Abhanga 2814
None of your usual securities, family, strength, or possessions, can save you in the end, so let go of false trust and turn quickly toward God.
The verse
कां रे माझीं पोरें म्हणसील ढोरें । मायबाप खरें काय एक ॥१॥
कां रे गेलें म्हणोनि करिसी तळमळ । मिथ्याचि कोल्हाळ मेलियाचा ॥ध्रु.॥
कां रे माझें माझें म्हणसील गोत । नो संडविती दूत यमा हातीं ॥२॥
कां रे मी बळिया म्हणविसी ऐसा । सरणापाशीं कैसा उचलविसी ॥३॥
तुका म्हणे न धरीं भरवसा कांहीं । वेगीं शरण जाई पांडुरंगा ॥४ ॥
Literal translation
Kā re mājhīm pōre mhaṇasīla ḍhōre — why (do you) call (them)mājhīm pōre(mine — children)? — they areḍhōre(cattle, beasts); māyabāpa khare kāya eka — mother-father — truly are they one (i.e., really-yours-alone)? Kā re gele mhaṇōni karisi taḷamaḷa — why do you dotaḷamaḷa(writhing-grief) because (someone) has gone (died); mithyā chi kōlhāḷa meliyāñcā — thekōlhāḷa(uproar, lamentation) of the dead ismithyā(false). Kā re mājhe mājhe mhaṇasīla gota — why call (them)mājhe mājhe gota(mine, mine, kin)?; nō saṇḍavitī dūta Yamā hātīm — thedūta(messengers) will not save (you) from Yama's hand. Kā re mī baḷiyā mhaṇavisi aisā — why call yourselfbaḷiyā(strong, mighty) like this?; saraṇāpāśīm kaise uchalavisi — at thesaraṇa(funeral-pyre, cremation), how will you be lifted (uchalavisi = be raised, carried)? Tukā says: na dharīm bharavasā kāmhī — vegī śaraṇa jāī Pāṇḍurangā — don't trust anything; swiftly take refuge in Pāṇḍuranga.
What it means
A hard mortality-warning verse — sharper than 2797 and 2802. Four kā re (why-do-you) questions strip away false-comforts.
1. The children-question: kā re mājhīm pōre mhaṇasīla ḍhōre — māyabāpa khare kāya eka — why call them mine — children? They areḍhōre(cattle, beasts). Mother-father — really one (just yours)? The provocative-claim: those you call "my children" areḍhōre(cattle, beasts) — and the mother-father (parents) are not exclusively one (yours). The harshness is intentional: stripping the mine-only claim.
2. The lamentation-question: kā re gele mhaṇōni karisi taḷamaḷa — mithyā chi kōlhāḷa meliyāñcā — why do writhing-grief because someone has died? — the uproar-of-the-dead is mithyā (false). The lamentation-for-the-dead is mithyā kōlhāḷa (false-uproar). Not because grief isn't real — but because the lamenting-of-the-survivor doesn't help the dead one; it's akōlhāḷa(noisy-show).
3. The kin-question: kā re mājhe mājhe gota — nō saṇḍavitī dūta Yamā hātīm — why call them my-my-kin? The messengers won't save (you) from Yama's hand. The kin-can't-rescue-at-Yama claim (compare 2797).
4. The strong-self-question: kā re mī baḷiyā mhaṇavisi aisā — saraṇāpāśīm kaise uchalavisi — why call yourself strong like this? — at the funeral-pyre, how will you-yourself be lifted? The piercing-image: the same body that today-walks-strong, at the funeral-pyre cannot lift-itself — it is lifted by-others. The strength is provisional.
The close: na dharīm bharavasā kāmhī — vegī śaraṇa jāī Pāṇḍurangā — don't trust anything — swiftly take refuge in Pāṇḍuranga.
For someone today
This is one of Tukaram's harshest mortality warnings, sharper than his other verses on death. He asks four cutting questions to strip away the comforts we cling to. Why call your children mine, when really they are just creatures passing through, and even parents are not exclusively yours? Why writhe in grief when someone dies, when all that public lamenting is really just noise that does nothing for the one who has gone? Why call your relatives your own, when not even they can hold back death's messengers when your time comes? And why call yourself strong, when at your own funeral pyre you will not even be able to lift yourself, others will have to carry your body? Tukaram's answer is blunt: stop trusting in any of it, and turn quickly to God for refuge instead.
मराठी: मृत्यूविषयीचा हा तुकारामांचा सर्वात कठोर इशारा आहे, त्यांच्या इतर मृत्यूविषयक अभंगांपेक्षाही अधिक तिखट. आपण चिकटून राहतो त्या खोट्या आधारांना ते चार टोचणाऱ्या प्रश्नांनी उघडे पाडतात. आपल्या मुलांना 'माझी' का म्हणावे, जेव्हा ती खरे तर जगातून जाणारी नुसती जीवे आहेत, आणि आईवडीलसुद्धा फक्त तुझेच नाहीत? कोणी गेल्यावर इतके तळमळून का रडावे, जेव्हा ते सगळे रडणे-ओरडणे मेलेल्या माणसासाठी काहीच उपयोगाचे नसते? आपल्या नातेवाइकांना 'माझे' का म्हणावे, जेव्हा वेळ आल्यावर यमाच्या दूतांना तेसुद्धा रोखू शकत नाहीत? आणि स्वतःला बलवान का म्हणावे, जेव्हा स्वतःच्याच चितेजवळ स्वतःला उचलताही येणार नाही, दुसऱ्यांनाच तुझे शरीर उचलावे लागेल? तुकारामांचे उत्तर स्पष्ट आहे — यातील कशावरही विश्वास ठेवू नकोस, आणि तत्काळ पांडुरंगाला शरण जा.
Where this applies
- When you cling tightly to family or possessions as if they were permanently, exclusively yours
- When you're grieving loudly and performing sorrow rather than genuinely dealing with loss
- When you feel physically strong or invincible and forget how fragile that strength really is
- When you realize no relationship, however close, can protect you from life's hardest moments