Abhanga 3966
Tukaram warns that feeling disgust at devotional singing, with God's name absent from your tongue, is a sign that trouble and abandonment are close at hand.
The verse
अगत्य ज्या नरका जाणें । कीर्तनीं तों वीट मानी ॥१॥
नावडेसा जाला बाप । आलें पाप वस्तीसि ॥ध्रु.॥
नारायण नाहीं वाचे । ते यमाचे अंदण ॥२॥
तुका म्हणे अभक्तासी । माता दासी जग झोडी ॥३॥
Literal translation
Agatya jyā narakā jāṇē — kīrtanīm tōm vīṭa mānī — (whoever) certainly must go to hell — feels disgust at kīrtana. Nāvaḍesā jālā bāpa — ālēm pāpa vastīsi — the father became disliked — sin has come to dwell. Nārāyaṇa nāhīm vāce — te yamāce aṇdaṇa — Nārāyaṇa not on tongue — those are Yama's aṇdaṇa. Tukā mhaṇe abhaktāsī — mātā dāsī jaga jhōḍī — Tukā says: for the abhakta — mother (becomes) servant, world thrashes.
What it means
A 3-verse anti-abhakta warning. Whoever-feels-disgust-at-kīrtana is-certainly-hell-bound; the-Lord-became-disliked, sin-dwells; Nārāyaṇa-not-on-tongue = Yama's-due; for-the-abhakta even-mother-abandons, world-thrashes. Aṇdaṇa is the bride's-dowry — here Yama's portion.
For someone today
Tukaram gives a stark diagnostic test: pay attention to how you feel during kirtana, because someone who feels disgust or boredom listening to devotional singing is, in his words, headed for real trouble. He describes such a person's turning away from God as sin taking up residence in them, since God's name never even reaches their tongue. He closes with a harsh image, saying that without devotion, even the people who should protect you can turn away, and the world itself can feel like it is beating you down.
मराठी: तुकाराम एक स्पष्ट कसोटी मांडतात, कीर्तन ऐकताना तुम्हाला काय वाटते याकडे लक्ष द्या, कारण भक्तिगीत ऐकताना कंटाळा किंवा तिटकारा वाटणारा माणूस, त्यांच्या शब्दांत, खऱ्या संकटाकडे चालला आहे. अशा माणसाचे देवापासून दूर जाणे म्हणजे पाप त्याच्यात वस्ती करून राहणे आहे, कारण देवाचे नावच त्याच्या जिभेवर येत नाही, असे ते सांगतात. शेवटी ते एक कठोर प्रतिमा उभी करतात, भक्तीशिवाय ज्यांनी तुम्हाला सांभाळायला हवे तेही तोंड फिरवतात आणि जगच जणू तुम्हाला मारहाण करत आहे असे वाटते, असे ते म्हणतात.
Where this applies
- Tukārām's anti-abhakta warning corpus
- Companion to Name-shield texts (2864, 2909)