Abhanga 4042
People who wear outward marks of holiness while still gripped by lust, anger, and greed are frauds whose empty words mislead everyone who follows them.
The verse
संतचिन्हें लेउनि अंगीं । भूषण मिरविती जगीं ॥१॥
पडिले दुःखाचे सागरीं । वहावले ते भवपुरीं ॥ध्रु.॥
कामक्रोधलोभ चित्तीं । वरिवरि दाविती विरक्ती ॥२॥
आशापाशीं बांधोनि चित्त । म्हणती जालों आम्ही मुक्त ॥३॥
त्यांचे लागले संगती । जाली त्यांसी ते चि गति ॥४॥
तुका म्हणे शब्दज्ञानें । जग नाडियेलें तेणें ॥५॥
Literal translation
Santa-chinhe leūnī angīm — wearing sant-signs on body; bhūṣaṇa miravitī jagīm — parading this bhūṣaṇa in jagat. Paḍile duḥkhāñce sāgarīm — have fallen in duḥkha-sāgara; vahāvale te bhavapurīm — been carried-away in bhava-purī. Kāma-krōdha-lōbha chittīm — kāma-krōdha-lōbha in chitti; varivari dāvitī viraktī — on surface, show virakti. Āśā-pāśīm bāmdhōnī chitta — chitta bound by āśā-pāśī; mhaṇatī jālōm āmhī mukta — say we have become mukta. Tyāmce lāgale samgatī — those who follow them; jālī tyāmsī te chi gati — get the same gati. Tukā mhaṇe śabda-jñāne — Tukā says: by śabda-jñāna; jaga nāḍiyele teṇe — jaga has been deceived.
What it means
A 5-verse anti-fake-renunciate polemic by Tukārām.
The diagnostic: Wear-sant-marks-as-ornament-for-display; fallen-in-duḥkha-sāgara; kāma-krōdha-lōbha-inside, virakti-only-on-surface; chitta-bound-by-āśā-pāśī yet-claim-mukta-status; followers-get-same-gati; world-deceived-by-śabda-jñāna.
The śabda-jñāna (word-knowledge) is the diagnostic-failure-mode: knowledge-without-anubhava-deceives.
Compare-Tukārām's 2844-2847 anti-fake-renunciate cluster (gājarāñcī-pungī-jōgis, ṭīḷā-ṭōpī-gosāvīs, tobacco-cannabis pseudo-sants), 4041 (anti-piṇḍa-pōṣaka).
For someone today
Tukārām's anti-fake-renunciate polemic: these people wear the outward signs of a sant on their bodies and parade the ornament in the world, even as they have fallen into an ocean of suffering and been swept along in the flood of worldly life. Lust, anger, and greed still live in their hearts — on the surface they only display renunciation. Their minds remain bound by the rope of desire, yet they claim to have become free, and those who follow them end up sharing the very same fate. Tukārām says the world has been deceived by mere word-knowledge — this is the classic diagnosis of the fake renunciate as a deceiver dressed in borrowed wisdom.
मराठी: तुकाराम यांचे हे ढोंगी विरक्तांवरचे प्रहार आहेत. हे लोक अंगावर संतांची चिन्हे मिरवतात आणि हा अलंकार जगात दाखवत फिरतात, पण प्रत्यक्षात ते दुःखसागरात बुडालेले असतात आणि संसाराच्या प्रवाहात वाहून गेलेले असतात. त्यांच्या मनात अजूनही काम, क्रोध आणि लोभ वास करतात — फक्त वरवर ते वैराग्य दाखवतात. त्यांचे चित्त आशेच्या पाशात बांधलेले असते, तरी ते म्हणतात की आम्ही मुक्त झालो; आणि जे त्यांच्या मागे जातात त्यांचीही तीच गत होते. तुकाराम म्हणतात की केवळ शब्दज्ञानाने जग फसवले गेले आहे — हे खोट्या विरक्ताचे, उधार घेतलेल्या ज्ञानाच्या वेषातील फसवणुकीचे ठळक उदाहरण आहे.
Where this applies
- When you are impressed by someone's spiritual image without checking whether their inner life matches
- When you notice a mismatch between what someone claims about themselves and how they actually act
- When you are tempted to fake calm or detachment instead of doing the real inner work
- When you are choosing who to trust and follow as a guide