संत साहित्य
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संत साहित्य · Tukārām · Abhanga 297 of 4582

Abhanga 297

This abhang names the prema-priority claim:

When the deity prefers low-quality offerings with prema over high-quality without — and you have to recognize this register
When the prema-bhukelā cares only for love-hunger — and you accept this priority
When ucchiṣṭa or thoḍē — both equally received — and you receive the bhakti-priority claim

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

English: 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 — the mahimā of āvaḍī**"
बोरें खाय भिलटीचीं "eats Bhillinī's plums**"
थोर प्रेमाचा भुकेला "great prema-bhukelā (love-hungry)"
हा चि दुष्काळ तयाला "only this — is the duṣkāḷa (drought / famine) for him"
अष्टमा सिद्धींला न मनी क्षीरसागराला "doesn't count the aṣṭa-siddhi; doesn't count the kṣīra-sāgara*"
पव्हे सुदामदेवाचे "Sudāmā's pavhē (flat-rice / poha)"
फके मारी कोरडे च "mouthfuls of kōraḍē (dry-grain)"
न म्हणे उच्छिष्ट अथवा थोडे "doesn't say ucchiṣṭa (leftover) or thoḍē (little)"
भक्तीपुढें "before bhakti"

What it means

A prema-priority-over-offering-quality abhang. Three classical-examples:

  1. 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.

  2. 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.

  3. 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 only one duṣkāḷa — the absence-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.)

[T]

For someone today

This abhang names the prema-priority claim:

  1. The deity is prema-bhukelā*. Thōra premāchā bhukelā. The deity hungers for prema; only the absence-of-prema is the duṣkāḷa for him. (Compare 207's prema-hungry deity, no abhāra-retention*.)

  2. Doesn't count the aṣṭa-siddhi or kṣīra-sāgara*. External-resources / cosmic-prizes / royal-offerings — the deity does not count. The value-axis is prema, not external-quality*.

  3. Bhillinī's plums, Sudāmā's pavhē, dry-grain — all received. The historical-bhakti-list: Śabarī's pre-tasted plums, Sudāmā's flat-rice in torn cloth, dry-grain by mouthfuls — all equally accepted. The quality of the offering does not matter; the prema does.

  4. Doesn't say ucchiṣṭa or thoḍē*. Ucchiṣṭa (ritually-impure leftovers) and thoḍē (little, insufficient) — both rejected categories in the formal-frame; both accepted by the deity in bhakti*.

For today: when offering to a real-presence in your life, prema is the priority; don't worry about the offering's-quality, the social-acceptability, the form-purity. Bhillinī-mode and Sudāmā-mode are both received. The prema-bhukelā cares only for the prema-hunger-being-met.

This abhang is important for any-context where you fear your offering is inadequate: the deity's frame is different from the formal-frame; the offering-quality is irrelevant in this frame; the prema-quality is everything.

मराठी: ही ओवी prema-priority claim नाव सांगते:

  1. देव prema-bhukelā* आहे. थोर प्रेमाचा भुकेला. देव prema साठी hungry; फक्त absence-of-prema त्याचा duṣkāḷa*.

  2. Aṣṭa-siddhi किंवा kṣīra-sāgara चा count नाही. External-resources / cosmic-prizes / royal-offerings — देव count करत नाही. Value-axis prema, external-quality नाही.

  3. भिल्लिणीची बोरं, सुदाम्याचा पोहे, dry-grain — सर्व received. Historical-bhakti-list: शबरीची आधी-चाखलेली बोरं, फाटक्या-कापडात सुदाम्याचा पोहे, मुठी-भर dry-grain — सर्व equally accepted. Offering ची quality matter करत नाही; prema करते.

  4. Ucchiṣṭa किंवा thoḍē म्हणत नाही. Ucchiṣṭa (ritually-impure leftovers) आणि thoḍē (little, insufficient) — formal-frame मध्ये दोन्ही rejected categories; bhakti मध्ये देव दोन्ही accept करतो.

आज: तुमच्या आयुष्यातील real-presence ला offer करताना, prema priority; offering ची quality, social-acceptability, form-purity ची काळजी करू नका. भिल्लिणी-mode आणि सुदामा-mode दोन्ही received. Prema-bhukelā फक्त prema-hunger-meet होण्याची काळजी करतो.

ही ओवी कोणत्याही context मध्ये जिथे तुम्हाला वाटतं तुमचं offering inadequate आहे तिथे महत्त्वाची: देवाचा frame formal-frame पेक्षा वेगळा; या frame मध्ये offering-quality irrelevant; prema-quality सर्व.

Where this applies

Bhakti

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