Abhanga 164
May we be born again — to eat the kālā-curd-rice. There is no such thing in Vaikuntha — not a single bite of kālā there. Let us put it in each other's mouths; let us make happy whoops. Tuka says: the riverbank — that's the right, fine, true place.
The verse
उपजोनियां पुढती येऊं । काला खाऊं दहींभात ॥१॥ वैकुंठीं तों ऐसें नाहीं । कवळ कांहीं काल्याचें ॥ध्रु.॥ एकमेकां देऊं मुखीं । सुखीं घालूं हुंबरी ॥२॥ तुका म्हणे वाळवंट । बरवें नीट उत्तम ॥३॥
Literal translation
English: May we be born again — let us eat the kālā curd-rice. In Vaikuntha there is no such thing — not a single bite of kālā. Let us put (it) in each other's mouths; in joy, let us make whooping-calls. Tuka says: the river-sand-bank — that is good, fine, the best.
मराठी: उपजोनियां पुढती येऊं — काला खाऊं दहींभात. वैकुंठात असं काही नाही — कवळ काल्याचा एकही नाही. एकमेकांच्या मुखी देऊ — सुखाने हुंबरी घालू. तुकाराम म्हणतात — वाळवंट — बरवं, नीट, उत्तम.
Word-by-word gloss
| Marathi | Meaning |
|---|---|
| उपजोनियां पुढती येऊं | "may we be born again, may we come (back)" |
| काला खाऊं दहींभात | "let us eat kālā (curd-rice mix)" |
| वैकुंठीं तों ऐसें नाहीं | "in Vaikuntha (Vishnu's heaven), there is no such thing" |
| कवळ कांहीं काल्याचें | "(not even) a single morsel of kālā" |
| एकमेकां देऊं मुखीं | "let us put (it) in each other's mouths" |
| सुखीं घालूं हुंबरी | "in joy, let us make humbarī (whooping calls)" |
| वाळवंट | "the vāḷavanṭa (river-sand-bank)" |
| बरवें नीट उत्तम | "good, fine, the best" |
What it means
One of Tukaram's most famous and theologically radical abhangs. The kālā — the gopa-gopikā children's communal curd-and-rice mix that Krishna and his friends share at the Yamuna riverbank — is the central image. Tukaram makes a stunning move:
उपजोनियां पुढती येऊं — काला खाऊं दहींभात — let us be born again to eat the kālā-curd-rice.
In standard moksha-frameworks, rebirth is the problem and escape from rebirth is the goal. Vaikuntha (Vishnu's heaven, the abode-without-return) is the prize. Tukaram reverses this: Vaikuntha has no kālā. The communal-feast-on-the-riverbank — with friends, putting food in each other's mouths, making whooping joy-cries — does not exist in heaven. So rebirth is preferred if rebirth keeps the kālā available.
This is embodied, communal, riverbank-bhakti vs. disembodied, solitary, heaven-bhakti — and Tukaram chooses embodied. वाळवंट बरवें नीट उत्तम — the riverbank is good, fine, the best.
The companion-doctrine: bhakti is not for escape from the world; bhakti is for deeper participation in the world's communal-joy-with-Krishna. Vaikuntha is no upgrade over Vrindavan-riverbank. [T] [Major teaching of Warkari tradition]
For someone today
This abhang is a correction to the spiritual-bypass impulse — the urge to escape embodied life, communal life, food, friends, joy-cries — in favor of some abstracted higher state. Tukaram says: that abstracted higher state lacks the kālā. Whatever liberation looks like, if it does not include eating curd-rice with friends on a riverbank, putting food in each other's mouths, whooping in joy — keep me out of it. Send me back.
The spiritual move is not the rejection of the world; it is the deepening of communal-embodied-joy with the deity-as-friend-among-friends. Tukaram's bhakti is not world-renouncing; it is world-loving with Krishna in it.
For today: when a spiritual frame starts making your friends, your food, your body, your laughter feel less than, that frame has gone wrong somewhere. Tukaram's check: is there kālā in this frame's heaven? If not, the riverbank is better.
मराठी: ही ओवी spiritual-bypass impulse ला correction — embodied life, communal life, अन्न, मित्र, joy-cries यांच्यापासून पळून जाण्याची ओढ — एखाद्या abstracted higher state साठी. तुकाराम म्हणतात: तिथे काला नाही. liberation जे काही असेल — नदीकाठी मित्रांसोबत दहींभात, एकमेकांच्या मुखात घास, सुखाने हुंबरी — नसेल — मला तिथे नका पाठवू. परत पाठवा.
spiritual हालचाल जग-नकार नाही; देवासह — मित्रांमधल्या-मित्र-म्हणून — communal-embodied joy खोलवर नेणं. तुकारामांची bhakti जग-त्याग नाही; जगात कृष्णासह जग-प्रेम.
आज: spiritual frame तुमचे मित्र, अन्न, शरीर, हसणं कमी-दर्जा वाटू लागलं — frame कुठेतरी चुकलंय. तुकारामांची check: या frame च्या heaven मध्ये काला आहे का? नसेल — वाळवंट बरवें.
Where this applies
- Spiritual frame making embodied life feel inferior. वैकुंठीं तों ऐसें नाहीं.
- Liberation as escape-from-rebirth. Tukaram chooses rebirth-for-the-feast.
- Solitary moksha vs. communal-feast-with-Krishna. The riverbank wins.