Abhanga 4172
Bhāgyāsāṭīm guru kelā — nāhīm āmhāmsī phaḷalā — for fortune I made a guru — did not bear fruit for us.
The verse
भाग्यासाटीं गुरु केला । नाहीं आम्हांसी फळला ॥१॥
याचा मंत्र पडतां कानीं । आमच्या पेवांत गेलें पाणी ॥ध्रु.॥
गुरु केला घरवासी । आमच्या चुकल्या गाईम्हसी ॥२॥
स्वामी आपुली बुटबुट घ्यावी । आमुची प्रताप टाकुन द्यावी ॥३॥
तुका म्हणे ऐसे नष्ट । त्यांसी दुणे होती कष्ट ॥४॥
Literal translation
Bhāgyāsāṭīm guru kelā — nāhīm āmhāmsī phaḷalā — for fortune I made a guru — did not bear fruit for us. Yāchā mantra paḍatām kānīm — āmacyā pevāmta gele pāṇī — his mantra falling in ear — water went into our grain-pit. Guru kelā gharavāsī — āmacyā chukalyā gāīmhasī — made a householder guru — our cows-buffaloes got lost. Svāmī āpulī buṭabuṭa ghyāvī — āmuchī pratāpa ṭākuna dyāvī — svāmī takes his trinkets — throws-away our prosperity. Tukā mhaṇe aise naṣṭa — tyāñsī duṇe hōtī kaṣṭa — Tukā says: such ruined ones — for them kaṣṭa doubles.
What it means
A 4-verse anti-mercantile-guru polemic. Made-a-guru-for-fortune — fruitless; his-mantra-spoiled-my-grain-pit; the-guru-being-a-householder — our-cattle-got-lost; the-svāmī-takes-his-trinkets — leaves-us-prosperity-spoiled; such-frauds — doubled-suffering. The grain-pit / cattle-loss imagery: domestic-disasters following the false-guru's mantra are concrete mid-17th-c. examples.
For someone today
Tukārām says: a-guru-taken-for-worldly-fortune brings-not-fruit-but-loss; the-trinket-taking-svāmī robs-you-twice — once-of-money, once-of-trust.
Where this applies
- Tukārām's anti-fake-guru polemic
- Companion to 2962 (most-detailed 17th-c anti-fake-guru) and 4152 (pōṭa-bharē-sants)