Abhanga 3180
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.
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)