Abhanga 3478
Do not mistake worldly custom for ultimate truth; remember death and open your eyes rather than staying willfully blind to it.
The verse
पडिली हे रूढि जगा परिचार । चालविती वेव्हार सत्य म्हूण ॥१॥
मरणाची कां रे नाहीं आठवण । संचिताचा धन लोभ हेवा ॥ध्रु.॥
देहाचें भय तें काळाचें भातुकें । ग्रासूनि तें एकें ठेविलेंसे ॥२॥
तुका म्हणे कांहीं उघडा रे डोळे । जाणोनि अंधळे होऊं नका ॥३॥
Literal translation
Rūḍhi-fell-as-parichāra — they-run-vēvhāra-calling-true. Why-no-āṭhavaṇa-of-maraṇa — lōbha-hēvā-for-samchita. Deha-bhaya-Kāḷa's-bhātuka — grasped-kept-as-one. Tukā: somewhat-open-eyes — knowing-don't-be-blind.
What it means
A 3-verse mortality-warning. They run worldly-affairs as if they're true; no one remembers death; the body's fear is Kāḷa's toy; open your eyes, don't be blind.
For someone today
Tukaram warns that people treat the everyday customs of the world as if they were absolute truth, running their affairs as though life would go on forever. He asks why no one remembers death, even while chasing wealth with greed and envy over what they have accumulated. The fear we feel about the body, he says, is really just a toy in the hands of Time, who has already swallowed and holds everyone the same way. He urges us to open our eyes, to know this clearly, and not stay willfully blind to it.
मराठी: तुकाराम इशारा देतात की लोक जगातील रोजच्या रूढींनाच सत्य मानून व्यवहार चालवतात, जणू आयुष्य कायम असेच चालणार आहे. साठवलेल्या धनासाठी लोभ आणि हेवा करताना कोणालाच मृत्यूची आठवण का येत नाही, असा सवाल ते करतात. देहाची जी भीती आपल्याला वाटते, ती केवळ काळाचे एक भातुके आहे, कारण त्याने आधीच सर्वांना गिळून एकसारखे धरून ठेवले आहे, असे ते सांगतात. डोळे उघडा, हे स्पष्टपणे जाणून घ्या, आणि जाणीवपूर्वक आंधळे राहू नका, असा आग्रह ते धरतात.
Where this applies
- When you are caught up in daily busyness and rarely stop to think about mortality
- When greed or envy over money and possessions is driving your choices
- When fear of the body's decline controls you more than clear awareness of impermanence does
- When it feels easier to stay unaware than to face the uncomfortable truth that time is limited