Abhanga 1416

Everything made of form is eventually swallowed by time, so hold on to what does not perish, the name of Hari, instead of body or possessions.

The verse

Literal translation

What it means

All-form-swallowed-by-time abhang. The opening cosmic-image: avaghā chi ākāra grāsiyēlā kāḷē — ēka chi nirāḷē Haricē nāma — the entireākāra(form-world) — has beengrāsiyēlēm(devoured) bykāḷa(Time); — onlyone alonestaysnirāḷa(separate) —Hari's nāma. Tuka's cosmic-eschatological-vision: at the end-of-time, all form is swallowed by Time; only Hari-nāma stands outside Time's mouth. (Compare 1395's kāḷācā kāḷa — saints'-beloved-becomes-time-of-times; here Hari-nāma escapes Time's all-devouring.)

The bhakta's-strategy: dharūnī rāhilōm avināśa kaṇṭhīm — jīvana hēm pōṭīm sāṭavilēm — I haveheldtheavināśa(imperishable) — at thekaṇṭha(throat); — thisjīvana(= life / drinking-water — pun) — has beensāṭavilēm(= stored up) in thepōṭa(belly). The bhakta has grasped the imperishable at the throat — and the jīvana (with its rich pun: life and drinking-water) is stored in the pōṭa. (Image of holding an amṛta-flask at the throat, drinking it down to store life in the belly.)

The renunciation-of-the-rest: śarīra-sampitti mṛga-jaḷa-bhāna — jā'īla nāsōna kharēm navhē — body-and-property —mṛga-jaḷa-bhāna(= mirage-water-illusion); — willgo—destroyed—not real. The deer-water-illusion — the classic mirage that recedes when chased. Body-and-property will be destroyed; they're not real.

The closing testimony: upādhīcyā nāmvēm — āṇiyēlā Devēm vīṭa maja — at the verynāma(name) ofupādhi(= superimposed-attribute / adjunct); — Deva — hasbrought—vīṭa(= disgust / saturation) — for me. Upādhi — in Vedānta-technical-vocabulary — is the adjunctive attribute (body, mind, etc.) that seems-to-limit the formless. Tuka has vīṭa-saturation at the very name of upādhi. (= Deva himself has brought this disgust — i.e., the vairāgya is Hari's gift, not Tuka's effort.)

[T]

For someone today

For today: all form is swallowed by Time, only Hari-nāma stays separate; hold the imperishable at the throat, drink life into the belly; body-and-property is mirage-water; even the name of upādhi brings disgust — Hari himself gave this vairāgya.

Where this applies

• When you realize that everything you have worked for will eventually pass away and wonder what actually lasts
• When you catch yourself chasing wealth or status that looks solid from far away but slips through your hands up close
• When you want a steady anchor, like repeating a sacred name, to hold onto while everything around you keeps changing
• When you notice you are finally tired of defining yourself by your body, job, or possessions and feel that shift as a relief

Related verses

• Abhanga 2467 — What looks like your whole world, like a fig to the insect living inside it, is only a tin
• 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 4497 — Tukaram describes a life so soaked in devotion that Krishna's presence fills every ordinar