Abhanga 4172
A guru taken for worldly fortune instead of genuine guidance can leave a household worse off, while the guru still profits from the disciple's loss.
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 describes taking a guru hoping for worldly fortune, and it brought nothing but loss: as soon as the man's mantra reached his ear, the household began falling apart, the grain store spoiled, the cattle wandered off. The guru still took his fee and trinkets while the family's prosperity drained away. Tukārām warns that people who exploit faith this way end up doubling their own suffering, not just their victims'. The point is to notice when a spiritual relationship is really a transaction dressed up in sacred language, and to be honest about what it is actually costing you.
मराठी: तुकाराम सांगतात की भाग्यासाठी गुरु केला, पण त्यातून काहीच फळले नाही उलट नुकसानच झाले: त्याचा मंत्र कानी पडताच घरदार बिघडू लागले, धान्याचे कोठार खराब झाले, गुरेढोरे हरवली. गुरूने आपली फी आणि नजराणा मात्र घेतलाच, तोवर कुटुंबाची समृद्धी मात्र संपत गेली. तुकाराम म्हणतात की श्रद्धेचा असा गैरफायदा घेणाऱ्यांचे दुःख उलट दुप्पट होते. यातून हा धडा मिळतो की अध्यात्माच्या नावाखाली चाललेला व्यवहार वेळीच ओळखावा आणि त्याची खरी किंमत प्रामाणिकपणे तपासावी.
Where this applies
- Tukārām's anti-fake-guru polemic
- Companion to 2962 (most-detailed 17th-c anti-fake-guru) and 4152 (pōṭa-bharē-sants)