Abhanga 4455
The verse
तुळसीवृंदावनीं उपजला कांदा । नावडे गोविंदा कांहीं केल्या ॥१॥
तैसे वंशामध्यें जाले जे मानव । जाणावे दानव अक्त ते ॥ध्रु.॥
केवड्यामधील निगपध कणसें । तैशीं तीं माणसें भक्तिहीन ॥२॥
तुका म्हणे जेवीं वंदनांतिल आळी । न चढे निढळीं देवाचिया ॥३॥
Literal translation
Tulasī-vrndāvana-grew-onion — Govinda-doesn't-want. So-in-vamśa-mānava-bhakti-hīna — know-as-dānava-akta. Kēvaḍā's-pithless-stalk — so-bhakti-hīna-people. Tukā: as-sandalwood-worm — doesn't-rise-on-Deva's-forehead.
What it means
★ A 3-image anti-good-birth-without-bhakti text. In the basil-altar-pot, an onion grew — Govinda doesn't desire it — no matter what is done. So those humans born in a (noble) lineage but bhakti-less — know them as demons, unworthy. Like the pithless-stalk within the kēvaḍā (screwpine) — so are people who are bhakti-less. Tukā says: just as the worm within the sandalwood — it does not rise to be placed on the Deva's forehead. The 3-image-set counters caste-pride: (1) onion-in-tulasī-pot — wrong-content in right-place — (2) pithless-stalk in kēvaḍā — outer-form without inner-essence — (3) worm-in-sandalwood — adjacent-to-purity but-still-impure. Pair with 2973 (inner-quality-over-jāti).
For someone today
Tukārām: born-in-a-noble-lineage-but-bhakti-less = onion-in-the-basil-pot / pithless-stalk-in-the-kēvaḍā / worm-in-the-sandalwood — none-of-it-rises-to-the-Lord's-forehead.
Where this applies
- ★ Tukārām's good-birth-without-bhakti = 3-disqualifying-images canonical