Abhanga 4474
No one escapes death, but understanding gained from good company and trust in the protector of the defenseless lets you face it with confidence instead of fear.
The verse
यमाचे हे पाश नाटोपती कोणातें । आम्हां दिनानाथें रक्षियेलें ॥१॥
यम नेतां तुम्हां रक्षील हें कोण । तुम्हां धन्यधन्य कोण म्हणती ॥ध्रु.॥
संतसज्जनमेळा पवित्र संतकीर्ति । त्यांनीं उत्तम स्थिति सांगितली ॥२॥
तें चि धरोनि चित्ती तुका हित करी। यमासि पांपरी हाणे आतां ॥३॥
Literal translation
Yama-pāśa-none-escape — Dīnanātha-protected-us. Yama-takes-you-who-rescues — who-says-dhanya-dhanya. Sant-sajjana-mēḷā — pavitra-sant-kīrti — uttama-stithi-told. Holding-in-chitta-Tukā-hita — throws-pāmparī-to-Yama.
What it means
A 4-verse Yama-protection-by-sant-sanga text. Yama's noose — no one escapes it — us, the Lord-of-the-defenseless has protected. When Yama takes you, who will protect you — who will say of you 'blessed, blessed'? In the gathering of good-folk and sants — pure sant-glory — they have told the highest state. Holding that very state in the mind, Tukā does his welfare-deed — to Yama, he throws a decisive blow now. The argument: (a) Yama's-noose-none-escape — universal-mortality, (b) but-Dīnanātha-protected-us = singular-grace, (c) sant-sajjana-mēḷā transmitted the uttama-stithi (highest-state), (d) holding-it-in-chitta — Tukā can-throw-a-decisive-kick-at-Yama. The pāmparī (kick / decisive blow) image is striking. Pair with 2797 (kāḷa-grāsāvayā), 2884 (māpārī-mortality-warning).
For someone today
Tukārām acknowledges plainly that no one escapes death, its grip catches everyone eventually, but he says he has been protected because God stands as the protector of the defenseless. He asks pointedly, when death comes for you, who is actually going to stand up for you then, who will call your life blessed at that moment? He credits the gathering of good, sincere people, the sants, with having passed down the real understanding of what the highest state of life actually looks like. Holding onto that understanding, Tukārām says he can face death itself with confidence, almost as if he could deliver it a decisive blow rather than cower before it.
मराठी: तुकाराम स्पष्टपणे कबूल करतात की मृत्यूपासून कोणीही सुटत नाही, त्याची पकड शेवटी सर्वांनाच येते, पण ते म्हणतात की स्वतःचे रक्षण झाले आहे कारण परमेश्वर असहायांचा रक्षक म्हणून उभा असतो. ते थेट विचारतात, जेव्हा मृत्यू तुझ्यासाठी येईल, तेव्हा खरोखर कोण तुझ्या बाजूने उभा राहील, त्या क्षणी तुझे जीवन धन्य आहे असे कोण म्हणेल? ते सज्जनांच्या, संतांच्या, सत्संगाला श्रेय देतात, ज्यांनी खरोखर जीवनाची सर्वोच्च अवस्था काय असते हे शिकवले आहे. ती समज मनात धरून, तुकाराम म्हणतात की ते मृत्यूला आत्मविश्वासाने सामोरे जाऊ शकतात, जणू घाबरण्याऐवजी त्यालाच निर्णायक तडाखा देऊ शकतात.
Where this applies
- When you're confronting the fact that death eventually comes for everyone, no exceptions
- When you wonder who will really be there for you in your most vulnerable, final moments
- When being around genuinely good, sincere people has shaped how you understand what matters most in life
- When you want to face something frightening with quiet confidence instead of fear