Abhanga 3948
Tukaram says a title or birth status without matching daily conduct is worthless, even shameful, no matter how respected the name sounds.
The verse
जातीचा ब्राम्हण । न करितां संध्यास्नान ॥१॥
तो एक नांनवाचा ब्राम्हण । होय हीनाहूनि हीन ॥ध्रु.॥
सांडुनियां शाळिग्राम । नित्य वेश्येचा समागम ॥२॥
नेघे संतांचें जो तीर्थ । अखंड वेश्येचा जो आर्थ ॥३॥
तुका म्हणे ऐसे पापी । पाहूं नका पुनरपि ॥४॥
Literal translation
Jātīñcā brāhmaṇa — Brahmin by birth; na karitām samdhyāsnāna — not doing samdhyā-snāna. Tō eka nāmnvāñcā brāhmaṇa — (is) only a name-Brahmin; hōya hīnāhūni hīna — becomes hīna below hīna. Sāṇḍunīyām Śāḷigrāma — abandoning Śāligrāma; nitya veśyeñcā samāgama — daily company of veśyā. Neghe samtāñce jō tīrtha — doesn't take sant-tīrtha; akhaṇḍa veśyeñcā jō ārtha — continuously veśyā's money. Tukā mhaṇe aise pāpī — Tukā says: such pāpīs; pāhūm nakā punarapi — don't look again.
What it means
A 4-verse anti-fallen-Brahmin polemic. Diagnostic: birth-status without-conduct (no-samdhyā, no-Śāligrāma-worship, prostitute-house-instead-of-sants-tīrtha) makes-the-Brahmin lower-than-lowest.
For someone today
Tukārām's diagnostic: birth-status without-conduct is empty; sacred-conduct (not-birth) matters.
Where this applies
- Tukārām's anti-fallen-Brahmin polemic
- 17th-c social-criticism; bound-to-time