संत साहित्य · Tukārām · Abhanga 1763 of 4582

Abhanga 1763

For today: day by day, uneasy doubt creeps in — life keeps slipping away, unnoticed but relentless. How deluded we poor souls are, trapped in the narrow grip of pretense and sense pleasures. We have forgotten death itself — no memory of it stays with us. Even as we watch others die before our eyes, Tuka says, still no remembrance touches us.

When you scroll through distractions instead of facing something you know you must deal with

When someone close to you dies and the shock fades faster than it should

When you realize you've been living for show rather than for what actually lasts

The verse

दिनदिन शंका वाटे । आयुष्य नेणवतां गाढें ॥१॥ कैसीं भुललीं बापुडीं । दंबविषयांचे सांकडीं ॥ध्रु.॥ विसरला मरण । त्याची नाहीं आठवण ॥२॥ देखत देखत पाहीं । तुका म्हणे आठव नाहीं ॥३॥

Literal translation

Day-by-day doubt comes — life passes invisibly, strong. How the wretched are deluded — caught in damba-viṣaya-tightness. Forgot death — no remembrance of it. Even seeing — behold — Tuka says — no remembrance.

Word-by-word gloss

Marathi	Meaning
दिनदिन शंका वाटे	"day-by-day — doubt comes"
आयुष्य नेणवतां गाढें	"life passes invisibly — strong"
कैसीं भुललीं बापुडीं	"how — the wretched are deluded"
दंबविषयांचे सांकडीं	"caught in damba-viṣaya-tightness"
विसरला मरण	"forgot death"
त्याची नाहीं आठवण	"no remembrance — of it"
देखत देखत पाहीं	"even seeing — behold"
तुका म्हणे आठव नाहीं	"Tuka says — no remembrance"

What it means

Forgotten-death + anti-damba-viṣaya abhang.

The opening: dina-dina śankā vāṭē — āyuṣya nēṇavatām gāḍhē — day-by-day doubt comes — life passes invisibly, strong. Each day, the doubt-of-time arises; life passes-without-noticing, in-strong-flow.

The wretched: kaisīm bhulalīm bāpuḍīm — damba-viṣayāñcē sānkaḍīm — how the wretched are deluded — caught in damba-viṣaya-tightness. Damba = hypocrisy / pretense; viṣaya = sense-objects; sānkaḍa = strait, narrow-place. Trapped in the strait of pretense-and-sense-objects.

The forgot-death: visaralā maraṇa — tyācī nāhīm āṭhavaṇa — forgot death — no remembrance of it. The most-fundamental forgetting: death-itself is forgotten.

The closing: dēkhata dēkhata pāhīm — Tukā mhaṇē āṭhava nāhīm — even seeing — behold — Tuka says — no remembrance. Even-seeing-others-die does-not-trigger remembrance-of-one's-own-death.

[T]

For someone today

मराठी: आजसाठी: दिवसागणिक मनात एक अस्वस्थ शंका येते — आयुष्य नकळत, पण वेगाने निघून जाते. आपण किती भुललेले, बापुडे जीव आहोत — ढोंग आणि विषयसुखांच्या सांकडीत अडकलेले. आपण मृत्यूलाच विसरून गेलो आहोत — त्याची आठवणही उरलेली नाही. डोळ्यांदेखत दुसरे मरताना पाहूनही, तुका म्हणतो, आपल्याला त्याची आठवण होत नाही.

Where this applies

When you keep putting off what matters because you assume there will always be more time
When you notice you're more absorbed in appearances and pleasures than in anything lasting
When you attend a funeral and feel moved for a moment but forget it within the week
When you catch yourself living as if you personally are exempt from dying

Mortality / Vairāgya Bhakti