संत साहित्य · Tukārām · Abhanga 4135 of 4582

Abhanga 4135

Speaking sacred words means nothing unless your actual conduct changes, since devotion without self-discipline is just empty performance.

When someone speaks about their values eloquently but their daily behavior never reflects them.

When you catch yourself performing devotion or virtue for an audience rather than actually living it.

When you judge whether a practice is genuine by looking at real changes in conduct, not just words.

The verse

इंद्रियांसी नेम नाहीं । मुखीं राम म्हणोनि काई ॥१॥ जेविं मासीसंगें अन्न । सुख नेदी तें भोजन ॥ध्रु.॥ कीर्तन करावें । तैसें करूनी दावावें ॥२॥ हें तों अंगीं नाहीं चिन्हें । गाइलें वेश्येच्या ढव्यानें ॥३॥ तुका म्हणे नका रागा । संत शिवूं नेदिती अंगा ॥४॥

Literal translation

No-niyama-indriya — mukha-Rāma-pointless. Fly-in-food — no-sukha. Kīrtana-done-and-shown. No-chinha-in-anga — sung-by-vēśyā-vainglory. Tukā: don't-be-angry — santas-don't-let-touch-anga.

What it means

A 4-verse anti-empty-kīrtana text. If there's no control of the senses, what good is saying Rāma by mouth? Like food with a fly in it — that meal gives no joy. Kīrtana must be done and shown in the body. If no sign is on the body, it has been sung in courtesan-vainglory. Don't get angry — but the santas don't let such a one touch them. The diagnosis: kīrtana-without-bodily-sign = vēśyā's-vainglory. Sharp anti-performance-bhakti polemic.

For someone today

Tukaram warns that saying God's name with your mouth means nothing if you haven't disciplined your senses, comparing it to a meal ruined by a fly landing in it. True devotional singing has to actually show itself in how you live and act, not just in performance. If there's no visible change in a person's conduct, he says their singing is just vanity, like a show put on for applause, and true saints won't even let such a person get close to them.

मराठी: तुकाराम इशारा देतात की इंद्रियांवर ताबा नसेल तर नुसते तोंडाने रामनाम घेण्याला काहीच अर्थ नाही, ते अन्नात माशी पडल्यासारखे आहे. खरे कीर्तन प्रत्यक्ष जगण्यात आणि वागण्यात दिसले पाहिजे, केवळ सादरीकरणात नाही. जर माणसाच्या वागण्यात कोणताच बदल दिसत नसेल, तर त्याचे गाणे केवळ अहंकार आहे, टाळ्यांसाठी केलेला देखावा, असे ते म्हणतात, आणि खरे संत अशा माणसाला जवळही येऊ देत नाहीत.

Where this applies

When you notice someone talks piously but their actual behavior never changes
When you catch yourself performing devotion for an audience rather than living it quietly
When you want your inner values to actually show up in your daily conduct, not just your words
When you're tempted to judge sincerity by eloquence rather than by how someone actually lives