Abhanga 1087

All the daily struggle to survive gets nowhere without grace, and when death comes, even the deepest family love cannot hold it back, so call on God urgently, right now.

The verse

Literal translation

What it means

A petitioner abhang. Five claims:

1. दारो-दारीं — पेटारी-असेर्या. Wandering-fill-belly-claim. Wanderingdārō-dārī, fill the pōṭa;locking it in the pēṭārī of asēryā (one's own being). (We hunt food door-to-door and lock it in the chest-of-the-self.)

2. माझें-न-चले — कृपा-न-करितां. Without-kṛpā-doesn't-move-claim. My-mine doesn't move; without yourkrpā not done.

3. प्राण-बाहेरी — बापु-माय-कुठें. Where-is-bāpa-māya-claim. (Inner-cōra) tries to takeprāṇabāhērī;there, where is bāpu-māya, my friend? (When death pulls the prāṇa out, mother-and-father are nowhere.)

4. मरण-न-नेणे — माया-वोसर — बाळ-जीवित्व-न. Mother-recedes-children-no-jīvitva-claim. Maraṇa isn't known — māya runs and vōsarē;bāḷēdon't havejīvitva. (Death isn't recognized; māya pulls back; the children have no real life of their own.)

5. Tuka: आशा-प्राण — Paṇḍharī-निवास-धाव. Paṇḍharī-nivāsā-run-and-strike-claim. Tuka says: āśā has taken (my) prāṇa;Paṇḍharī-nivāsā, run and strike.

[T]

For someone today

Tukaram describes a life spent wandering door to door just to fill the stomach, hoarding whatever little we gather as if it were locked safely away inside ourselves. He admits that none of this effort truly moves forward without God's grace. Then he turns to the moment of death: when something tries to pull the breath out of the body, no father, no mother, no loved one can help; death is not something we understand, and even the deepest motherly love has to pull back helpless, leaving the children with no real life of their own to hold onto. In the end he says his own craving has gripped his very breath, and he begs Vitthal, the resident of Pandhari, to come running to his rescue right now.

मराठी: तुकाराम अशा आयुष्याचं वर्णन करतात जे फक्त पोट भरण्यासाठी दारोदार भटकण्यात जातं, आणि जे थोडंफार मिळतं तेही आपण स्वतःमध्येच जपून ठेवतो, जणू पेटीत बंद करून. ते कबूल करतात की देवाच्या कृपेशिवाय हे सगळे प्रयत्न खरोखर पुढे सरकतच नाहीत. मग ते मृत्यूच्या क्षणाकडे वळतात - जेव्हा कोणीतरी शरीरातून प्राण खेचून घ्यायला बघतं, तेव्हा बाप-आई किंवा कोणीही प्रिय व्यक्ती मदत करू शकत नाही; मृत्यू कधी कळतच नाही, आणि आईची माया कितीही खोल असली तरी असहाय होऊन मागे हटते, आणि मुलांच्या हातात स्वतःचं खरं जीवन उरतच नाही. शेवटी ते म्हणतात की आपल्याच आशेने त्यांचा प्राण पकडून ठेवला आहे, आणि ते पंढरीनिवासी विठ्ठलाला विनवतात की त्याने आत्ताच धावत यावं आणि वाचवावं.

Where this applies

• Wandering. Dārō-dārī.
• Without-kṛpā. Calēsē.
• Where's-bāpa-māya. Bāhērī.
• Recedes. Vōsarē.
• Run-now. Dhāva.

Related verses

• Abhanga 4481 — Tukaram promises that sincerely calling on the Lord's name, knowingly or unknowingly, with
• Abhanga 4482 — Tukaram teaches that no ritual equals sincerely speaking the Lord's name, that self-center
• Abhanga 4080 — True trust removes fear of death and of others' opinions, turns hard effort into joyful pl
• Abhanga 4273 — If your time, money, and attention flow easily to everything except God and genuine goodne