Abhanga 3920
Wearing a holy man's outward marks without truly knowing God underneath is just a way to fill your belly, and it leads to ruin, Tukaram warns.
The verse
कान फाडूनियां मुद्रा तें घालिती । नाथ म्हणविती जगामाजी ॥१॥
घालोनियां फेरा मागती द्रव्यासी । परि शंकरासी नोळखती ॥२॥
पोट भरावया शिकती उपाय । तुका म्हणे जाय नर्क लोका ॥३॥
Literal translation
Ear-pierced-mudrā — calls-himself-Nāth. Phērā-asks-dravya — doesn't-know-Śankara. Belly-tricks — Tukā: goes-to-narka.
What it means
Verse 3 of the 7-abhang anti-fake-renunciate cluster. He pierces his ear and puts the (Nāth) ear-ring; in the world he calls himself aNāth. He goes touring, asking for money — but does not recognize Śankara (the real one). He learns belly-tricks; goes to hell. Specific reference to the Nāth-Siddha movement — Tukārām is criticizing the corrupt fringe of this tradition (the Nāth lineage of Matsyendra-Goraksha, with their distinctive ear-mudrā), not the tradition itself. The Nāth-yogi-as-itinerant-beggar was a common 17th-c. Deccan figure.
For someone today
Tukaram describes a man who pierces his ear, takes the Nath ascetic's earring and title, then travels from town to town asking people for money. The costume is convincing, but he does not actually know or seek the God he claims to represent. Wearing the outer marks of a spiritual path while using it only to fill your belly leads nowhere good, Tukaram warns; it leads to ruin. Real devotion means knowing the one you claim to serve, not just wearing the sign of it.
मराठी: तुकाराम अशा एका माणसाचे वर्णन करतात जो कान टोचून नाथांची मुद्रा घालतो आणि गावोगाव फिरून लोकांकडे पैसे मागतो. वेष खरा वाटतो, पण प्रत्यक्षात तो ज्या देवाचे नाव घेतो त्याला तो ओळखतही नाही किंवा शोधतही नाही. साधनेचा बाह्य वेष केवळ पोट भरण्यासाठी वापरणे शेवटी विनाशाकडे नेते, असे तुकाराम बजावतात. खरी भक्ती म्हणजे ज्याची सेवा करतो त्याला खरोखर जाणणे, केवळ त्याचे चिन्ह मिरवणे नव्हे.
Where this applies
- Tukārām's Nāth-yogi-type in 7-abhang cluster
- 17th-c. Deccan religious-marketplace documentary witness