संत साहित्य · Tukārām · Abhanga 4032 of 4582

Abhanga 4032

Run your life like an honest shopkeeper, listening and reflecting sincerely, keeping true weight and real substance, and that very integrity becomes the path out of endless rebirth.

When you are dealing honestly with a customer or client even though a shortcut is tempting

When you catch yourself performing sincerity instead of actually listening and reflecting

When you decide to give people the full, real measure of what you promised instead of shortchanging them

The verse

बरवे दुकानीं बैसावें । श्रवण मनन असावें ॥१॥ सारासाराचीं पोतीं । ग्राहिक पाहोनि करा रितीं ॥ध्रु.॥ उगे चि फुगों नका गाल । पूर्ण सांठवावा माल ॥२॥ सत्य तराजू पैं धरा । नका कुडत्रिम विकरा ॥३॥ तुका जाला वाणी । चुकवुनि चौर्‍यासीच्या खाणी ॥४॥

Literal translation

Sit-well-in-shop — śravaṇa-manana. Essence-pouches — see-customer-make-rita. Don't-puff-cheeks — fully-store-māla. True-tarāju — no-fraud-vikra. Tukā-jālā-vāṇī — escapes-chaurāśī-khāṇī.

What it means

A 4-verse merchant-bhakti self-identification. Sit well in your shop; have hearing-and-reflection. Keep pouches of essence-of-essence; seeing the customer, empty them out. Don't just puff cheeks (with empty pretense); fully store your goods. Hold a true balance; don't sell adulterations. Tukā became a merchant — and escaped the 84-lakh wombs of rebirth. Tukā-jālā-vāṇī: Tukārām is known to have been a vāṇī (a small grain-merchant); here he uses his occupational identity as a metaphor for bhakti-as-honest-trade. The classical-list of merchant-virtues (true-scale, no-fraud, full-stock, customer-service) becomes the bhakti-vocation. The closing chaurāśī-khāṇī (84-lakh wombs of rebirth) is the standard puranic count.

For someone today

Tukaram takes his own trade, that of a small grain merchant, and turns it into a spiritual lesson. He says to sit properly in your shop and to genuinely listen and reflect, not just go through the motions. Keep real substance in your pouches, the good stuff, and be ready to give it fully to whoever comes looking. Do not puff yourself up with empty show; make sure what you offer is complete and real. Use an honest scale and never sell something fake as if it were genuine. Tukaram says that by becoming this kind of honest merchant, he escaped the endless cycle of rebirth.

मराठी: तुकाराम स्वतःच्या व्यवसायाचा, म्हणजे किराणा-वाणी असण्याचा, वापर एक अध्यात्मिक धडा देण्यासाठी करतात. ते सांगतात, दुकानात नीट बसा आणि खरोखर ऐका व मनन करा, केवळ देखावा करू नका. आपल्या पोत्यांत खरा माल ठेवा आणि गिऱ्हाईक आले की तो पूर्णपणे द्यायला तयार राहा. उगाच फुशारकी मारू नका, तुम्ही जे देता ते पूर्ण आणि खरे असावे. तराजू खरा ठेवा आणि कधीही भेसळयुक्त माल खरा म्हणून विकू नका. तुकाराम म्हणतात की असा प्रामाणिक वाणी बनल्यामुळे ते चौऱ्यांशी लाख योनींच्या फेऱ्यातून सुटले.

Where this applies

When you are running a business or job and wondering how to bring integrity into ordinary work
When you are tempted to cut corners or oversell something you know is not quite right
When you want your everyday work to double as a spiritual practice
When you need to check whether you are offering people something real or just an empty performance

Nāma (the Name) Bhakti