Abhanga 4354
Kōḍa-paleness — ahankārī-jñāna.
The verse
कोडियाचें गोरेपण । तैसें अहंकारीज्ञान ॥१॥
त्यासि अंतरीं रिझे कोण । जवळी जातां चळिसवाण ॥ध्रु.॥
प्रेतदेह गौरविलें । तैसें विटंबवाणें जालें ॥२॥
तुका म्हणे खाणें विष्ठा । तैशा देहबुद्धिचेष्टा ॥३॥
Literal translation
Kōḍa-paleness — ahankārī-jñāna. Going-near — scattering. Prēta-deha-honored — viṭambavāṇa. Tukā: deha-buddhi-cheṣṭā — eating-viṣṭha.
What it means
★ A 3-verse ego-knowledge critique. The paleness of leprosy — is like ego-knowledge. In one's inner, who delights in it — going near, (people) scatter and become uneasy. To honor a corpse-body is just to bring disgrace. Tukā says: like eating excrement — such are the doings of body-identification. 3 striking images for ego-knowledge: (1) kōḍa-paleness (leprosy-pallor — looks-pale-but-is-disease); (2) honoring-corpse-body (disgraceful waste); (3) eating-excrement (the radical anti-deha-buddhi closer). Sharp polemic.
For someone today
Tukārām: ego-knowledge-is-like-the-pallor-of-leprosy — people-scatter-when-they-come-near; honoring-the-corpse-body-is-disgrace.
Where this applies
- ★ Tukārām's ego-knowledge-as-leprosy-paleness canonical