Abhanga 4258
Advice cannot reach someone whose desires are fundamentally impure and who refuses to listen, no matter how much is said to them.
The verse
किती उपदेश करावा खळासी । नावडे तयासी बरें कांहीं ॥१॥
शुद्ध हे वासना नाहीं चांडाळाची । होळी आयुष्याची केली तेणें ॥ध्रु.॥
नाहीं शुद्ध भाव नायके वचन । आपण्या आपण नाडियेलें ॥२॥
तुका म्हणे त्यासी काय व्याली रांड । करितो बडबड रात्रदिस ॥३॥
Literal translation
How-much-upadeśa-to-khaḷa — nothing-pleases. Chāṇḍāḷa-vāsanā-not-śuddha — burnt-āyuṣya. No-śuddha-bhāva-no-listening — fooled-himself. Tukā: what-rāṇḍa-bore-him — chatters-day-and-night.
What it means
A 3-verse continuation of 4257 (instructional-futility). How much instruction to give a wicked-one — nothing good pleases him. The chāṇḍāḷa's craving isn't pure — he has made a bonfire of his life. No pure feeling, doesn't listen to any word; fooled himself. Tukā says: what whore gave birth to him — chattering day and night. Pair with 4257.
For someone today
Tukaram asks how much advice can possibly be given to someone who is simply wicked at heart, since nothing good ever pleases such a person. He says this kind of person's desires are impure through and through, and that they have effectively burned their whole life away chasing them. Without any real sincerity, they refuse to listen to a single word said to them, and end up fooling no one but themselves. Tukaram closes in real frustration, throwing out a harsh insult about the man's very origins, because all the person does, day and night, is talk without ever changing.
मराठी: तुकाराम विचारतात, मनातून खरोखर वाईट असलेल्या माणसाला किती उपदेश द्यायचा, कारण त्याला कशातच बरं वाटत नाही. ते म्हणतात, अशा माणसाच्या इच्छा मुळातूनच अशुद्ध असतात, आणि त्याने आपलं संपूर्ण आयुष्य त्याच इच्छांच्या मागे लागून जाळून टाकलेलं असतं. मनात खरा प्रामाणिकपणा नसल्याने तो कुणाचंही ऐकत नाही, आणि शेवटी स्वतःलाच फसवतो. तुकाराम शेवटी खरा राग व्यक्त करत त्याच्या जन्मावरच कठोर टीका करतात, कारण तो माणूस रात्रंदिवस फक्त बडबड करत राहतो, बदलत मात्र काहीच नाही.
Where this applies
- When you keep trying to reason with someone whose desires and habits are deeply set against change
- When you realize you have spent years chasing something that is quietly ruining your life
- When someone refuses to listen no matter how sincerely you speak to them
- When you feel real frustration at a person who talks endlessly but never actually changes