Abhanga 156
This abhang is a life-stage diagnostic. The four watches map cleanly: youth (took on the soham breath but the peer-pressure scrambled it), engaged adulthood (sweet day, no foresight), mid-life (ego makes the legs wobble; straining is itself the fall), end-stage (Yama). The message is not nihilistic. The exit-move is precise: Tuka was scared and abandoned the comrade-arrangement — meaning, he saw the social-circuit that was the trap and stepped out of it. He did not stop playing; he changed the comrade. With the right comrade (the Yadava-boy Viṭhobā), the play is cow-pasturing, not pile-on-collapse.
The verse
हमामा रे पोरा हमामा रे । हमामा घालितां ठकलें पोर । करी येरझार चौर्याशीची ॥१॥ पहिले पहारा रंगासि आलें । सोहं सोहं सें बार घेतलें । देखोनि गडी तें विसरलें । डाई पडिलें आपणची ॥ध्रु.॥ दुसर्या पहारा महा आनंदें । हमामा घाली छंदछंदें । दिस वाडे तों गोड वाटे । परि पुढें नेणे पोर काय होतें तें ॥२॥ तिसर्या पहारा घेतला बार । अहंपणे पाय न राहे स्थिर । सोस सोस करितां डाईं पडसी । सत्य जाणें हा निर्धार ॥३॥ चौथ्या पहारा हमामा । घालिसी कांपविसी हातपाय । सुर्यापाटिलाचा पोर यम । त्याचे पडलीस डाईं ॥४॥ हमामा घालितां भ्याला तुका । त्यानें सांडिली गड्याची सोई । यादवांचा मूल एक । विठोबा त्यासवें चारितो गाई ॥५॥ ॥२॥
Literal translation
English: Hamāmā, kid, hamāmā! Playing the pile-on, the kid was fooled — making the 84-lakh rebirth round-trip. First watch: came in (the game's) color, took on weight as soham-soham; seeing the comrade, forgot — fell into the trap by oneself. Second watch: in great joy, plays with passion-rhythm; as the day grows, feels sweet — but the kid does not know what comes next. Third watch: took on weight; from I-ness, the foot does not stay steady; in straining-and-straining, you fall in the trap — know this as truth. Fourth watch: hamāmā — you play, hands-and-feet tremble; Yama, son of Sūrya-Pāṭīl — into his lap you fell. Tuka, playing the pile-on, was afraid — abandoned the comrade-arrangement; the one Yadava-boy, Viṭhobā — with him (he) pastures cows.
मराठी: हमामा रे पोरा हमामा! हमामा खेळताना पोर ठकलं — चौऱ्याऐंशी (लाख) फेऱ्या मारल्या. पहिल्या पहारा रंगात आलं — सोहं सोहं चा बार घेतला; गडी पाहून विसरलं — आपणच डाईत पडलं. दुसऱ्या पहारा महा आनंदात — छंद-छंदात हमामा; दिवस वाढता गोड वाटतं — पुढे काय होतं हे पोराला कळत नाही. तिसऱ्या पहारा बार घेतला — अहंपणाने पाय स्थिर राहत नाही; सोस-सोस करता डाईत पडशील — हे सत्य ठरवून घे. चौथ्या पहारा हमामा — हात-पाय कापवशील; सूर्य-पाटलाचा पोर यम — त्याच्या डाईत पडलीस. तुका हमामा खेळताना भ्याला — गड्याची सोय सांडली; यादवांचा एक मूल — विठोबा — त्याच्यासोबत गायी चारतो.
Word-by-word gloss
| Marathi | Meaning |
|---|---|
| हमामा रे पोरा हमामा रे | "hamāmā, kid, hamāmā!" |
| हमामा घालितां ठकलें पोर | "playing the pile-on, the kid was fooled (forgot itself)" |
| करी येरझार चौर्याशीची | "made the 84 (lakh) round-trip" (the rebirth-cycle through 84 lakh species) |
| पहिले पहारा रंगासि आलें | "in the first watch, came into the color (of the game)" |
| सोहं सोहं सें बार घेतलें | "took on weight as soham, soham" (the breath-mantra: I am That) |
| देखोनि गडी तें विसरलें | "seeing the comrade — (kid) forgot (the game's seriousness)" |
| डाई पडिलें आपणची | "fell into daī (the trap / the lap of the game) by oneself" |
| दुसर्या पहारा महा आनंदें | "in the second watch — great joy" |
| हमामा घाली छंदछंदें | "plays the pile-on with chand-chand (passion-with-rhythm)" |
| दिस वाडे तों गोड वाटे | "as the day grows — feels sweet" |
| परि पुढें नेणे पोर काय होतें तें | "but the kid does not know what comes next" |
| तिसर्या पहारा घेतला बार | "third watch — took on weight" |
| अहंपणें पाय न राहे स्थिर | "from I-ness, the foot does not stay steady" |
| सोस सोस करितां डाईं पडसी | "in straining-and-straining, you fall in daī" |
| चौथ्या पहारा हमामा | "fourth watch — hamāmā" |
| घालिसी कांपविसी हातपाय | "you play, you make hands-and-feet tremble" |
| सुर्यापाटिलाचा पोर यम | "Yama, the son of Sūrya-Pāṭīl" (Yama is Sūrya's son in the puranas) |
| त्याचे पडलीस डाईं | "you fell into his lap (= died)" |
| हमामा घालितां भ्याला तुका | "playing the pile-on, Tuka was afraid" |
| त्यानें सांडिली गड्याची सोई | "he abandoned the comrade-arrangement (the pile-on game's social-circuit)" |
| यादवांचा मूल एक | "the one Yadava-boy" (= Krishna / Viṭhobā) |
| विठोबा त्यासवें चारितो गाई | "Viṭhobā — with him pastures cows" |
What it means
Sequel/extension to abhang 155. Where 155 named hamāmā as bhakti's take-the-weight invitation, this abhang names hamāmā as life itself — and life as a four-watches structure (the night-watches of classical Indian timekeeping, prahara).
- First watch (childhood / youthful turn-to-practice): came into the color of the game; took on weight as soham (the breath-mantra of identity-with-the-real); but seeing the gaḍī (comrade — peer-pressure / company), forgot the seriousness and fell into the trap by oneself.
- Second watch (engaged adulthood): great joy, chand-chand passion; the day grows sweet — but the kid does not know what comes next.
- Third watch (mid-life): took on weight; aham-paṇa (I-ness) makes the legs unstable. Straining-and-straining (sos sos) → fall in the trap. सत्य जाणें हा निर्धार — know this as truth.
- Fourth watch (final): hamāmā continues but hands-and-feet tremble. Yama (Sūryā-Pāṭīl-cā por) — the son of the Sun, the death-god — and you fall into his lap.
The exit: Tuka was scared of the game (हमामा घालितां भ्याला तुका) and abandoned the comrade-arrangement (गड्याची सोई) — the social-circuit that was the trap. He went to the one Yadava-boy — Viṭhobā as Krishna-the-cowherd — and with him pastures cows. The exit is not from the world but from the wrong-comrade-circuit; the right comrade is Viṭhobā. [T]
For someone today
This abhang is a life-stage diagnostic. The four watches map cleanly: youth (took on the soham breath but the peer-pressure scrambled it), engaged adulthood (sweet day, no foresight), mid-life (ego makes the legs wobble; straining is itself the fall), end-stage (Yama). The message is not nihilistic. The exit-move is precise: Tuka was scared and abandoned the comrade-arrangement — meaning, he saw the social-circuit that was the trap and stepped out of it. He did not stop playing; he changed the comrade. With the right comrade (the Yadava-boy Viṭhobā), the play is cow-pasturing, not pile-on-collapse.
The translation for today: the gaḍī (comrade-circuit) is your default social-engine — what your peers are doing, the achievement-game, the consumption-loop, the status-pile-on. Tuka's claim is that playing the same game with a different comrade changes everything. Keep the play; change the company.
मराठी: ही ओवी एक जीवन-टप्प्यांचं diagnostic. चार पहार स्पष्ट: तरुणपणा (सोहं घेतलं — पण समवयस्कांच्या दबावाने गोंधळ), engaged adulthood (दिवस गोड — पुढचं माहीत नाही), मध्य-वय (अहंकाराने पाय डळमळ; सोस-सोस हा स्वतःच पतन), शेवट (यम). संदेश nihilistic नाही. exit-हालचाल अचूक: तुकाराम भ्याला आणि गड्याची सोय सांडली — म्हणजे जो social-circuit सापळा होता तो पाहिला आणि बाहेर पडले. खेळ बंद केला नाही — गडी बदलला. योग्य गडी (यादवांचा मूल विठोबा) सोबत खेळ गायी-चारणं, pile-on-कोसळणं नाही.
आज: गडी म्हणजे तुमचा default social-engine — समवयस्क काय करतायत, achievement-खेळ, consumption-loop, status-pile-on. तुकारामांचा दावा: तोच खेळ वेगळ्या गड्यासह केला तर सर्व बदलतं. खेळ ठेवा — कंपनी बदला.
Where this applies
- Hamāmā-of-life forgetting. Recognize the four-watches.
- Third-watch wobble from I-ness. सोस सोस itself is the fall.
- The exit: change the comrade, not stop the play. Viṭhobā the Yadava-boy.