Abhanga 4235
Reclaiming out of greed what your family has already given away in charity is a serious moral failure whose harsh consequences extend beyond the greedy person alone.
The verse
वडिलें दिलें भूमिदान । तें जो मागे अभिळासून ॥१॥
अग्रपूजेचा अधिकारी । श्रेष्ठ दंड यमा घरीं ॥ध्रु.॥
उभयकुल समवेत । नर्का प्रवेश अद्भुत ॥२॥
तप्तलोहें भेटी । तुका म्हणे कल्पकोटी ॥३॥
Literal translation
Vaḍile dile bhūmi-dāna — bhūmi-dāna given by ancestors; te jō māge abhiḷāsūna — one who reclaims with abhiḷāṣa. Agra-pūjeñcā adhikārī — the one eligible for agra-pūjā; śreṣṭha damḍa yamā gharīm — supreme daṇḍa in yama's house. Ubhayakuḷa samaveta — both kulas together; narkā praveśa adbhuta — praveśa to naraka in adbhuta way. Tapta-lōhe bheṭī — meets tapta-lōha; Tukā mhaṇe kalpa-kōṭī — Tukā says: for kalpa-koṭi.
What it means
A 3-verse anti-revoking-bhūmi-dāna polemic. The one-who-reclaims-ancestors'-gift goes-to-yama-house; both-kulas-to-naraka; meets-red-hot-iron for-kalpa-koṭi.
For someone today
Tukaram gives a sharp warning about greed toward a gift that has already been given away. If your ancestors donated land or wealth to charity and you later try to reclaim it out of greed, even someone who once held a place of highest honor will face the harshest punishment for it. He says the consequences do not stop with the greedy person alone but pull both sides of the family into terrible suffering, and describes it as meeting red-hot iron for ages beyond counting. The lesson is that going back on a generous commitment your family made, purely out of self-interest, is a serious moral failure with consequences that outlast the person who commits it.
मराठी: तुकाराम आधीच दिलेल्या दानाबद्दलच्या लोभाबद्दल कडक इशारा देतात. जर तुमच्या पूर्वजांनी जमीन किंवा संपत्ती दानात दिली असेल आणि तुम्ही नंतर लोभापोटी ती परत मिळवण्याचा प्रयत्न केला, तर एकेकाळी सर्वोच्च सन्मान मिळालेल्या व्यक्तीलाही याचे कठोरात कठोर फळ भोगावे लागते. ते सांगतात की याचे परिणाम फक्त लोभी व्यक्तीपुरतेच मर्यादित राहत नाहीत, तर दोन्ही बाजूच्या कुळांना भयंकर दुःखात ओढतात, आणि याचे वर्णन ते तप्त लोखंडाला असंख्य युगे भेटावे लागणे असे करतात. स्वतःच्या स्वार्थासाठी कुटुंबाने दिलेल्या उदार वचनाकडे पाठ फिरवणे हा गंभीर नैतिक अपराध आहे, ज्याचे परिणाम तो करणाऱ्या व्यक्तीच्याही पलीकडे राहतात हाच यातील बोध आहे.
Where this applies
- When you feel tempted to take back something you or your family already gave away generously
- When greed makes you reconsider a charitable or generous commitment out of self-interest
- When you are managing an inheritance and must decide whether to honor a prior generation's promises
- When you weigh a short-term personal gain against the wider harm it could cause your family