Abhanga 2884
Time is already measuring out your life, so stop trading away your days in busy distraction and start remembering Hari now, before death arrives unannounced and no one can help you.
The verse
आयुष्य मोजावया बैसला मापारी । तूं कां रे वेव्हारी संसाराचा ॥१॥
नेईंल ओढोनि ठाउकें नसतां । न राहे दुश्चिता हरिविण ॥ध्रु.॥
कठीण हें दुःख यम जाचतील । कोण सोडवील तया ठायीं ॥२॥
राहतील दुरी सज्जन सोयरीं । आठवीं श्रीहरी लवलाहीं ॥३॥
तुका म्हणे किती करिसी लंडायी । होईंल भंडाईं पुढें थोर ॥४॥
Literal translation
Āyuṣya mōjāvayā baisalā māpārī — themāpārī(measurer) has sat-down to measure-out (your)āyuṣya(life-span); tūm kām re vevhārī samsārāñcā — why are you, Ovevhārī(busy-trader), of samsāra? Neīla ōḍhōnī ṭhāukē nasatām — (he) willneīla(take) (you)ōḍhōnī(pulling-off) — without (your) knowing; na rāhe duścita Hari-viṇa — (the mind) does not remainduścita(anxiety-free) — without Hari. Kaṭhīṇa he duḥkha yama jāchatīla — hard is thisduḥkha—yamawilljāchatīla(torture, scorch); kōṇa sōḍavīla tayā ṭhāyī — who will release (you) — at that place? Rāhatīla durī sajjana sōyarī — sajjana-relatives will stay far; āṭhavīm Śrī-Harī lavalāhī — quickly remember Śrī-Hari. Tukā says: kitī karisī laṇḍāyī — how muchlaṇḍāyī(roguery) will you do?; hōīla bhaṇḍāī puḍhe thōra — greatbhaṇḍāī(public-disgrace, shame) will be ahead.
What it means
A canonical 4-verse mortality-warning verse. The verse-image is striking: the māpārī (measurer) has sat-down to measure-your-āyuṣya.
Verse 1: Āyuṣya mōjāvayā baisalā māpārī — tūm kām re vevhārī samsārāñcā — the measurer has sat-down to measure your life-span — why are you, busy-trader, of samsāra? The māpārī — a grain-measurer who sits-down to-measure-out a sack of grain. The image: Yama (or Time) sits-down with-his-measuring-cup to-portion-out-your-life-span. The question to the bhakta: why are you busy-trading in samsāra while-Yama-is-measuring?
Dhrūpada: Neīla ōḍhōnī ṭhāukē nasatām — na rāhe duścita Hari-viṇa — (Yama) will take you, pulling, without your knowing — the mind doesn't stay anxiety-free without Hari. The warning: Yama-takes-suddenly; the discipline: Hari is the only-anxiety-cure.
Verse 2: Kaṭhīṇa he duḥkha yama jāchatīla — kōṇa sōḍavīla tayā ṭhāyī — hard is this duḥkha — Yama will torture — who will release at that place? The post-death-warning: Yama tortures at the post-death place; no-one-else can-release.
Verse 3: Rāhatīla durī sajjana sōyarī — āṭhavīm Śrī-Harī lavalāhī — sajjana-relatives will stay far — quickly remember Śrī-Hari. The reality: at-death, sajjana-relatives stay far; only-Śrī-Hari-remembrance helps. The discipline: remember-Hari-quickly (lavalāhī). (Pairs with 2797 kāḷa-grāsāvayā mortality-warning.)
Close: Tukā mhaṇe kitī karisī laṇḍāyī — hōīla bhaṇḍāī puḍhe thōra — how much roguery will you do? — great bhaṇḍāī (public-disgrace) is ahead. Bhaṇḍāī is public-exposure-of-one's-roguery. Laṇḍāyī (roguery) now → bhaṇḍāī (public-disgrace) at death.
For someone today
This is the canonical mortality-warning text. The measurer has sat down to measure your life-span — why are you, busy-trader, of samsāra? (Yama) will take you pulling — without your knowing. Without Hari, the mind doesn't stay anxiety-free. Hard is this duḥkha — Yama will torture; who will release at that place? Sajjana-relatives will stay far — quickly remember Śrī-Hari. How much roguery will you do? — great disgrace is ahead. The verse offers a structured meditation on mortality: the measurer is sitting down right now; without warning, Yama takes you; at death, even your closest kin will stay far away; only remembering Hari helps. The closing warning is that whatever roguery you get away with now will turn into public disgrace at the moment of death. The verse pairs with 2797 (Time coming to swallow you), 2879 (saying Hari-Hari fearlessly), and 2880's teaching that true attainment shows itself in the body — together forming a sequence on mortality and the praise of the Name.
मराठी: हा मृत्यूची जाणीव करून देणारा प्रसिद्ध अभंग आहे. तुझे आयुष्य मोजण्यासाठी मापारी बसला आहे — तू का रे संसाराचा व्यापारी होऊन बसला आहेस? यम तुला नकळत ओढून नेईल. हरीशिवाय मन निश्चिंत राहत नाही. हे दुःख कठीण आहे — यम छळेल; तेव्हा कोण सोडवील? सज्जन-सोयरे दूर राहतील — लवकर श्रीहरीचे स्मरण कर. किती लबाडी करशील? — पुढे मोठी नाचक्की होईल. हा अभंग मृत्यूचे एक सुसंगत चिंतन देतो : मापारी आत्ताच बसला आहे; इशारा न देता यम घेऊन जातो; मृत्यूसमयी जवळचे नातलगही दूर राहतात; फक्त हरिस्मरणच उपयोगी पडते. शेवटचा इशारा असा की आता जी लबाडी चालते ती मृत्यूसमयी उघड होऊन मोठी नाचक्की ठरते. हा अभंग २७९७ (काळ गिळण्यासाठी येणे), २८७९ (निर्भयपणे हरि-हरि म्हणणे) आणि २८८० (खरी प्राप्ती अंगावर दिसणे) यांच्याशी जोडलेला आहे — सर्व मिळून मृत्यू आणि नामस्मरणाची एक मालिका बनते.
Where this applies
- When you keep putting off spiritual practice because you assume there will always be more time later
- When you are so absorbed in work, business, or daily errands that you forget life is finite
- When you are facing a health scare or the death of someone close and realize how suddenly things can end
- When you are tempted to cut corners or act dishonestly, thinking no one will ever find out