Abhanga 3823
No wealth, food, or comfort accompanies you at death, so forgetting to remember God while chasing them makes all that effort wasted labor.
The verse
धन मेळवूनि कोटी । सवें नये रे लंगोटी ॥१॥
पानें खाशील उदंड । अंतीं जासी सुकल्या तोंडें ॥ध्रु.॥
पलंग न्याहाल्या सुपती । शेवटीं गोवर्या सांगाती ॥२॥
तुका म्हणे राम । एक विसरतां श्रम ॥३॥
Literal translation
Amass-koṭi-dhana — langōṭi-doesn't-come. Eat-pāna-plenty — at-end-mouth-dries. Palanga-nyāhālyā-supatī — at-end-only-gōvarī. Tukā: Rāma — forgetting-one — śrama.
What it means
THE canonical 3-verse mortality text — daily-quoted across Maharashtra. Amass ten-million in wealth — not even a loincloth comes with you. Eat plenty of betel-leaves — at the end you go with a parched mouth. Sleep on a bed with fine rugs — at the end only cow-dung-cakes (for cremation) are your companions. Forgetting only-one-Rāma — (all that effort) is vain-labor. Each verse pairs earthly-abundance with funeral-poverty — the only continuity is forgetting-Rāma. The image gōvarī-sāngātī (cow-dung-cakes-as-companions, i.e., the cremation-fuel that accompanies you to the pyre) is one of Tukārām's most-quoted mortality-images.
For someone today
Tukaram lays out three plain facts about death: pile up all the wealth you want, not even a loincloth goes with you; eat the finest food, you still leave with a dry, empty mouth; sleep on the softest bed, in the end only the fuel for your funeral pyre keeps you company. None of your possessions or comforts travel with you. The only thing that matters, he says, is whether you remembered God, because everything else was wasted effort.
मराठी: तुकाराम मृत्यूबद्दल तीन साधे सत्य मांडतात: कितीही धन साठवा, शेवटी एक लंगोटीसुद्धा सोबत येत नाही; कितीही चांगले खा, शेवटी तोंड सुकलेलेच जाते; कितीही मऊ बिछान्यावर झोपा, शेवटी फक्त गोवऱ्याच सोबतीला असतात. तुमची कोणतीही संपत्ती किंवा सुखसोयी तुमच्यासोबत जात नाहीत. फक्त एकच गोष्ट महत्त्वाची आहे, ती म्हणजे तुम्ही रामाला विसरला नाहीत का, कारण बाकी सर्व मेहनत व्यर्थ ठरते.
Where this applies
- Tukārām's THE canonical mortality text — daily-quoted
- koṭi-dhana / pāna / palanga vs langōṭi / sukalyā-tōnḍē / gōvarī
- Pair with 2797 (kāḷa-grāsāvayā-mortality-warning), 2884 (māpārī-mortality)