Abhanga 4466
Someone with little real knowledge but great pride who mocks good people and treats them as impure is the truly impure one, and slandering sincere devotees while chanting is a sin that never washes off.
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 describes a certain type of person, someone who knows very little but carries enormous pride, convinced that no one is wiser than himself. That stiffness and self-importance fills his whole manner, so he ends up respecting no one, and even mocks genuinely good, humble people. Tukārām turns the usual idea of impurity on its head, he says whoever looks at a good, decent person and sees only defilement is actually the truly impure one, no one else. And a person who slanders sincere devotees while still going through the motions of chanting God's name has piled up a sin so hardened it can't be scraped off, like plaster set as hard as diamond. His conclusion is blunt, people caught in this kind of illusion and arrogance simply do not have God with them, not at all.
मराठी: तुकाराम एका विशिष्ट प्रवृत्तीच्या माणसाचे वर्णन करतात, ज्याला ज्ञान थोडेच असते पण गर्व प्रचंड असतो, त्याला वाटते की आपल्यापेक्षा शहाणा कोणीच नाही. ही ताठरता आणि आत्मप्रौढी त्याच्या संपूर्ण वागण्यात भिनलेली असते, त्यामुळे तो कोणाचाच आदर करत नाही, आणि खरोखर चांगल्या, नम्र माणसांचीही थट्टा करतो. तुकाराम शुद्धतेची नेहमीची कल्पना उलटवतात, ते म्हणतात जो कोणी चांगल्या, सज्जन माणसाकडे पाहून त्याच्यात फक्त अशुद्धता पाहतो, तोच खरोखर अशुद्ध आहे, दुसरा कोणी नाही. आणि जो तोंडाने नामजप करत असतानाच सज्जनांची निंदा करतो, त्याने असे पाप साठवले आहे जे हिऱ्यासारख्या घट्ट प्लास्टरसारखे कधीच निघत नाही. त्यांचा निष्कर्ष स्पष्ट आहे, अशा भ्रमात आणि गर्वात अडकलेल्या लोकांकडे परमेश्वर मुळीच नसतो.
Where this applies
- When you notice someone with only a little knowledge acting as if they're the wisest person in the room
- When you catch yourself looking down on or mocking someone genuinely humble and good
- When you're quick to judge someone else as impure or unworthy while ignoring your own attitude
- When you see someone going through the motions of prayer or chanting while still speaking badly of sincere people