Abhanga 4273
If your time, money, and attention flow easily to everything except God and genuine goodness while spiritual practice bores or exhausts you, you have wasted the life you were given.
The verse
पर्वकाळीं धर्म न करी नासरी । खर्ची राजद्वारीं द्रव्यरासी ॥१॥
सोइर्याची करी पाहुणेर बरा । कांडवी ठोंबरा संतांलागीं ॥ध्रु.॥
बाइलेचीं सर्व आवडीनें पोसी । मातापितरांसी दवडोनी ॥२॥
श्राद्धीं कष्टी होय सांगतां ब्राम्हण । गोवार मागून सावडीतो ॥३॥
नेतो पानें फुलें वेश्येला उदंड । ब्राम्हणासी खांड नेदी एक ॥४॥
हातें मोर्या शोधी कष्ट करी नाना । देवाच्या पूजना कांटाळतो ॥५॥
सारा वेळ धंदा करितां श्रमेना । साधूच्या दर्शना जातां कुंथे ॥६॥
हरिच्या कीर्तनीं गुंगायासि लागे । येरवीं तो जागे उगला चि ॥७॥
पुराणीं बैसतां नाहीं रिकामटी । खेळतो सोंगटी अहोरात्रीं ॥८॥
देवाच्या विभुती न पाहे सर्वथा । करी पानवथा नेत्रभिक्षा ॥९॥
गाईंला देखोनी बदबदां मारी । घोड्याची चाकरी गोड लागे ॥१०॥
ब्राम्हणाचें तीर्थ घेतां त्रास मोटा । प्रेमें घेतो घोंटा घटघटां ॥११॥
तुका म्हणे ऐसे प्रपंचीं गुंतले । जन्मोनि मुकले विठोबासी ॥१२॥
Literal translation
No-dharma-parva-kāḷa — dhana-at-rāja-dvāra. Sōiyā-pāhuṇēra-good — ṭhōmbarā-to-santas. Wife-supports — kicks-out-parents. Bothered-by-brāhmaṇa-in-śrāddha — calls-gōvāra. Pānē-phulē-to-vēśyā — not-a-piece-to-brāhmaṇa. Cleans-drain — bored-by-deva-pūjā. Day-work-no-tire — groans-at-sant-darshan. Sleeps-in-Hari-kīrtana — awake-otherwise. No-rikāmā-for-purāṇa — dice-day-night. No-deva-vibhūti — pānavathā-nētra-bhikṣā. Beats-cow — horse-service-sweet. Bothered-brāhmaṇa-tīrtha — drinks-alcohol-with-prema. Tukā: bound-in-prapancha — lost-Viṭhōbā.
What it means
THE canonical 12-verse anti-hypocrisy-householder mis-prioritization diagnostic — among the longest in the Gathā. 12 paired-contrasts of misallocated-effort: (1) skips holy-day-dharma but wastes money at king's-court; (2) hospitality-for-in-laws / millet-to-santas; (3) supports wife's side / kicks out parents; (4) brāhmaṇa-troubles in śrāddha / calls cowherds afterward; (5) heaps of betel-flowers for vēśyā / not a piece for brāhmaṇa; (6) hand-cleans-drains / bored by deva-pūjā; (7) all-day-work no-tire / groans at sant-darshan; (8) sleeps in kīrtana / awake everywhere else; (9) no leisure for purāṇa / dice day-and-night; (10) doesn't see deva-vibhūti / eye-begs at woman-place; (11) beats cow / loves horse-service; (12) bothered by brāhmaṇa-tīrtha (water-of-sacred-feet) / gulps alcohol with prema. Verdict: bound-in-prapancha, having-been-born he has lost-himself-from-Viṭhōbā. Pair with 3052-3057 (4-abhang anti-distorted-priorities cluster), 4201 (outer-show-vs-inner anti-hypocrisy).
For someone today
This is a long checklist of misplaced priorities: skipping religious duty on holy days but spending freely at the royal court; giving fine hospitality to relatives while offering only coarse gruel to holy people; indulging the wife's family while driving out one's own parents; growing bored during worship and groaning about visiting saints, yet never tiring from ordinary work or a night of dice. He dozes off during devotional singing but stays wide awake everywhere else, and is generous toward a courtesan while giving a Brahmin nothing at all. Tukaram's verdict is blunt: a person who lives this way has been born a human being and still missed God entirely.
मराठी: हा एक मोठा यादीच आहे, चुकीच्या प्राधान्यक्रमांची: सणावाराला धर्म न करता राजदरबारी पैसा उधळणे; नातेवाइकांचा थाटात पाहुणचार करणे पण संतांना फक्त जाडेभरडे अन्न देणे; बायकोच्या माहेरचे लाड पुरवणे आणि स्वतःच्या आईवडिलांना घराबाहेर काढणे; पूजेत कंटाळा येणे आणि साधुदर्शनाला जाताना कण्हणे, पण रोजच्या कामात किंवा जुगारात मात्र न थकणे. हरिकीर्तनात डुलकी येते, पण बाकी सगळीकडे मात्र पूर्ण जागा असतो; वेश्येसाठी भरभरून देतो, पण ब्राह्मणाला काहीच देत नाही. तुकाराम स्पष्ट सांगतात — असे जगणारा माणूस जन्माला येऊनही देवाला पूर्णपणे मुकतो.
Where this applies
- Tukārām's THE 12-verse anti-hypocrisy-householder mis-prioritization canonical foundational