Abhanga 4012
In times of moral confusion, people twist spiritual ideas to excuse indulgence, but real steadiness comes from staying faithful to humble, honest practice rather than following the crowd.
The verse
तुम्हां सांगतों कलयुगा फळ । पुढें होइल ब्रम्हगोळ ॥१॥
आम्हां म्हणतील कंटक । ऐसा पाडिती दंडक ॥ध्रु.॥
स्त्रिया पूजुनि सरे देती । भलते स्त्रियेसि भलते जाती ॥२॥
श्रेष्ठ वर्ण वेदविद्वांस । अंगीकारी मद्यमांस ॥३॥
चारी वर्ण अठरा याती । कवळ करिती एक पंक्ती ॥४॥
म्हणती अंबेचा क्रीडाकल्लोळ । शिवरूप प्राणी सकळ ॥५॥
ऐसें होइल शकुन देतों । अगोदर सांगुन जातों ॥६॥
तुका सद्गुरुदास्य करी । सिद्धि पाणी वाहे घरीं ॥७॥
Literal translation
Kali-yuga-phaḷa — brahma-gōḷa-coming. We'll-be-called-kaṇṭaka — daṇḍaka-set-down. Women-worshipped-arbitrary-any-jāti. Top-varṇa-Vedic-scholar-meat-wine. 4-varṇa-18-jāti-one-pankti. Ambā-krīḍā-kallōḷa — all-Śiva-rūpa. Advance-śakuna-given. Tukā: sad-guru-dāsya — siddhi-pāṇī-vāhē-gharī.
What it means
THE canonical 7-verse Kali-yuga prophecy. Telling you the fruit of Kali-yuga: ahead is the cosmic-uprising. We (sants) will be called thorns; they will set such a law. Women will be worshipped — any women, of any caste. The high-varṇa Vedic-scholar will take to wine-and-meat. Four varṇas and eighteen jātis will eat mouthfuls from one row. They will say it's the playful-tumult of Ambā (the Goddess), and that all beings are Śiva-form. Such will happen — I give the omen in advance; I tell you before. Tukā does sad-guru-service — at his home, siddhi carries the water. Highly specific 17th-c. predictions: (1) sants will be called troublemakers; (2) arbitrary women-as-deities; (3) high-Vedic-scholars eating meat-and-wine; (4) caste-distinctions dissolving in shared-meals; (5) Tantric/Śākta theology used as justification (ambā's-līlā / all-Śiva-rūpa). The closing self-reference Tukā does sad-guru-service; siddhi carries water at his home is a striking self-stance — Tukārām outside this Tantric-justification, simply doing sad-guru-sevā. Pair with 2961 (canonical Kali-yuga prophecy), 3025 (Kānhōbā's 30-verse Kali-yuga prophecy companion).
For someone today
Tukaram lays out a startling prophecy about what he sees coming, a time of great confusion where sincere seekers like himself will be dismissed as troublemakers, where discipline and restraint give way to indulgence even among learned people, and where old distinctions dissolve so completely that everyone eats from the same row. People will justify all of this by claiming it is divine play, saying every being is already the same as the divine, using spiritual language to excuse whatever they want to do rather than to guide how they live. He says he is warning people in advance, and for himself, whatever chaos comes, he will keep doing simple, humble service to his teacher rather than chasing the crowd's new justifications.
मराठी: तुकाराम एक चकित करणारी भविष्यवाणी मांडतात, एक असा काळ येणार आहे जिथे माझ्यासारख्या प्रामाणिक साधकांना त्रासदायक ठरवले जाईल, जिथे शिस्त आणि संयम विद्वान लोकांतही लोप पावेल, आणि जुने भेदभाव इतके विरघळतील की सगळे एकाच रांगेत जेवतील. लोक हे सगळे दैवी लीला आहे असे सांगून समर्थन करतील, प्रत्येक जीव आधीच परमेश्वरासारखाच आहे असे म्हणत, आध्यात्मिक भाषेचा वापर आयुष्य कसे जगावे हे सांगण्यासाठी नव्हे तर स्वतःला हवे ते करण्याचे समर्थन करण्यासाठी करतील. ते सांगतात की मी आधीच सावध करत आहे, आणि स्वतःसाठी, कितीही गोंधळ आला तरी, ते गर्दीच्या नव्या समर्थनांच्या मागे न लागता आपल्या गुरूची साधी, नम्र सेवा करत राहतील.
Where this applies
- Tukārām's THE canonical Kali-yuga 17th-c. prophecy — companion to 2961, 3025