Abhanga 4032
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
Tukārām: be-an-honest-merchant — sit-well-śravaṇa-manana, true-scales, no-fraud, full-goods — Tukā-became-this-vāṇī-and-escaped-rebirth.
Where this applies
- ★ Tukārām's Tukā-jālā-vāṇī self-identification + bhakti-as-honest-trade canonical
- 17th-c. occupational-bhakti