cluster. He grows matted-hair long, wears a tucked-up loincloth, with great pride. He puts sacred-ash on his whole body — but watches for fine-food to eat. This is not their proper-conduct; without knowing the essence, it's false-talk. The jaṭā-yogi-type — long-hair-and-vibhūti is the outward-form; the inward-reality is pride-and-greed.
For someone today
Tukaram describes another kind of fake ascetic, this one growing his hair long and matted, tying his loincloth in the traditional style, and clearly proud of how holy he looks. He covers his whole body in sacred ash, but underneath all that, he's really just watching for a chance at fine food. Tukaram is blunt that this is not genuine spiritual discipline at all. Without understanding what the practice was ever supposed to mean, it becomes empty performance dressed up as holiness.
मराठी: तुकाराम आणखी एका ढोंगी साधूचे वर्णन करतात, ज्याने केस वाढवून जटा धरल्या आहेत, पारंपरिक पद्धतीने कासोटा नेसला आहे, आणि आपण किती पवित्र दिसतो याचा त्याला अभिमान आहे. तो अंगभर विभूती लावतो, पण या सगळ्यामागे तो फक्त चांगले जेवण मिळण्याची वाट पाहत असतो. हे खरे आध्यात्मिक अनुशासन नाही असे तुकाराम स्पष्टपणे सांगतात. या साधनेचा खरा अर्थ न समजता ती केवळ पवित्रतेचा दिखावा बनून राहते.
Where this applies
- Tukārām's jaṭā-yogi-type in 7-abhang cluster