Abhanga 248
This abhang names three reversals you should hold in mind:
The verse
सांपडला संदीं । मग बळिया पडे फंदीं ॥१॥ ऐसी कोणी वाहे वेळ । हातीं काळाच्या सकळ ॥ध्रु.॥ दाता मागे दान । जाय याचका शरण ॥२॥ तुका म्हणे नेणां । काय सांगों नारायणा ॥३॥
Literal translation
English: Caught in the sandhī — even the strong falls into the fanda. Who holds the time? — all in death's hand. The giver begs for dān — goes to the beggar for refuge. Tuka says: you don't know — what shall I tell Nārāyaṇa?
मराठी: सांपडला संदीं — मग बळिया पडे फंदीं. ऐसी कोणी वाहे वेळ — हातीं काळाच्या सकळ. दाता मागे दान — जाय याचका शरण. तुकाराम म्हणतात — नेणां — काय सांगों नारायणा.
Word-by-word gloss
| Marathi | Meaning |
|---|---|
| सांपडला संदीं | "caught in the sandhī (joint / corner)" |
| मग बळिया पडे फंदीं | "even the baḷiyā (strong) falls into the fanda (snare)" |
| ऐसी कोणी वाहे वेळ | "who (anyone) holds the time?" |
| हातीं काळाच्या सकळ | "all in kāḷa (death)'s hand" |
| दाता मागे दान | "the dātā (giver) begs for dāna (gift)" |
| जाय याचका शरण | "goes to the yācaka (beggar) for śaraṇa (refuge)" |
| नेणां काय सांगों नारायणा | "you don't know — what shall I tell Nārāyaṇa?" |
What it means
A role-reversal abhang. Three claims:
-
सांपडला संदीं — बळिया पडे फंदीं — caught in the sandhī, the strong falls in the snare. Even the baḷiyā (strong, capable, prepared) — when caught in the sandhī (the corner / the unforeseen-moment) — falls into the snare. Strength does not protect against the sandhī. (Compare 174's hutuhutu — whoever falls into hand becomes the long-stride.)
-
ऐसी कोणी वाहे वेळ — हातीं काळाच्या सकळ — who holds the time? — all in death's hand. The universal-claim. No one holds the time; all are in kāḷa-hand. The time-mortality claim is universal*. (Compare 156's hamāmā four-watches life-cycle.)
-
दाता मागे दान — जाय याचका शरण — the giver begs for dān, goes to the beggar for refuge. The role-reversal. The one who gives (the dātā) — becomes the begging-one. The beggar (the yācaka) — becomes the refuge. The roles flip when the sandhī arrives.
-
तुका म्हणे नेणां — काय सांगों नारायणा — Tuka says: you don't know — what shall I tell Nārāyaṇa? The closing-question. You (= the audience, the people in the world) don't know (the truth of these reversals). What shall I tell Nārāyaṇa? The bhakta cannot bring this realization to the deity because the audience is un-knowing. The closing is resigned-question, not triumphal-claim.
[T]
For someone today
This abhang names three reversals you should hold in mind:
-
The strong fall in the sandhī*. Strength, preparation, capability — do not protect against the sandhī (the corner / the unforeseen-moment). Don't trust your strength to protect you in the sandhī. The baḷiyā falls* there.
-
All are in kāḷa-hand*. The mortality-claim is universal. Don't believe in your time-management; no one holds the time. The unverified-assumption-of-future-time is the standard-illusion*.
-
The giver becomes the beggar; the beggar becomes the refuge. Dātā mage dān, jāya yācakā śaraṇa. The giver-beggar role-reversal is real. Today's giver may be tomorrow's beggar. Today's beggar may be tomorrow's refuge. Don't despise the beggar; don't be proud of the giver-status. Both are role-positions, not essences.
-
The audience may not know. Tukaram's closing is honest: he can see the truth but the audience does not know; what should he say to Nārāyaṇa about people who don't know what they are seeing? Honest exhaustion. Recognize when your audience is not-knowing; the right-mode then is resigned-question to the deity, not more-explanation to the audience.
For today: don't trust strength against the sandhī; recognize all-in-kāḷa-hand; don't despise-beggar / be-proud-of-giver — the roles flip; recognize when the audience is not-knowing.
मराठी: ही ओवी तीन reversals जे मनात ठेवायचे नाव सांगते:
-
बळिया sandhī* मध्ये पडतो. Strength, preparation, capability — sandhī (corner / unforeseen-moment) पासून protect करत नाहीत. Sandhī मध्ये तुमची strength तुम्हाला protect करेल विश्वास ठेवू नका. बळिया पडतो* तिथे.
-
सर्व कालाच्या-हातात*. Mortality-claim universal. Time-management वर विश्वास ठेवू नका; कोणीही time hold करत नाही. Future-time च unverified-assumption standard-illusion*.
-
Giver beggar होतो; beggar refuge होतो. दाता मागे दान, जाय याचका शरण. Giver-beggar role-reversal real. आजचा giver उद्याचा beggar असू शकतो. आजचा beggar उद्याचा refuge असू शकतो. Beggar despise करू नका; giver-status चा गर्व करू नका. दोन्ही role-positions, essences नाहीत.
-
Audience कदाचित जाणत नसेल. तुकारामांचं closing honest: ते truth पाहू शकतात पण audience जाणत नाही; लोकांना जे दिसतंय ते कळत नसेल — नारायणाला काय सांगायचं? Honest exhaustion. Audience not-knowing आहे ते ओळखा; तेव्हा right-mode — देवाला resigned-question, audience ला more-explanation नाही.
आज: sandhī विरुद्ध strength वर विश्वास ठेवू नका; सर्व-कालाच्या-हातात ओळखा; beggar despise / giver-proud नका — roles flip; audience not-knowing आहे कधी ओळखा.
Where this applies
- Strong-falls-in-sandhī. Strength doesn't protect there.
- All-in-kāḷa-hand. Universal mortality.
- Giver↔beggar reversal. Role-positions flip.
- Audience-not-knowing. Resigned-question to the deity.