Abhanga 297
God values the love behind an offering far more than its quality, so a humble or imperfect gift given with real love is received exactly like a grand one.
The verse
ऐका महिमा आवडीचीं । बोरें खाय भिलटीचीं ॥१॥ थोर प्रेमाचा भुकेला । हा चि दुष्काळ तयाला । अष्टमा सिद्धींला । न मनी क्षीरसागराला ॥ध्रु.॥ पव्हे सुदामदेवाचे । फके मारी कोरडे च ॥२॥ न म्हणे उच्छिष्ट अथवा थोडे । तुका म्हणे भक्तीपुढें ॥३॥
Literal translation
Listen — the mahimā of āvaḍī — eats Bhillinī's plums. Great prema-bhukelā — only this is the duṣkāḷa for him. Doesn't count the aṣṭa-siddhi; doesn't count the kṣīra-sāgara. Sudāmā's pavhē — takes; fakā mārī dry-grain. Doesn't say ucchiṣṭa or thoḍē — Tuka says: before bhakti.
मराठी: ऐका महिमा आवडीचीं — बोरें खाय भिलटीचीं. थोर प्रेमाचा भुकेला — हा चि दुष्काळ तयाला — अष्टमा सिद्धींला — न मनी क्षीरसागराला. पव्हे सुदामदेवाचे — फके मारी कोरडे च. न म्हणे उच्छिष्ट अथवा थोडे — तुकाराम म्हणतात — भक्तीपुढें.
Word-by-word gloss
| Marathi | Meaning |
|---|---|
| ऐका महिमा आवडीचीं | "listen — themahimāofāvaḍī" |
| बोरें खाय भिलटीचीं | "eatsBhillinī's plums" |
| थोर प्रेमाचा भुकेला | "greatprema-bhukelā(love-hungry)" |
| हा चि दुष्काळ तयाला | "only this — is theduṣkāḷa(drought / famine) for him" |
| अष्टमा सिद्धींला न मनी क्षीरसागराला | "doesn't count theaṣṭa-siddhi; doesn't count thekṣīra-sāgara" |
| पव्हे सुदामदेवाचे | "Sudāmā'spavhē(flat-rice / poha)" |
| फके मारी कोरडे च | "mouthfuls ofkōraḍē(dry-grain)" |
| न म्हणे उच्छिष्ट अथवा थोडे | "doesn't sayucchiṣṭa(leftover) orthoḍē(little)" |
| भक्तीपुढें | "before bhakti" |
What it means
A prema-priority-over-offering-quality abhang. Three classical-examples:
-
Bhillinī's plums (Śabarī). In the Rāmāyaṇa, Śabarī (a tribal-woman) offered Rāma plums she had already-tasted to ensure they were sweet. The plums were ucchiṣṭa (leftover, ritually-impure) but Rāma ate them with delight because of Śabarī's prema.
-
Sudāmā's pavhē. Sudāmā, Krishna's poor childhood-friend, came to Krishna's palace and offered flat-rice in a torn cloth — a poor-man's offering. Krishna ate it with great relish; Sudāmā returned home to find his hut transformed into a palace.
-
Mouthfuls of dry-grain. Fakā mārī kōraḍē — mouthfuls of dry-grain. Even dry-grain eaten with prema is the deity's preference.
The structural-claim: - The prema-bhukelā has onlyone duṣkāḷa— theabsence-of-prema. - Doesn't count the eight-siddhis or the milk-ocean (= cosmic-resources, royal-offerings). - Ucchiṣṭa or thoḍē — both equally received before bhakti.
The bhakti-priority over offering-quality is total. (Compare 100's gopa-Vidura-Kubjā — low-status-bhaktas-loved-by-Krishna; 207's prema-hungry deity; 245's husk-carries-the-coconut.)
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For someone today
Tukaram says God hungers for love above everything else — the only real famine, as far as God is concerned, is the absence of love in an offering. Riches, supernatural powers, even the ocean of milk mean nothing to him next to that. Remember Shabari, who offered Rama plums she'd already tasted to make sure they were sweet, or poor Sudama, who brought Krishna a torn cloth of flattened rice, or the person who offers only a handful of dry grain — God receives all of it with the same delight. He never asks whether a gift is impure leftovers or too little; before love, none of that matters.
मराठी: तुकाराम म्हणतात, देवाला सर्वात जास्त भूक असते ती प्रेमाची — देवाच्या दृष्टीने खरा दुष्काळ म्हणजे अर्पणात प्रेमाचा अभाव, बाकी काही नाही. संपत्ती, अष्टसिद्धी, अगदी क्षीरसागरसुद्धा त्याच्या लेखी प्रेमापुढे काहीच नाही. शबरीने आधी चाखून गोड आहेत याची खात्री करून रामाला दिलेली बोरं असोत, किंवा गरीब सुदाम्याने फाटक्या कापडात आणलेले पोहे असोत, किंवा कोणी मुठभर सुके धान्य अर्पण करो — देव सगळं तितक्याच आनंदाने स्वीकारतो. अर्पण उष्टं आहे की तुटपुंजं आहे, हे तो कधीच विचारत नाही; प्रेमापुढे यातलं काहीच महत्त्वाचं नसतं.
Where this applies
- Deity is prema-bhukelā. Only absence-of-prema is the drought.
- Aṣṭa-siddhi / kṣīra-sāgara uncounted. External-quality irrelevant.
- Bhillinī, Sudāmā, dry-grain — all received. Quality-irrelevance.
- No ucchiṣṭa or thoḍē in the bhakti-frame. Formal-impurity-and-insufficiency irrelevant.