संत साहित्य · Tukārām · Abhanga 4476 of 4582

Abhanga 4476

Tukaram describes bhakti as an open market with no caste-based seating, where anyone can enter on credit and the only capital required is genuine devotional feeling.

When you feel too poor, too low-caste, or too unqualified to approach a temple or spiritual gathering.

When you see people seated or treated differently based on status at a religious event.

When you keep delaying starting a devotional practice because you feel you have nothing to offer yet.

The verse

भरणी आली मुH पेठा । करा लाटा व्यापार ॥१॥ उधार घ्या रे उधार घ्या रे । अवघे या रे जातीचे ॥ध्रु.॥ येथें पंक्तिभेद नाहीं । मोठें कांहीं लहान ॥२॥ तुका म्हणे लाभ घ्यावा । मुद्दल भावा जतन ॥३॥

Literal translation

Bharaṇī-came-mukta-pēṭhā — do-lāṭā-business. Take-credit-take-credit — all-(of-any)-jāti-come. Here-no-pankti-bhēda — nothing-big-nothing-small. Tukā: take-lābha — keep-mūdala-of-bhāva.

What it means

A 3-verse canonical bhakti-market-with-explicit-no-pankti-bhēda text. The bulk-supply has come — the market is free/open — do your bulk-units of business. Take credit, take credit — all of any caste come here. Here there is no caste-discrimination of seating — nothing is big, nothing is small. Tukā says: take the profit — keep careful the capital — which is devotional-feeling. The market-image: Tukārām re-applies the merchant-vocabulary (pēṭhā = market, bharaṇī = bulk-load, lāṭā = bulk-units, vyāpāra = business, udhāra = credit, muddala = capital) to bhakti — and explicitly declares no-pankti-bhēda (no-caste-discrimination of-seating-for-eating — the most-fraught of-caste-distinctions). all-of-any-jāti-come + no big-or-small = explicit caste-equality. The closing mūdala = bhāva — capital-required-for-the-business is just devotional-feeling. Pair with 2745 (Paṇḍharī-hāṭa-bhakti-market), 4361 (Vārkarī-as-Vaikuṇṭha-port-traveler), 2810 (saints-list-democratization), 2973 (inner-quality-over-jāti).

For someone today

Tukaram pictures bhakti as a bustling, open marketplace: the goods have arrived, the doors are open, and everyone is invited to come and do business. You can take devotion on credit, no cash needed up front, and it is offered to people of every caste and background alike. There is no special seating for the important and the unimportant here; nobody is turned away as too small or too great. The only capital you ever need to bring is a sincere heart.

मराठी: तुकाराम भक्तीची तुलना एका खुल्या, गजबजलेल्या बाजाराशी करतात: माल आलेला आहे, बाजार खुला आहे, आणि सर्वांना व्यापार करण्यासाठी आमंत्रण आहे. इथे उधारीवर भक्ती घेता येते, आधी पैसे लागत नाहीत, आणि ती सर्व जातींच्या, सर्व स्तरांच्या लोकांना सारखीच दिली जाते. इथे मोठ्यांसाठी वेगळी पंगत आणि लहानांसाठी वेगळी पंगत नाही; कोणीही लहान किंवा मोठा म्हणून बाजूला सारला जात नाही. फक्त एकच भांडवल लागते, ते म्हणजे मनापासूनची भावना.

Where this applies

When someone feels they cannot approach faith because they lack money, status, or formal qualifications
When a community or gathering quietly favors important people with better seats or attention
When you assume devotion has to be earned slowly instead of simply started right now, even empty-handed
When you wonder whether people from your background are really welcome in a religious space