Abhanga 208

This abhang names a real-collective-distribution discipline and a bhakta's-vulnerability register together:

The verse

Literal translation

What it means

A sharing-with-rules abhang in the gopa-band register. Tukaram speaks as one of the band — the distributor-and-supplicant. Four moves:

1. घ्या रे भोंकरें भाकरी — दहींभाताची सिदोरी — ताक सांडीं दुरी — take bhokarē-bhakari and curd-rice shidori; throw the buttermilk far. The good shidori — bread and curd-rice — is taken; the buttermilk (tāka — the thinned-leftover after butter-extraction) is thrown far. (Compare 191's taka-sarovar at home, navanīta-pūra here — the taka-vs-navanīta discrimination.) The kālā requires good-substance, not residue.

2. येथें द्यावें तैसें घ्यावे — थोडें परी निरें व्हावें — give as I give — take little, but it should be unmixed. The quality-rule: the offering should be nirē (unmixed, pure, undiluted). The quantity-rule is thoḍē (little). Little-and-pure over much-and-mixed.

3. माझें आहे तैसें पाहे — नाहीं तरी घरा जाये — चोरोनियां माये नवनीत आणावें — (take and) look at mine; otherwise, go home, secretly from your mother bring fresh-butter. The what-if-you-have-no-good-shidori fallback. Go home and steal navanīta from your mother. The navanīta-stealing of 178 returns — but here as the alternative-supply when one's own provision is inadequate.

4. घरीं माझें कोणी नाहीं हरी — नका करूं दुरी मज पायां वेगळें — at home, Hari, my no-one is there — don't keep me far from your feet. The plea. Tukaram's autobiographical-claim: at home, I have no one. (The Tukaram of biography lost his first wife and son to famine; the verse may carry this register.) The consequence of this no-one-at-home condition is the plea: don't keep me far from your feet. Pāyām-veguḷē — separate from the feet — is the only thing the bhakta cannot bear. [T]

For someone today

This abhang names a real-collective-distribution discipline and a bhakta's-vulnerability register together:

1. Throw the residue away. Tāka sāṇḍī durī. When entering a real shared-meal, the buttermilk-residue (the leftover, the diluted, the past-prime) is thrown far. Don't bring residues into the kālā. Asela tē tayāpe — let it stay with whoever has it.

2. Little-and-unmixed over much-and-mixed. Thoḍē parī nirē vhāvē. The quality-rule: the offering should be nirē (pure, undiluted). The quantity-rule is thoḍē (small). Most failure-modes happen by adding more, mixed instead of little, pure.

3. If you have no good-shidori, go home and bring fresh-butter from your mother — even by stealing. This is a striking instruction. If your own provision is inadequate, the backup-supply is navanīta from your mother, even acquired by theft. The love-economy permits the theft (compare 184). What is not permitted is bringing inadequate-provision.

4. At-home no-one is the bhakta's vulnerability. Gharī mājhē koṇī nāhīm Harī. The bhakta is structurally lonely. The plea — don't keep me far from your feet — is unconditional. Pāyām-veguḷē — separate from the feet — is the only thing the bhakta cannot bear. Receive this register; if you are in the no-one-at-home state, the pāyām-veguḷē-prevention is the appropriate prayer.

For today: at any real-shared-meal — throw the residue, bring little-and-pure, fall back on the love-stolen-supply if needed, hold on to the don't-separate-me-from-the-feet plea.

मराठी: ही ओवी real-collective-distribution discipline आणि bhakta-vulnerability register एकत्र नाव सांगते:

1. Residue फेकून द्या. ताक सांडीं दुरी. Real shared-meal मध्ये येताना — buttermilk-residue (leftover, diluted, past-prime) दूर फेकलं. कालामध्ये residues आणू नका. असेल तें तयापें.

2. Little-and-unmixed, much-and-mixed पेक्षा. थोडें परी निरें व्हावें. Quality-rule: offering निरं (pure, undiluted). Quantity-rule थोडं. Most failure-modes — much, mixed add करून, little, pure नाही.

3. चांगली shidori नसेल — घरी जा, माते कडून नवनीत आणा — चोरून सुद्धा. Striking instruction. तुमची स्वतःची provision inadequate — backup-supply आईकडून नवनीत, चोरून सुद्धा. Love-economy theft permit करते (184 compare). Permitted नाही — inadequate-provision आणणं.

4. At-home कोणी नाही — bhakta vulnerability. घरीं माझें कोणी नाहीं हरी. Bhakta structurally lonely. Plea — पायां वेगळें करू नका — unconditional. पायां-वेगळं — bhakta ला एकमेव असह्य. हा register घ्या; no-one-at-home state मध्ये असाल — पायां-वेगळं-नको प्रार्थना appropriate.

आज: कोणत्याही real-shared-meal मध्ये — residue फेका, little-and-pure आणा, गरज पडली तर love-stolen-supply वर fall back करा, don't-separate-me-from-the-feet plea धरा.

Where this applies

• Throw the residue away. ताक सांडीं दुरी.
• Little-and-unmixed. थोडें परी निरें.
• Backup-supply: love-stolen navanīta. When inadequate.
• At-home no-one — don't separate me from the feet. Unconditional plea.

Related verses

• Abhanga 2374
• Abhanga 2377 — English: Gentle, sweet bāla-rūpa — that form from Kāḷī-time.
• Abhanga 2387
• Abhanga 2402