Abhanga 4281
True devotion looks like walking away from what society prizes, treating both worldly pleasure and promised rewards as things to release, because that renunciation itself is the service God loves.
The verse
षडधसीं रांधिलें खापरीं घातलें । चोहोटा ठेविलें मध्यरात्रीं ॥१॥
त्यासी सदाचारी लोक न शिवती । श्वानासी निश्चिती फावलें तें ॥ध्रु.॥
तैसें दुष्टकर्म जालें हरिभक्ता । त्यागिली ममता विषयासक्ति ॥२॥
इहपरलोक उभय विटाळ । मानिती केवळ हरिचे दास ॥३॥
तुका म्हणे देवा आवडे हे सेवा । अनुदिनीं व्हावा पूर्ण हेतु ॥४॥
Literal translation
6-tastes-on-shard — at-crossroad-at-midnight. Sadāchārī-don't-touch — only-dog-gets-niścita. Duṣṭa-karma-to-Hari-bhakta — abandoned-mamatā-viṣayāsakti. Iha-para-loka-both-viṭāḷa — only-Hari-dāsas-think-so. Tukā: Deva-loves-sēvā — pūrṇa-hetu-day-by-day.
What it means
A 4-verse striking-image text. Cooking the 6-tastes on a potsherd placed at the crossroad at midnight — right-conducting people don't touch it; only the dog certainly gets it. So the (apparently) duṣṭa-karma has happened to the Hari-bhakta — (he has) abandoned attachment and pleasure-craving. Both this-world and the next, Hari-dāsas consider as pollution. Tukā says: Deva loves this sēvā — let this intention be fulfilled day-by-day. The image: 6-tastes-at-midnight-crossroad-on-shard = food-no-respectable-person-eats; only-the-dog claims it. The reversal: the Hari-bhakta is socially-similar (renounces what respectable society values) — but precisely-this-renunciation is Deva-loved-sēvā. Pair with 4227 (anti-pollution-ritual-reframing-untouchability).
For someone today
Tukaram uses a striking image: a feast of six flavors cooked and left on a broken piece of pottery at a midnight crossroads, food so tainted that no respectable person will touch it, so only a stray dog eats it. He says the true devotee of Hari looks a lot like this from the outside, because he has walked away from attachment and craving for pleasure, the very things ordinary society prizes. In fact, the devotee treats both worldly enjoyment now and the promise of heaven later as equally something to leave behind rather than chase. Tukaram says this renunciation is exactly the service God loves most, and he prays to live it fully, day after day.
मराठी: तुकाराम एक ठळक प्रतिमा वापरतात: मध्यरात्री चौकात फुटक्या खापरावर ठेवलेले सहा रसांचे अन्न, इतके अपवित्र मानले जाते की सभ्य माणूस त्याला हातही लावत नाही, फक्त कुत्राच ते खातो. ते म्हणतात की खरा हरिभक्त बाहेरून असाच दिसतो, कारण त्याने ममता आणि विषयासक्ती सोडून दिलेली असते — ज्या गोष्टींना समाज मोठे महत्त्व देतो. किंबहुना, तो इहलोकातील सुख आणि परलोकातील मोक्ष या दोन्हींनाही सोडून द्यायच्या गोष्टी मानतो, मागे लागायच्या नाही. तुकाराम म्हणतात की हाच त्याग देवाला सर्वात प्रिय सेवा आहे, आणि ते रोज हा हेतू पूर्ण व्हावा अशी प्रार्थना करतात.
Where this applies
- When people judge you as odd or lacking for walking away from things society considers valuable, like status or pleasure
- When you're tempted to chase either worldly comfort now or promised rewards later instead of simply devoting yourself
- When you feel like an outsider because your priorities don't match what respectable people around you chase
- When you want a daily reminder to renew your intention to let go of attachment rather than let it build up again