Abhanga 4152
Do not trust teachers whose actions contradict their words; real spirituality is judged by what a person does, not by how well they preach.
The verse
घालूनियां मध्यावर्ती । दाटुनि उपदेश देती ॥१॥
ऐसे पोटभरे संत । तयां कैंचा भगवंत ॥ध्रु.॥
रांडापोरांतें गोविती । वर्षासन ते लाविती ॥२॥
जसे बोलती निरोपणीं । तैसी न करिती करणी ॥३॥
तुका म्हणे तया । तमोगुणियाची क्रिया ॥४॥
Literal translation
Ghālūniyām madhyāvartī — dāṭuni upadeśa dētī — placing (themselves) in the middle — they forcibly give instruction. Aise pōṭabharē santa — tayām kaiñchā Bhagavanta — such stomach-filler sants — where is Bhagavanta for them. Rāṇḍāpōrāntē govitī — varṣāsana te lāvitī — they entangle with women-children — they fix yearly-stipend. Jase bōlatī niropaṇīm — taisī na karitī karaṇī — as they speak in discourse — they do not do in action. Tukā mhaṇe tayā — tamōguṇiyāchī kriyā — Tukā says: this is the action of tamōguṇa.
What it means
A 4-verse anti-fake-guru polemic. Stomach-filler-sants force-themselves-into-the-middle; tangle-with-women-children; fix-annual-stipend; preach-but-don't-do; this-is-tamoguṇa-action. The varṣāsana reference points to the 17th-c. practice of land-grants and stipends to monastic-functionaries.
For someone today
Tukaram calls out spiritual teachers who push themselves into positions of authority and then lecture others while quietly living off donations, fixed stipends, and worldly entanglements with family and comfort. Their words in discourse do not match their actions, he says; they preach one thing and live another. He names this hypocrisy the work of tamoguna, the quality of darkness and inertia, and warns that real Bhagavanta is not present in people like that, no matter how spiritual they sound.
मराठी: तुकाराम अशा गुरूंना उघडे पाडतात जे स्वतःला मध्यभागी घालून इतरांना उपदेश देतात, पण प्रत्यक्षात देणग्या, ठराविक वर्षासन आणि कुटुंब-सुखाच्या मोहात अडकलेले असतात. ते जे बोलतात ते प्रत्यक्ष आचरणात आणत नाहीत, असे ते सांगतात. अशा ढोंगीपणाला ते तमोगुणाची क्रिया म्हणतात आणि सांगतात की असे लोक कितीही अध्यात्मिक बोलले तरी त्यांच्याजवळ खरा भगवंत नसतो.
Where this applies
- Tukārām's anti-fake-guru polemic
- Companion to 2962 (most-detailed anti-fake-guru) and 2844-2847 (anti-fake-renunciate cluster)