Abhanga 2797
Nakō nakō manā guntūm māyā-jāḷīm — don't, don't, mind — guntūm (entangle yourself) in the māyā-jāḷa (māyā-net); kāḷa ālā javaḷī grāsāvayā — Time has come near to grāsa (devour).
The verse
नको नको मना गुंतूं मायाजाळीं । काळ आला जवळी ग्रासावया ॥१॥
काळाची हे उडी पडेल बा जेव्हां । सोडविना तेव्हां मायबाप ॥ध्रु.॥
सोडवीना राजा देशींचा चौधरी । आणीक सोइरीं भलीं भलीं ॥२॥
तुका म्हणे तुला सोडवीना कोणी । एका चक्रपाणी वांचूनियां ॥३॥
Literal translation
Nakō nakō manā guntūm māyā-jāḷīm — don't, don't, mind — guntūm (entangle yourself) in the māyā-jāḷa (māyā-net); kāḷa ālā javaḷī grāsāvayā — Time has come near to grāsa (devour). Kāḷāñcī hē uḍī paḍela bā jevhām — when Time's uḍī (leap) falls; soḍavīnā tēvhām māyabāpa — then mother-father will not soḍavīnā (save, release). Soḍavīnā rājā — the rājā (king) will not save; dēśīñcā chaudharī — the country's chaudharī (elder, magistrate); āṇika sōyarīm bhalīm bhalīm — and other very-good kinsmen (won't save). Tukā says: tulā soḍavīnā kōṇī — no one will save you; ekā Chakra-pāṇī vāmchūnīyām — except ekā Chakra-pāṇī (one Chakrapāṇi alone).
What it means
This abhang is one of Tukārām's canonical mortality-warning texts, daily-recited in Vārkarī mortality-meditation.
The opening direct-address: nakō nakō manā guntūm māyā-jāḷīm — don't, don't, mind — entangle in the māyā-net. The doubled-imperative (nakō nakō) is emphatic. The bhakta addresses his own mind directly. Manā (mind) is the vocative-second-person.
The warning: kāḷa ālā javaḷī grāsāvayā — Time has come near to devour. Grāsa (devour, swallow-up) — Time's appetite is to devour. And Time has come near — the proximity is named.
The four-fold insufficiency of worldly-protectors: 1. Māyabāpa (mother-father) — biological-parents 2. Rājā (king) — political-authority 3. Dēśīñcā chaudharī (country-elder, local-magistrate) — civic-power 4. Sōyarīm bhalīm bhalīm (other very-good kinsmen) — social-family
None of these soḍavīnā (saves/releases) when Time's uḍī (leap) falls. The four cover the full-spectrum of worldly-protectors.
The singular-rescuer claim: tulā soḍavīnā kōṇī — ekā Chakra-pāṇī vāmchūnīyām — no one will save you — except one Chakrapāṇi alone. The ekā... vāmchūnīyām construction is the only-one-except formula. Chakrapāṇi (Viṣṇu the Discus-holder) is the sole-rescuer.
This is the mortality-clear-thinking that pairs with 2677 (jarā karṇa-mūḷīm sāngōm ālī gōṣṭī — old-age tells stories at the ear's-root). 2677 is the old-age-warning; 2797 is the Time-devours-warning. Together they form Tukārām's daily-mortality-discipline pair.
For someone today
A canonical mortality-clear daily-recitation. Don't, don't, mind — get entangled in the māyā-net; Time has come near to devour. When Time's leap falls — mother-father will not save. The king will not save, nor the country-elder, nor other very-good kinsmen. No one will save you — except one Chakrapāṇi alone. The verse is direct-mind-address; the doubled nakō nakō is the emphatic-bell-ring; the four-fold insufficiency-list is comprehensive. The final-claim names the singular-rescuer-by-elimination: no other-protector works at Time's leap-moment; only Chakrapāṇi-alone.
Pray this verse exactly when the mortality-clarity is needed; or daily-as-discipline.
Where this applies
- The canonical Vārkarī mortality-discipline daily-text
- The four-fold insufficiency-of-worldly-protectors (mother-father, king, country-elder, kinsmen)
- Only-Chakrapāṇi-saves-at-Time's-leap singular-rescuer claim
- The nakō nakō manā doubled-imperative direct-mind-address