Abhanga 2622
The body is dependent on enjoyment; its happiness and fatigue are short-fragile. Imperishable joining is the bhāva at Deva's feet — the place of welfare for all. The spread there is momentary-fragile — when the call comes, everything remains. Tukā: here is all-rest — remember Nārāyaṇa in the heart.
The verse
देह तंव असे भोगाचे अधीन । याचें सुख सीण क्षीणभंगर ॥१॥
अविनाश जोडी देवापायीं भाव । कल्याणाचा ठाव सकळही ॥ध्रु.॥
क्षणभंगुर हा तेथील पसारा । आलिया हाकारा अवघें राहे ॥२॥
तुका म्हणे येथें सकळ विश्रांति । आठवावा चित्तीं नारायण ॥३॥
Literal translation
The body is dependent on bhōga (enjoyment); its happiness and fatigue are kṣīṇa-bhangura (weak-fragile). Imperishable joining is the bhāva at Deva's feet — the place of welfare for all. Kṣaṇa-bhangura (instantly-fragile) is the spread there; when the call comes, everything remains. Tukā says: here is all-rest — remember Nārāyaṇa in the heart.
What it means
The verse compresses the bhakti choice into a small economics-of-fragility. Dēha tanva asē bhōgāñchē adhīna — the body is dependent on bhōga. Adhīna (dependent, in-subordination) — the body is structurally subordinate to its enjoyments. Yāchē sukha sīṇa kṣīṇa-bhangura — its happiness and fatigue are weak-fragile. Kṣīṇa-bhangura — easily-snapped-thin — captures the fragility of bodily pleasure.
The dhrūpada offers the alternative: avināśa jōḍī Devāpāyīm bhāva — kalyāṇāchā ṭhāva sakaḷa hī — imperishable joining is the bhāva at Deva's feet — the place of welfare for all. Avināśa (imperishable) is the property; Devāpāyīm bhāva (the emotional-orientation toward the feet of Deva) is the practice; kalyāṇāchā ṭhāva (the place of welfare) is the location.
The second verse contains a striking time-image: kṣaṇa-bhangura hā tēthīla pasārā — āliyā hākārā avaghē rāhē — the spread (pasārā) there (in the bhōga-realm) is moment-fragile; when the call (hākārā) comes, everything remains (rāhē — stays-behind, is-left-behind). Āliyā hākārā — when the call comes — names the moment of death or major-summoning; avaghē rāhē — everything stays behind — nothing of the bhōga-spread travels with you.
The close: yēthē sakaḷa viśrānti — āṭhavāvā chittīm Nārāyaṇa — here is all-rest — remember Nārāyaṇa in the heart. The here refers to the avināśa-jōḍī — the imperishable joining; that is where all-rest is found. The instruction is the simple daily one: āṭhavāvā chittīm Nārāyaṇa — remember Nārāyaṇa in the chitta.
For someone today
The body's pleasures are kṣīṇa-bhangura — easily-snapped-thin. The bhakti-joining is avināśa — imperishable. Tukārām does not condemn the body's pleasures; he observes their fragility and offers the alternative without polemic. The vivid line is āliyā hākārā avaghē rāhē — when the call comes, everything stays behind. Notice today what you are accumulating and whether it would travel with you when the call comes. The remedy is simple — āṭhavāvā chittīm Nārāyaṇa — remember Nārāyaṇa in the heart — as the daily anchor.
Where this applies
- Reckoning with how much fragile-bodily happiness one is investing in
- The call-comes-everything-stays-behind prompt for mortality-clear thinking
- Daily remembrance of Nārāyaṇa as the imperishable-foundation
- Choosing avināśa-jōḍī (imperishable joining) over kṣaṇa-bhangura spread