Abhanga 3180
The deepest question of life must be kept alive moment by moment, because time is always passing and daily busyness clouds the eyes until real priorities disappear.
The verse
क्षणक्षणा हा चि करावा विचार । तरावया पार भवसिंधु ॥१॥
नाशिवंत देह जाणार सकळ । आयुष्य खातो काळ सावधान ॥ध्रु.॥
संतासमागमीं धरूनि आवडी । करावी तांतडी परमार्था ॥२॥
तुका म्हणे येह लोकीच्या वेव्हारें । नये डोळे धुरें भरूनि राहों ॥३॥
Literal translation
Kṣaṇa-kṣaṇā hā chi karāvā vichāra — moment-by-moment, this very one should make as vichāra; tarāvayā pāra bhavasindhu — to cross the far-shore of the bhava-sindhu. Nāśivanta deha jāṇāra sakaḷa — the perishable deha — all will go; āyuṣya khātō kāḷa sāvadhāna — Kāḷa eats āyuṣya — be alert. Santāsamāgamīm dharūni āvaḍī — in santa-samāgama, holding āvaḍī; karāvī tāntaḍī paramārthā — make tāntaḍī for paramārtha. Tukā mhaṇe yēha lōkīchyā vēvhārēm — Tukā says: by the vyavahāra of this world; nayē ḍōḷē dhurēm bharūni rāhōm — one should not stay with eyes filled by smoke.
What it means
A 4-verse mortality-urgency text. Three discipline-moves: (1) moment-by-moment the cross-sea question must stay live; (2) Kāḷa is eating āyuṣya even now — sāvadhāna; (3) cling to santa-samāgama and do tāntaḍī (haste) for paramārtha. The dhūra (smoke) of vyavahāra fills eyes — i.e., worldly business literally clouds vision.
For someone today
Don't postpone the central question to "later." Worldly dealings are smoke; they fill your eyes till you can't see. Spend time around those further along the path and hurry — not panic, but the seriousness of someone whose time is being eaten.
Where this applies
- Tukārām's moment-by-moment urgency; smoke-in-eyes; sant-tāntaḍī canonical
- Companion to 2797 (mortality-warning) and 2884 (māpārī-sits-measuring)