संत साहित्य
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संत साहित्य · Tukārām · Abhanga 1763 of 4582

Abhanga 1763

English: Day-by-day doubt comes — life passes invisibly, strong.

When you'd warn against forgetting-death + damba-viṣaya — day-doubt-life-invisible; damba-viṣaya-tight; forgot-death; even-seeing-no-remembrance

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

English: 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-daydoubt comes"
आयुष्य नेणवतां गाढें "life passes invisiblystrong"
कैसीं भुललीं बापुडीं "howthe wretched are deluded"
दंबविषयांचे सांकडीं "caught in damba-viṣaya-tightness"
विसरला मरण "forgot death"
त्याची नाहीं आठवण "no remembranceof it"
देखत देखत पाहीं "even seeingbehold"
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 gāḍhēday-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 sānkaḍīmhow 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 āṭhavaṇaforgot death — no remembrance of it. The most-fundamental forgetting: death-itself is forgotten.

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

[T]

For someone today

For today: day-by-day, the doubt-(about-time) appears — life passes invisibly, strongly; how the wretched have been deluded — caught in the strait of pretense-and-sense-objects; they have forgotten death itself — no remembrance of it; even seeing (others die), behold — Tuka says — there is no remembrance.

Where this applies

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