Abhanga 3978
Showing up for something sacred means showing up fully, since distraction, indulgence, and restlessness during shared devotion cheapen the experience for everyone.
The verse
पानें जो खाईल बैसोनि कथेसी । घडेल तयासी गोहत्या ॥१॥
तमाखू ओढूनि काढला जो धूर । बुडेल तें घर तेणें पापें ॥ध्रु.॥
कीर्तनीं बडबड करील जो कोणी । बेडुक होउनी येइल जन्मा ॥२॥
जयाचिये मनीं कथेचा कंटाळा । होती त्या चांडाळा बहु जाच ॥३॥
जाच होती पाठी उडती यमदंड । त्याचें काळें तोंड तुका म्हणे ॥४॥
Literal translation
Pānēm jō khāīla baisōni kathēsī — ghaḍel tayāsī gōhatyā — whoever eats pāna seated in kathā — gō-hatyā is incurred. Tamākhū ōḍhūni kāḍhalā jō dhūra — buḍel tem ghara teṇēm pāpēm — whoever pulls out tobacco-smoke — by that pāpa his house drowns. Kīrtanīm baḍabaḍa karīl jō kōṇī — beḍuka hounī yeil janmā — whoever prattles in kīrtana — comes to birth as a frog. Jayāciye manīm kathēcā kaṇṭāḷā — hōtī tyā cāṇḍāḷā bahu jācha — whoever's mind feels kantāḷā for kathā — that chāṇḍāḷa suffers much torment. Jācha hōtī pāṭhī uḍatī yamadaṇḍa — tyāñcem kāḷēm tōṇḍa Tukā mhaṇe — torment on back, yamadaṇḍa flies — Tukā says: his face is blackened.
What it means
A 4-verse graphic kīrtana-etiquette. Pāna-in-kathā = gō-hatyā; tobacco = house-drowning-pāpa; prattle = frog-rebirth; boredom = chāṇḍāḷa-torment-yamadaṇḍa-blackened-face. Among early 17th-c Marathi tobacco-references (cf. 2844-2847).
For someone today
Tukārām warns: kīrtana-attendance is-discipline, not-casual; no-eating, no-smoking, no-prattling, no-boredom.
Where this applies
- Tukārām's kīrtana-etiquette canonical
- Early 17th-c tobacco reference (companion to 2844-2847)