संत साहित्य
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संत साहित्य · Tukārām · Abhanga 2570 of 4582

Abhanga 2570

The verse

मेलियांच्या रांडा इच्छिती लेकरूं । लाज नाहीं धरूं प्रीती कैशी ॥१॥ मागिलां पुढिलां एकी सरोबरी । काळाची पेटारी खांदा वाहे ॥ध्रु.॥ आन दिसे परी मरणें चि खरें । सांपळा उंदिरें सामाविलीं ॥२॥ तुका म्हणे जाली मनाची परती । निवळली ज्योती दिसों आली ॥३॥

Literal translation

English: ★★ Widows-of-the-dead desire children — no shame in maintaining love, how? ★★. ★★ Past and future in the same row — kāla's-bundle carried on shoulder ★★. Appears otherwise — but death is true — mice trapped in cage. Tuka says: mind has turned-back — pure flame became seen.

What it means

★★ THE STRONG-DEATH-IMAGERY ABHANG ★★. Three concentric death-meditation images.

The widows-and-children: mēliyāñchyā rāṇḍā ichchhitī lēkarūm★★ widows-of-the-dead desire children ★★. Even widows-of-the-already-dead desire childrenthe absurd-persistence of-creaturely-attachment in the face-of-mortality.

The kāla-bundle: kāḷāchī pēṭārī khāndā vāhē★★ kāla's-bundle carried on shoulder ★★. Every-being carries kāla's-bundle on-its-shoulder — death-as-constant-companion.

The mice-in-trap: sāmpaḷā undirē sāmāvilīm★ mice trapped in cage ★. All-living-beings are mice-in-a-cage, unaware of their entrapment.

The closing: jālī manāchī paratī — nivaḷalī jyōtī disōm ālī★ mind has turned-back, pure flame became seen ★. Only-when-the-mind-turns-back from this delusion does the pure-flame become-visible.

[T]

For someone today

For today: ★★ widows desire children — kāla's-bundle on shoulder — mice in cage ★★; ★ turn the mind back — pure flame appears ★.

Where this applies

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