Abhanga 4423
A guru-disciple relationship that is really just a financial arrangement dressed up as spiritual authority deserves condemnation from both sides.
The verse
जळोजळो तें गुरुपण । जळोजळो तें चेलेपण ॥१॥
गुरु आला वेशीद्वारीं । शिष्य पळतों खिंडोरीं ॥ध्रु.॥
काशासाटीं जालें येणें । त्याचें आलें वर्षासन ॥२॥
तुका म्हणे चेला । गुरू दोघे हि नरकाला ॥३॥
Literal translation
Burn-burn-guru-paṇa — burn-burn-chēlē-paṇa. Guru-came-vēśī — śiṣya-runs-khiṇḍa-to-hide. For-what-yēṇē — vārṣāsana-yearly-rent. Tukā: chēlā-guru-both-naraka-bound.
What it means
MAJOR canonical 3-verse anti-fake-guru-disciple polemic. Burn, burn that guruship — burn, burn that discipleship. The guru came to the village-gate — the disciple runs into the hill-pass (to hide). For what was this arrangement — his yearly-rent has come (to be collected). Tukā says: the disciple and the guru — both go to hell. The diagnostic-scene: the guru-disciple-relation is a financial-arrangement with annual-rent (vārṣāsana); when the rent-collecting-time comes, the disciple-hides — and the whole-arrangement is naraka-bound. The doubled jaḷō-jaḷō (burn-burn) is an intense-curse. Pair with 2962 (anti-fake-guru-7-verse), 2774 (anti-fake-guru-polemic), 4286 (anti-bhōndū-fake-sādhu), 4253 (anti-fake-mahanti).
For someone today
Tukaram unleashes a furious curse on fake spiritual relationships, burn away that so-called guruship, burn away that so-called discipleship. He paints a mocking scene where the guru shows up at the village gate and the disciple literally runs off to hide in the hills, because the guru has come to collect his yearly fee, not to teach anything real. The whole thing, Tukaram says bluntly, was never about wisdom or devotion at all, it was a rent-collecting arrangement, and both guru and disciple deserve to go to hell for turning something sacred into a transaction.
मराठी: तुकाराम खोट्या अध्यात्मिक नात्यांवर संतापाने शाप देतात - ते गुरुपणही जळो, ते चेलेपणही जळो. गुरू गावाच्या वेशीत आला की शिष्य खिंडीत पळून लपतो, असे उपहासात्मक चित्र ते रंगवतात, कारण गुरू शिकवायला नव्हे तर वार्षिक बिदागी वसूल करायला आलेला असतो. हे सगळे कधीच ज्ञान किंवा भक्तीबद्दल नव्हतेच, हे केवळ भाडेवसुलीचे व्यवहार होते, असे तुकाराम स्पष्टपणे म्हणतात, आणि पवित्र गोष्टीचे व्यवहारात रूपांतर केल्याबद्दल गुरू आणि शिष्य दोघेही नरकात जातात असे सांगतात.
Where this applies
- When you sense a spiritual teacher or guide cares more about payment than genuine guidance
- When you avoid someone because you know they only want something from you, not to help you
- When you are evaluating whether a relationship framed as spiritual is actually just financial
- When you want language sharp enough to name real anger at exploitation dressed up as devotion