संत साहित्य · Tukārām · Abhanga 59 of 4582

Abhanga 59

There are markers of being-alive that are not biological. Without them, the body is wood; the house is a cremation ground; the mouth is a washerman's pit.

When you wonder if your life is registering as a life — the practice-markers Tukaram names give a concrete diagnostic

When you have stopped doing the small daily markers (vow, tulsi, name, kirtan) and you have to ask whether the absence is showing up in your body

When you encounter a household that feels dead and you have to recognize what is missing — Tukaram names it

The verse

जया नाहीं नेम एकादशीव्रत । जाणावें तें प्रेत शव लोकीं ॥१॥ त्याचें वय नित्य काळ लेखीताहे । रागें दात खाय कराकरा ॥ध्रु.॥ जयाचिये द्वारीं तुळसीवृंदावन । नाहीं तें स्मशान गृह जाणां ॥२॥ जये कुळीं नाहीं एक ही वैष्णव । त्याचा बुडे भवनदीतापा ॥३॥ विठोबाचें नाम नुच्चारी जें तोंड । प्रत्यक्ष तें कुंड रजकाचें ॥४॥ तुका म्हणे त्याचे काष्ठ हातपाय । कीर्तना नव जाय हरीचिया ॥५॥

Literal translation

English: One who has no rule of ekādaśī-fast — know him as a corpse-among-the-living. Time is keeping his account daily; (Time) chews its teeth angrily. The house at whose door no tulsi-vrindavan stands — know that house as a cremation-ground. The lineage in which there is not one Vaishnava — that one drowns in the burning river of bhava (worldly existence). The mouth that does not utter Vitthal's name — that mouth is plainly the washerman's pit. Tuka says: his hands and feet are wood — if he does not go to Hari's kirtan.

मराठी: एकादशीव्रत न पाळणारा — त्याला लोकांत प्रेत-शव म्हणून जाणा. त्याचं वय काळ रोज मोजतो; रागाने कराकर दात खातो. ज्याच्या दारी तुळसी-वृंदावन नाही — ते घर स्मशान म्हणून जाणा. ज्या कुळात एकही वैष्णव नाही — तो भवनदीच्या तापात बुडतो. विठोबाचं नाव न उच्चारणारं तोंड — ते रजकाचं कुंड. तुकाराम म्हणतात — हरीच्या कीर्तनाला न जाणाऱ्याचे हातपाय काष्ठ.

Word-by-word gloss

Marathi	Meaning
जया नाहीं नेम एकादशीव्रत	"one who has no rule of the ekādaśī fast"
जाणावें तें प्रेत शव लोकीं	"know that one as a corpse-among-people"
तुळसीवृंदावन	"tulsi-vrindavan" — the tulsi pot at the household door
स्मशान गृह जाणां	"know it as a cremation-ground house"
भवनदीतापा	"drowns in the burning of bhava-nadī" (the river of worldly existence)
कुंड रजकाचें	"the washerman's pit" (where dirty laundry is washed)
काष्ठ हातपाय	"wooden hands and feet"
कीर्तना नव जाय	"(if) one does not go to kirtan"

What it means

A practice-markers abhang in harsh diagnostic register. Five concrete signs of being alive by warkari standards: (1) ekādaśī-fast kept; (2) tulsi-vrindavan at the door; (3) at least one Vaishnava in the lineage; (4) Vitthal's name on the mouth; (5) feet that go to kirtan. Without these — prêt-shav (corpse-among-the-living), smashan-gruha (cremation-ground house), bhava-nadi-tāpa (drowning in worldly heat), rajak-kunda (washerman's pit), kashṭha-hāt-pāy (wooden hands and feet). The images are deliberately harsh; Tukaram is not consoling. [T] [Tradition]

For someone today

English: This abhang is unusually harsh because Tukaram is not playing the gentle teacher in this register. He is naming small daily practices as the markers of being-alive — and their absence as the marker of being-already-dead. Whether you keep the specific markers Tukaram names (ekādaśī, tulsi, kirtan) or analogues from your own tradition, the structural claim is the same: living-aliveness has practice-markers. Without any practice that brings you regularly into contact with what you actually love, the days run; the body is technically alive; but the marks of being-alive are absent. The cure is not introspection or self-care; the cure is putting the marker back in. Even one will start to wake the body.

मराठी: ही ओवी असामान्य तीक्ष्ण आहे कारण तुकाराम या register मध्ये सौम्य शिक्षक नाहीत. ते लहान दैनंदिन साधना — जिवंत असण्याची चिन्हं — असं नाव देतात; त्यांची अनुपस्थिती — आधीच मेलेपणाचं चिन्ह. तुकारामांची specific मार्कर्स (एकादशी, तुळसी, कीर्तन) पाळा किंवा तुमच्या परंपरेतले analogues — रचनात्मक दावा एकच: जिवंत असण्याला साधना-चिन्हं असतात. कोणत्याही साधनेशिवाय — जी तुम्हाला तुम्ही प्रेम करता त्याच्याशी नियमित संपर्कात आणते — दिवस वाहतात; शरीर technically जिवंत; पण जिवंत असल्याची खुणा अनुपस्थित. उपाय आत्म-निरीक्षण किंवा self-care नाही; उपाय चिन्ह परत लावणं. एकही चिन्ह शरीराला जागवायला सुरुवात करेल.

Where this applies

When your life feels like it isn't registering. Check the practice-markers. They are small but they are alive-or-dead.
When you've stopped a daily practice and notice your days running together. Re-add one. Even just one.
When a household feels dead. Tukaram names what is missing.