Abhanga 3252
The body will not last, so do your real good now instead of feeding habits and cravings you cannot later let go of.
The verse
सोसें बहुगर्भवासीं । मेलों असों उपवासीं । नाहीं सखीं ऐसीं । तेथें कोणी भेटलीं ॥१॥
करीं करीं रे स्वहित । देह तंव हे अनित्य । नाहीं दिलें चित्त । सोडवूं मोहापासोनि ॥ध्रु.॥
पाळी तोंडीचिया घांसें । तें चि होय अनारिसें । ज्या नव्हे ऐसें । खेदी परि सोडवीना ॥२॥
तुका म्हणे धनमानें । माझ्या बाटलों मीपणें । नाहीं दिला जनें । देखों लाभें हा लाभ ॥३॥
Literal translation
V1: with sōsa in many garbha-vāsas; died, was on upavāsa; no sakhī-such met me there. V2 (dhr.): do svahita — deha is anitya; didn't give chitta to release from mōha. V3: the grass that mouth is fed becomes different; even saddened, doesn't release (it). V4: Tukā: I was defiled by dhana-māna, by mī-paṇa; jana didn't see this lābha as lābha.
What it means
A 4-verse mortality-warning. Many-births-of-toil, no-friend; body-anitya; the-mouth-fed-with-grass-becomes-its-grass (= what-we-consume-becomes-us, addictively); defiled-by-honor-and-mī-paṇa.
For someone today
Tukārām's warning: do your own good — body is impermanent; the addiction-to-feeding transforms you.
Where this applies
- Tukārām's many-garbha-vāsa, body-anitya, do-svahita mortality-warning