संत साहित्य · Tukārām · Abhanga 4354 of 4582

Abhanga 4354

Knowledge weighed down by ego looks impressive on the surface but is actually a disease, and pride in the body is like honoring a corpse.

When you sense people keeping their distance from you despite your outward achievements

When you catch your knowledge or learning turning into arrogance that pushes others away

When you realize you are pouring effort into pride and appearance rather than what truly lasts

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

Tukaram compares the pale white patches of leprosy to knowledge puffed up with ego, it looks striking on the surface but is actually a sign of disease. He says no one truly warms up to a person like that inside, when others get close they instinctively feel uneasy and pull away. Treating the body with pride is, he says, like dressing up a corpse, all effort spent honoring something that is already decaying. Tukaram is blunt about it, calling this kind of self-important, body-obsessed identity as unappealing as eating filth.

मराठी: तुकाराम कुष्ठरोगाच्या पांढऱ्या फिकट डागांची तुलना अहंकारयुक्त ज्ञानाशी करतात, ते वरवर उठून दिसतं पण खरं तर ते आजाराचं लक्षण असतं. ते म्हणतात, अशा माणसाच्या आतल्या गोष्टीत कोणालाच खरा जिव्हाळा वाटत नाही, जवळ गेल्यावर लोक नकळत अस्वस्थ होऊन दूर सरकतात. शरीराचा गर्व बाळगणं म्हणजे प्रेताला सजवण्यासारखं आहे, जे आधीच कुजत चाललेलं आहे त्याचा मान राखण्यात सगळी शक्ती खर्च करणं. तुकाराम स्पष्टपणे म्हणतात, अशी गर्विष्ठ, देहाशी बांधलेली ओळख विष्ठा खाण्याइतकीच अरुचिकर आहे.

Where this applies

When you notice someone impressive on the surface but people quietly avoid getting close to them
When you catch yourself taking pride in your knowledge or status and pushing others away
When you spend enormous effort maintaining appearances for a body or image that will not last
When you want a blunt reminder of how ugly ego-driven identity looks once you see past its polish

Autobiographical