संत साहित्य · Tukārām · Abhanga 4121 of 4582

Abhanga 4121

A person consumed by the taste for worldly pleasure while giving almost nothing to real devotion has no genuine understanding of deeper truth and should not be indulged.

When you notice you are chasing comfort and pleasure while neglecting anything deeper or more meaningful

When someone acts devoted or virtuous only for show while truly living just for their own gratification

When you decide to firmly cut off a shallow, self-indulgent pattern instead of continuing to tolerate it

The verse

भक्ती ज्याची थोडी । पूर्ण विषयांची गोडी ॥१॥ तो नर चि नव्हे पाहीं । खर जाणावा तो देहीं ॥ध्रु.॥ भजन पूजन ही नेणे । काय स्वरूपासी जाणे ॥२॥ तुका म्हणे त्याला । भोवंडून बाहेर घाला ॥३॥

Literal translation

Little-bhakti-full-viṣaya-gōḍī — not-nara — donkey-in-body. No-bhajana-pūjana — how-svarūpa. Tukā: push-out.

What it means

A 3-verse anti-half-hearted text. One whose bhakti is little and full taste of sense-objects — see: he's not a nara; know him to be a donkey in body. He doesn't know bhajana or pūjana — how can he know the essence? Push him out. The harsh bhonvaḍūna-bāhēra-ghālā (go-around-him-and-push-out) is the radical-exclusion of the half-hearted.

For someone today

Tukaram criticizes people whose devotion is thin while their appetite for worldly pleasures is full and unchecked, saying such a person is barely human, more like a beast of burden wearing a human body. He points out that someone who never actually practices devotion or worship has no real way of understanding what lies beneath the surface of life. His conclusion is blunt, such half-hearted living deserves to be firmly turned away rather than indulged, because pretending at depth while chasing only pleasure fools no one in the end.

मराठी: तुकाराम अशा लोकांवर टीका करतात ज्यांची भक्ती अत्यल्प असते आणि ऐहिक सुखांची भूक मात्र भरपूर आणि अनियंत्रित असते, ते म्हणतात की असा माणूस जवळपास माणूसच नाही, तर माणसाच्या शरीरात असलेला ओझे वाहणारा प्राणी आहे. ते सांगतात की जो खरोखर कधीच भक्ती किंवा उपासना करत नाही त्याला जीवनाच्या पृष्ठभागाखाली काय आहे हे समजण्याचा खरा मार्गच नसतो. त्यांचा निष्कर्ष स्पष्ट आहे, अशा अर्धवट जगण्याला लाड न करता ठामपणे नाकारावे, कारण खोलीचा आव आणत केवळ सुखच पाठलाग करणे शेवटी कोणालाच फसवत नाही.

Where this applies

When you notice you are chasing pleasure and comfort while giving almost no attention to anything deeper
When someone performs devotion or good values only on the surface while living purely for their own gratification
When you need to be honest with yourself about whether your actions actually match your stated values
When you decide it is better to firmly turn away from a shallow, self-indulgent pattern than to keep indulging it

Autobiographical Bhakti