Abhanga 4466
The verse
अल्प विद्या परि गर्वशिरोमणि । मजहुनि ज्ञानी कोणी आहे ॥१॥
अंगीं भरे ताठा कोणासी मानीना । साधूची हेळणा स्वयें करी ॥ध्रु.॥
सज्जनाच्या देहीं मानी जो विटाळ । त्रैलोकीं चांडाळ तो चि एक ॥२॥
संतांची जो निंदा करी मुखीं जप । खतेलें तें पाप वज्रलेप ॥३॥
तुका म्हणे ऐसे मावेचे मइंद । त्यांपाशीं गोविंद नाहीं नाहीं ॥४॥
Literal translation
Alpa-vidyā-garva-śirōmaṇi — no-jñānī-than-me. Tāṭhā-fills-no-respect — sādhū-mocked-self. Viṭāḷa-of-sajjana-deha — only-chāṇḍāḷa-trailokya. Sant-nindā-with-Name-japa = pāpa-vajra-lēpa. Tukā: such-māvēchē-maimda — no-Govinda.
What it means
★ A 4-verse anti-fake-jñāna polemic. With little knowledge but head-jewel of pride — thinks there is no knower other than him. Stiffness fills the body — doesn't respect anyone — himself mocks the sādhu. Whoever considers defilement in the body of the good-person — he is the only chāṇḍāḷa in the three-worlds. He who slanders sants with japa on his mouth — that piled-up sin is diamond-plaster (immovable, hardened). Tukā says: such māyā-besotted ones — with them, Govinda is not — no, not at all. The diagnosis: (a) alpa-vidyā + garva-śirōmaṇi = ego-with-little-substance — (b) thinks-himself-supreme-knower — (c) mocks-sādhus — (d) treats-sajjana-deha-as-polluted = he-is-the-only-chāṇḍāḷa-in-all-three-worlds — (e) sant-nindā-with-mouth-doing-japa = vajra-lēpa pāpa (diamond-plaster-sin, can-never-be-removed). The key-line: the-one-treating-sajjana-as-polluted is himself the only chāṇḍāḷa-of-the-three-worlds — radical-inversion of caste-pollution-logic onto-the-discriminator. Pair with 4189 (nindaka-as-paropakārī), 4192-area anti-pride.
For someone today
Tukārām: the-little-knower-with-pride-thinks-himself-supreme — mocks-the-good — treats-the-saint-as-polluted = HE-is-the-only-chāṇḍāḷa-in-the-three-worlds — and-slandering-sants-while-doing-japa = diamond-plaster-sin.
Where this applies
- ★ Tukārām's anti-fake-jñāna + treating-sant-as-polluted = self-chāṇḍāḷa canonical