Abhanga 2659
This is not a meditation-on-mortality in the conventional sense. It is the more radical claim that the living bhakta can perform his own antya-karma — can let kāma-krodha-māyā be the mourners, vairāgya be the pyre-fuel, jñāna be the fire, the mahāvākya be the funeral-shout, the lineage-name-form be the recipient of the tilāñjali, and guru-krpā be the lamp. The result: rakṣā jālī āpīm-āpa — the ashes happen by themselves. The bhakta does not have to wait for biological-death to undergo the transformation that funerals symbolize. The transformation can happen now, in living, with the rites done symbolically through bhakti.
The verse
जाला प्रेतरूप शरीराचा भाव । लिक्षयेला ठाव श्मशानींचा ॥१॥
रडती रात्रदिवस कामक्रोधमाया । म्हणती हायहाया यमधर्म ॥ध्रु.॥
वैराग्याच्या शेणी लागल्या शरीरा । ज्ञानाग्नि भरभरां जीवित्वेसी ॥२॥
फिरविला घट फोडिला चरणीं । महावाक्य जनीं बोंब जाली ॥३॥
दिली तिळीजुळी कुळनामरूपांसी । शरीर ज्याचें त्यासी समर्पिलें ॥४॥
तुका म्हणे रक्षा जाली आपींआप । उजळला दीप गुरुकृपा ॥५॥
Literal translation
The body's bhāva has become prēta-rūpa (corpse-form); the śmaśāna (cremation-ground) is the marked-place. Day-and-night kāma-krodha-māyā are weeping; yama-dharma cries hāya-hāya (alas-alas). The vairāgya-śēṇī (dispassion-dung-cakes, the funeral-pyre fuel) have been laid upon the body; jñāna-agni (knowledge-fire) fills the jīvitva (living-state) abundantly. The ghaṭa (pot) was circled-around (around the body) and smashed at the feet; the mahā-vākya (the great-saying — I am That) thundered in the assembly as a bōmba (a great shout). The tilāñjali (the water-with-sesame-seed-offering) was given to kuḷa-nāma-rūpa (lineage-name-form); the body has been offered to whose it is. Tukā says: the rakṣā (sacred ashes) happened āpīm-āpa (by themselves) — the dīpa (lamp) was lit by guru-krpā (guru's grace).
What it means
This abhang opens Tukārām's celebrated 4-verse self-cremation-while-living vision sequence (2659-2662) — one of the most extraordinary mystical-vision passages in the entire Gatha. The bhakta describes performing his own funeral-rites symbolically through bhakti-jñāna while still living. Each ritual element of the Hindu antya-karma (last-rites) is named precisely and given a symbolic-bhakti equivalent:
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Corpse-state of the body (prēta-rūpa śarīrāchā bhāva) — the body's identification-with-self has died first; what remains is corpse-form. The śmaśāna (cremation-ground) is the marked spot.
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The mourners: kāma-krōdha-māyā (desire, anger, illusion) — the inner-pollutants are the ones weeping at this funeral. Yama-dharma — even Death's own dharma — cries hāya-hāya; the Lord-of-death is the chief-mourner because his client has been claimed by jñāna.
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The pyre: vairāgya-śēṇī (dispassion as the dung-cake fuel) and jñāna-agni (knowledge as fire). The Marathi śēṇī is the cow-dung-patty used in real funeral-pyres; vairāgya is the patty, jñāna is the spark.
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The pot-ritual (phiravilā ghaṭa phōḍilā charaṇī): in Hindu funerals, the chief-mourner circumambulates the corpse with a water-filled pot, then smashes it at the feet, releasing the prāṇa. Here the bhakta does this to himself.
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Mahāvākya as the funeral-shout: in real funerals, the cry Rāma-Rāma or hari-hari is shouted; here the mahā-vākya (the great Upaniṣadic saying — tat tvam asi, aham brahmāsmi) is what thundered.
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Tilāñjali to lineage-name-form: the water-with-sesame oblation traditionally goes to ancestors. Here it goes to kuḷa-nāma-rūpa — to the entire system of lineage-name-form-identity. The lineage is being-offered-out.
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Body offered to whose-it-is: the body returns to its source.
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Ashes happen by themselves: rakṣā jālī āpīm-āpa — the sacred ashes (rakṣā = the consecrated funeral-ash applied to the body) happened by themselves. No human-effort produced this.
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Lamp lit by guru-krpā: the funeral-lamp (which the chief-mourner lights at the head of the corpse) was lit by guru-krpā — the teacher's grace was the spark.
For someone today
This is not a meditation-on-mortality in the conventional sense. It is the more radical claim that the living bhakta can perform his own antya-karma — can let kāma-krodha-māyā be the mourners, vairāgya be the pyre-fuel, jñāna be the fire, the mahāvākya be the funeral-shout, the lineage-name-form be the recipient of the tilāñjali, and guru-krpā be the lamp. The result: rakṣā jālī āpīm-āpa — the ashes happen by themselves. The bhakta does not have to wait for biological-death to undergo the transformation that funerals symbolize. The transformation can happen now, in living, with the rites done symbolically through bhakti.
The implication for daily practice is austere: are you willing to let the kāma-krodha-māyā weep at the loss of you? Are you willing to apply vairāgya as the pyre's-fuel? Will you let the mahāvākya thunder in the assembly of your own community of mind?
Where this applies
- The jīvanmukta-vision of performing one's own funeral-rite symbolically
- Recognizing kāma-krōdha-māyā as the inner-mourners losing their client
- Applying vairāgya and jñāna-agni as the pyre-elements
- Receiving guru-krpā as the lamp-lighting grace
- The opening of the 4-verse self-cremation sequence (2659-2662)