Abhanga 4460
Preaching passionately while hiding your true inner state is just a costume, and the truth will eventually catch up and demand an answer you can't give.
The verse
शिकवणेसाटीं वाटते तळमळ । पुढें येईंल काळा फोडों डोईं ॥१॥
तेव्हां त्यासि काय देशील उत्तर । मेळउनि अंतर ठेवितोसि ॥ध्रु.॥
येथींचिया सोंगें भोरपियाचे परि । होईंल तें दुरि शृंगारिलें ॥२॥
तुका म्हणे कां रे राखिलें खरकटें । रागेल्याचे तंट रागेलें का ॥३॥
Literal translation
For-teaching-feel-taḷamaḷa — ahead-Kāla-comes-breaks-head. What-uttara-to-give — keeping-inner-hidden. Here-sōmga-bhōrapī — that-which-is-distant-dressed-up. Tukā: why-keep-kharakaṭa — quarrel-by-being-angry.
What it means
A 3-verse anti-hypocrisy text. For mere teaching, you feel fervor — ahead Time will come and break your head. Then what answer will you give him — keeping your inner real-state hidden away? Your show here is like the chameleon (mask-changing actor) — that which is distant is merely dressed-up. Tukā says: why have you kept the leftover-scraps — does the angry-one's quarrel last by being-angry back? The diagnosis: you're a teacher-to-others but inner-state hidden — like a bhōrapī (chameleon / mask-changing-folk-actor) who-dresses-up-something-distant-from-himself. When Kāla comes to break your head, your-display will not save-you. Pair with 2962 (anti-fake-guru), 3074 (anti-monetized-kīrtana).
For someone today
Tukārām warns about people who preach or teach with great passion while keeping their own inner state completely hidden, like an actor dressing up in a costume that has nothing to do with who they really are underneath. He says this kind of performance doesn't hold up forever, one day Time will come and break your head, meaning the truth will catch up with you, and then what answer will you give when the gap between your show and your reality is exposed? He ends with a sharper question, why keep holding onto old leftover grudges, does answering someone's anger with your own anger ever actually end a quarrel?
मराठी: तुकाराम अशा लोकांबद्दल इशारा देतात जे मोठ्या उत्साहाने उपदेश करतात पण स्वतःची खरी अंतरस्थिती पूर्णपणे लपवून ठेवतात, जणू एखादा नट स्वतःशी काहीही संबंध नसलेला वेश परिधान करतो. ते म्हणतात असा देखावा कायम टिकत नाही, एक दिवस काळ येऊन डोके फोडेल, म्हणजे सत्य तुझ्यासमोर उभे राहील, आणि तेव्हा तुझा देखावा आणि खरी स्थिती यातील फरक उघड झाल्यावर तू काय उत्तर देणार आहेस? शेवटी ते आणखी तीक्ष्ण प्रश्न विचारतात, जुनी उरलीसुरली भांडणे का धरून ठेवतोस, कोणाच्या रागाला रागानेच उत्तर दिल्याने भांडण खरेच संपते का?
Where this applies
- When you notice yourself teaching or advising others about values you don't actually live up to yourself
- When you're putting on a passionate public display that doesn't match your quieter private reality
- When you sense that the truth about your inner state will eventually catch up with your outer performance
- When you're holding onto an old grudge or answering someone's anger with your own anger