Abhanga 4462
Treat tomorrow's death as if it were today and stay alert until the very end, because what you're chasing now will look like madness once death actually comes.
The verse
उद्यांचें आजि च मरण । आणोनि म्हणे हरि भोक्ता ॥१॥
लाभ विचारोनि पोटीं । होई सेवटीं जागृत ॥ध्रु.॥
पुरे हें न पुरे सेवटा । तरण्या बळकटा सदा वास ॥२॥
होतील प्रबळा । आशा तृष्णा माया ॥३॥
परदेश ते परवर होती । चिळसविती नाकडोळे ॥४॥
लाभ विचारोनि गुंती । तुका म्हणे अंतीं सर्व पिसुनें ॥५॥
Literal translation
Tomorrow's-death-bring-today — Hari-bhōktā. Lābha-in-pōṭa — jāgrta-at-end. Sufficient-or-not-at-end — only-young-strong-sadā-vāsa. Will-grow-prabaḷa — āśā-trṣṇā-māyā. Foreign-becomes-paravara — nose-eyes-revulsion. Lābha-considered-gumtī — Tukā: at-end-all-pisuna.
What it means
A 5-verse mortality-vigilance text. Bring tomorrow's death to today — say within yourself, 'Hari is the experiencer'. Considering gain inwardly — be vigilant at the very end of life. Whether this is sufficient or not at the end — only the young-and-strong always dwells in confidence. But hope, thirst, illusion — will become very-strong. Foreign regions become most-foreign — the nose, eyes feel revulsion. Gain considered deeply, the entanglement — Tukā says — at the end all this is madness. The vigilance-meditation: import-tomorrow's-death-into-today, transfer-experiencer-status to Hari, consider lābha-inwardly, stay vigilant at the end. Only the young-strong-confident take-today-for-granted; but āśā/trṣṇā/māyā will overpower. At the end, the whole-entanglement reveals itself as madness. Pair with 4225 (life-budget-accounting), 4426 (6-vice-cascade).
For someone today
Tukārām urges you to treat tomorrow's death as if it were happening today, so you live with real urgency instead of vague confidence. He says surrender the outcome to Hari, rather than clinging to yourself as the one who owns life's results, and stay alert right up to the very end. Only the young and strong feel invincible, assuming there's always more time, but hope, craving, and illusion only grow stronger the longer you put off facing this. In the end, he says, all the entanglement you were so consumed by will look like sheer madness once death actually arrives, so it is better to see that clearly now.
मराठी: तुकाराम सांगतात की उद्याचा मृत्यू आजच घडतो आहे असे समजून जगावे, म्हणजे उगाच आत्मविश्वासाने वेळ वाया न घालवता खरी तत्परता बाळगता येते. ते म्हणतात परिणामांची मालकी स्वतःकडे न ठेवता ती हरीकडे सोपवावी, आणि शेवटपर्यंत सजग राहावे. फक्त तरुण आणि बलवान माणसालाच आपण अजिंक्य आहोत असे वाटते, नेहमी अधिक वेळ आहे असे समजतो, पण आशा, तृष्णा, आणि माया हे तोंड फिरवत राहिल्यास अधिकच बळकट होत जातात. शेवटी, ज्या गुंतागुंतीत आपण इतके अडकलेलो होतो, मृत्यू प्रत्यक्ष येताच ती सगळी वेडाची गोष्ट वाटू लागते, म्हणून हे आताच स्पष्टपणे पाहणे बरे.
Where this applies
- Tukārām's mortality-vigilance + tomorrow's-death-today canonical