Abhanga 3979
Weave remembrance of God into your everyday work right now, because at death everyone stands apart from you, so untangle life's knots while you still can.
The verse
कामांमध्यें काम । कांहीं म्हणा रामराम । जाइल भवश्रम । सुख होईल दुःखाचें ॥१॥
कळों येईल अंतकाळीं । प्राणप्रयाणाचे वेळीं । राहाती निराळीं । रांडापोरें सकळ ॥ध्रु.॥
जीतां जीसी जैसा तैसा । पुढें आहे रे वोळसा । उगवुनि फांसा । काय करणें तें करीं ॥२॥
केलें होतें या चि जन्में । अवघें विठोबाच्या नामें । तुका म्हणे कर्म । जाळोनियां तरसी ॥३॥
Literal translation
Kāmāmmadhyēm kāma — kāmhī mhaṇā rāmarāma — jāila bhavaśrama — sukha hōīl duḥkhāñcem — amid work the work — somehow say Rāma-Rāma — bhavaśrama will go — duḥkha (will become) sukha. Kaḷōm yeīl antakāḷīm — prāṇaprayāṇāñce veḷīm — rāhātī nirāḷīm — rāṇḍāpōrēm sakaḷa — (it) will be known at antakāḷa — at prāṇa-prayāṇa time — all wife-children stand aloof. Jītām jīsī jaisā taisā — puḍhem āhe re vōḷasā — ugavuni phāmsā — kāya karaṇēm tem karīm — as you live so — the entanglement (is) ahead — un-knot the noose — do what you must. Kelēm hōtēm yā chi janmēm — avaghēm viṭhōbāñcyā nāmēm — Tukā mhaṇe karma — jāḷōniyām tarasī — let it be done in this very birth — all by Viṭhōbā's Name — Tukā says: by burning karma you cross over.
What it means
A 4-verse ovi-structure Name-and-work text. Within-work the-real-work — say-Rāma-Rāma; bhavaśrama-goes, duḥkha-becomes-sukha; at-antakāḷa wife-children-aloof; un-knot-the-noose now, do-it-in-this-very-birth by-Viṭhōbā's-Name; burn-karma — cross-over.
For someone today
Tukaram tells you not to wait for a special quiet moment to remember God, but to weave it into whatever work you are already doing: even a simple Rama-Rama said in passing eases the tiredness of everyday life and turns your suffering into ease. He is blunt about why this urgency matters, because at the moment of death, wife, children, and everyone else will stand apart from you, unable to help. Whatever knot or tangle life has left you with lies ahead, so untangle it now, while you are living, rather than leaving it for later. Do it in this very birth, he says, using the Name, because burning through your accumulated karma this way is what actually carries you across.
मराठी: तुकाराम सांगतात की देवाचे स्मरण करण्यासाठी एखाद्या खास शांत क्षणाची वाट पाहू नका, तर जे काम तुम्ही आधीच करत आहात त्यातच ते गुंफा — सहज बोललेला एक राम-राम सुद्धा रोजच्या जगण्याचा शीण कमी करतो आणि दुःखाचे रूपांतर सुखात करतो. ही निकड का महत्त्वाची आहे हे ते स्पष्टपणे सांगतात — मृत्यूच्या क्षणी पत्नी, मुले आणि सगळेच तुमच्यापासून दूर उभे राहतात, मदत करू शकत नाहीत. आयुष्याने जी गुंतागुंत तुमच्यासमोर ठेवली आहे ती पुढेच आहे, म्हणून ती आताच, जिवंत असतानाच सोडवा, नंतरसाठी ठेवू नका. हे याच जन्मात करा, नामाच्या साहाय्याने, कारण असे साठलेले कर्म जाळून टाकणेच खरोखर पार करून नेते.
Where this applies
- Tukārām's in-work-say-Name canonical
- Companion to mortality-warning corpus (2884) and Name-supremacy (2855)