Abhanga 4094
Do not trust or defer to someone who talks confidently about others' welfare while remaining spiritually empty and full of hollow pride themselves.
The verse
स्वयें आपण चि रिता । रडे पुढिलांच्या हिता ॥१॥
सेकीं हें ना तेंसें जालें । बोलणें तितुकें वांयां गेलें ॥ध्रु.॥
सुखसागरीं नेघे वस्ती । अंगीं ज्ञानपणाची मस्ती ॥२॥
तुका म्हणे गाढव लेखा । जेथें भेटेल तेथें ठोका ॥३॥
Literal translation
Self-rita — cries-others'-hita. Ends-half-and-half — talking-vain. Won't-stay-sukha-sāgara — jñāna-masti-on-anga. Tukā: gadhē-lēkhā — strike-wherever-meet.
What it means
A 3-verse anti-empty-jñānī polemic. Himself empty, he cries for others' welfare. In the end, it becomes neither-this-nor-that; all his talking goes vain. He won't take residence in the joy-ocean; on his body sits the intoxication of knowingness. Count him a donkey — strike him wherever you meet him. The harsh closing — gadhē-lēkhā-jētēm-bhēṭēla-tēthēm-ṭhōkā (count him a donkey — strike him wherever you meet him) — is among Tukārām's most-blunt anti-fake-teacher lines.
For someone today
Tukaram calls out someone who is spiritually empty inside but goes around loudly worrying about everyone else's welfare and giving advice he hasn't lived himself. In the end all that talk amounts to nothing, because he never actually settles into real inner joy, he only carries the puffed-up pride of seeming wise. Tukaram is unusually blunt here, saying such a person deserves to be called out and confronted openly, not respected just because he sounds knowledgeable. The lesson is to be suspicious of hollow advice-giving and to value real inner substance over the performance of wisdom.
मराठी: तुकाराम अशा माणसाला उघड फटकारतात जो आतून आध्यात्मिकदृष्ट्या रिकामा आहे, पण मोठ्याने इतरांच्या हिताची काळजी वाहत फिरतो आणि स्वतः न जगलेला उपदेश देत राहतो. शेवटी हे सगळे बोलणे व्यर्थ ठरते, कारण तो खऱ्या आंतरिक आनंदात कधीच स्थिरावत नाही, तो फक्त शहाणपणाचा दिखावा करण्याचा गर्व बाळगतो. तुकाराम इथे विलक्षण थेट बोलतात, असे म्हणतात की अशा माणसाला उघडपणे फटकारायलाच हवे, केवळ तो ज्ञानी वाटतो म्हणून त्याला मान द्यायचा नाही. यातून शिकायचे हे की पोकळ उपदेशाबाबत सावध राहावे आणि शहाणपणाच्या दिखाव्यापेक्षा खऱ्या आंतरिक सत्त्वाला महत्त्व द्यावे.
Where this applies
- When someone gives you confident advice about life while clearly not living by it themselves
- When you notice a teacher or leader seems more interested in appearing wise than being genuinely humble
- When you catch yourself worrying loudly about others' problems while neglecting your own inner life
- When you feel pressured to respect someone just because they sound knowledgeable, not because they are