Abhanga 3953
Tukaram says some minds, shaped by ingrained habit, cannot hold onto goodness, they drift back to what they are used to even after real exposure to the sacred.
The verse
जाळें घातलें सागरीं । बिंदु न राहे भीतरी ॥१॥
तैसें पापियाचें मन । तया नावडे कीर्त्तन ॥ध्रु.॥
गाढव गंगेसी न्हाणिलें। जाउनि उकरड्यावरि लोळे ॥२॥
प्रीती पोसिलें काउळें । जाउनि विष्ठेवरी लोळे ॥३॥
तुका म्हणे तैसी हरी । कीरव्या नावडे कस्तुरी॥४॥
Literal translation
Jāḷe ghātale sāgarīm — threw net in sāgara; bindu na rāhe bhītarī — no bindu stays inside. Taise pāpiyāñce mana — so is pāpī's mana; tayā nāvaḍe kīrttana — kīrttana is not loved. Gāḍhava Gangesī nhāṇile — donkey bathed in Gangā; jāuni ukaraḍyāvari lōḷe — goes and rolls on rubbish. Prītī pōsile kāuḷe — crow cultivated with prīti; jāuni viṣṭhevarī lōḷe — goes and rolls on excrement. Tukā mhaṇe taisī Harī — Tukā says: just so, Hari; kīravyā nāvaḍe kastūrī — mongoose doesn't love musk.
What it means
A 4-image canonical text on pāpī's-mana-rejects-kīrtana. The 4 images: jāḷa-in-sāgara (no-bindu-stays), donkey-rolls-in-rubbish, crow-rolls-in-excrement, mongoose-rejects-musk. Classic Tukārām animal-imagery.
For someone today
Tukaram uses four vivid images to describe a mind that simply cannot hold onto goodness: a net thrown into the ocean lets every drop slip through, a donkey bathed in the sacred Ganga still goes and rolls in garbage, a crow raised with love still returns to filth, and a mongoose has no taste for musk. His point is that some people's minds are so shaped by habit that even exposure to something sacred, like kirtana, does not change their inclination, they drift back to what they are used to. It is an honest, unflinching observation about how deeply ingrained habits resist even genuine goodness offered to them.
मराठी: तुकाराम चार ठळक प्रतिमांमधून अशा मनाचे वर्णन करतात जे चांगुलपणा धरून ठेवूच शकत नाही, समुद्रात टाकलेल्या जाळ्यातून प्रत्येक थेंब निसटून जातो, गंगेत आंघोळ घातलेले गाढव पुन्हा जाऊन उकिरड्यावर लोळते, प्रेमाने पाळलेला कावळा पुन्हा घाणीवर जाऊन लोळतो, आणि मुंगुसाला कस्तुरीची गोडी नसते. त्यांचा मुद्दा असा आहे की काही माणसांचे मन इतके सवयींनी घडलेले असते की कीर्तनासारख्या पवित्र गोष्टीच्या संपर्कातही त्यांची ओढ बदलत नाही, ते पुन्हा त्यांच्या सवयीकडे वळतात. खोलवर रुजलेल्या सवयी खऱ्या चांगुलपणालाही कसा विरोध करतात, याचे हे प्रामाणिक आणि रोखठोक निरीक्षण आहे.
Where this applies
- When you or someone you love keeps returning to destructive habits despite real opportunities to change
- When you feel discouraged that good influences, teaching, or love do not seem to be sinking in
- When you notice yourself drifting back to old patterns even after a positive experience
- When you need to understand that changing deep habits takes more than one exposure to something good