Abhanga 4259
People often stay wide awake for idle distraction while dozing through what is truly nourishing, and naming that honestly, without anger, is the first step toward change.
The verse
संत देखोनियां स्वयें दृष्टी टाळी । आदरें न्याहाळी परस्त्रीसी ॥१॥
वीट ये कर्णासी संतवाक्यामृता । स्त्रीशब्द ऐकतां निवे कर्ण ॥ध्रु.॥
कथेमाजी निज वाटे नित्यक्षणीं । स्त्रियेचे कीर्तनीं प्रेमें जागे ॥२॥
तुका म्हणे तुम्ही क्रोधासी न यावें । स्वभावा करावें काय कोणीं ॥३॥
Literal translation
Eyes-close-santas — open-paranārī. Ear-disgusted-sant-words — refreshed-strī-words. Sleep-in-kathā — prema-awake-in-strī-kīrtana. Tukā: don't-be-angry — svabhāva-can't-be-changed.
What it means
THE canonical 4-image dual-svabhāva-contrast text. Seeing santas, he closes his own sight; but watches other-women with affection. His ear is disgusted by the sant-words'-nectar; but refreshed by woman's-speech. In the kathā, he feels sleep every moment; but in the woman's kīrtana, he stays awake with love. Tukā says: don't come to anger — what can anyone do with nature? The 3-fold sense-by-sense diagnostic: (1) eyes — close on santas / open on women; (2) ears — disgusted by sant-words / refreshed by women's; (3) wakefulness — asleep in kathā / awake in women's-kīrtana. The pragmatic close svabhāva-can't-be-changed is striking — Tukārām acknowledges the limit of moral-instruction. Pair with 4187 (vēśyā-jāga-vs-harikīrtana-nidrā), 4257 (instructional-futility).
For someone today
Tukaram paints a sharp picture of how our attention quietly betrays us. The same person who shuts his eyes when a saint appears keeps them wide open, with real interest, when another woman passes by. The same ears that grow tired of hearing wise, nourishing words perk right up at idle gossip or flirtatious talk. And in a sacred gathering he nods off, moment by moment, yet stays fully alert and delighted through worldly entertainment. Tukaram does not simply scold, he says do not get angry about it, because this is just how a person's untrained nature works, and naming that clearly is the first honest step.
मराठी: तुकाराम आपलं लक्ष कसं आपल्यालाच फसवतं, याचं एक धारदार चित्र रंगवतात. जो माणूस संत दिसताच डोळे मिटतो, तोच माणूस दुसरी स्त्री दिसली की मात्र डोळे भरून, आवडीने बघतो. ज्या कानांना शहाणपणाचे, पोषक शब्द ऐकून कंटाळा येतो, तेच कान फालतू गप्पा किंवा चटपटीत बोलणं ऐकताच टवकारतात. आणि पवित्र सभेत तो क्षणाक्षणाला डुलक्या घेतो, पण ऐहिक करमणुकीत मात्र पूर्ण जागा, आनंदात राहतो. तुकाराम फक्त दोष देत नाहीत, ते म्हणतात यावर रागावू नका, कारण माणसाचा न शिकवलेला स्वभाव असाच वागतो, आणि हे स्पष्टपणे ओळखणं हेच पहिलं प्रामाणिक पाऊल आहे.
Where this applies
- Tukārām's THE 4-image dual-svabhāva-contrast canonical