Abhanga 2633
The beloved-meal in many varieties — differently-different sweetness in one rasa. In the eating-row I got the prasāda — they kept no distinctions. Cooking-perfected by own-hand-application, favorite portions were ready. Tukā: the leftover-prasāda came — and this is the bliss for my jīva.
The verse
आवडीभोजन प्रकार परवडी । भिन्नाभिन्न गोडी एक रसा ॥१॥
भोगित्या पंगती लाधलों प्रसाद । तिंहीं नाहीं भेद राखियेला ॥ध्रु.॥
पाकसिद्धि स्वहस्तकें विनियोग। आवडीचे भाग सिद्ध केले ॥२॥
तुका म्हणे आला उच्छिष्ट प्रसाद । तेणें हा आनंद माझ्या जीवा ॥३॥
Literal translation
A beloved-meal in many varieties — differently-different sweetness in one rasa. In the eating-row I received the prasāda — they kept no distinctions. Cooking-perfected by own-hand application — favorite-portions were ready. Tukā says: the ucchiṣṭa (leftover) prasāda came — and that is the bliss in my jīva.
What it means
A verse celebrating the bhakti-feast in its specific register of humility-joy. Āvaḍī-bhōjana prakāra paravaḍī — bhinnābhinna gōḍī ēka rasā — the beloved-meal in many varieties — differently-different sweetness in one rasa. Paravaḍī — the choice-portion, the fine-array. Bhinnābhinna gōḍī ēka rasā — differently-different sweetness in one rasa — the dishes are many but the underlying rasa (essence-taste) is one. This is also a theological claim — many-bhakti-forms, one-essence.
The dhrūpada: bhōgityā pangatī lādhalōm prasāda — tihīm nāhī bhēda rākhiyalā — in the eating-row (pankti) I got prasāda; they kept no distinctions (bhēda). The pankti-bhōjana (row-meal) is a major Vārkarī-egalitarian practice — everyone sits in a row, everyone is served the same; no caste-distinctions are maintained. Tihīm nāhī bhēda — they did not maintain distinctions — is the egalitarian claim explicit.
The second verse describes the cooking: pāka-siddhi sva-hastakēm viniyōga — āvaḍīche bhāga siddha kēlē — cooking-perfected (pāka-siddhi) by own-hand application; favorite-portions were ready. The Lord-as-cook image: the prasāda was prepared by sva-hasta — his own hand — and the favorite-portions were siddha — readied.
The close is the humility-joy seal: ālā ucchiṣṭa prasāda — tēṇē hā ānanda mājhyā jīvā — the ucchiṣṭa (leftover) prasāda came — and that is the bliss for my jīva. Ucchiṣṭa — leftover, what-was-eaten-from, second-hand — is technically the leftover from the Lord's own meal. In the bhakti-tradition, ucchiṣṭa-prasāda is the most-cherished form of prasāda — what the Lord himself ate first and left for the bhakta. The bhakta does not feel demoted by getting the leftover; the ucchiṣṭa is the bliss.
For someone today
There are particular kinds of receipt that the ucchiṣṭa-prasāda register names: getting what the master ate from, getting what the elder used, getting the seat someone already sat in, getting the love that was already given to someone else first. Conventional pride resists these as demoted offerings. The bhakti-joy reads them oppositely: the leftover is the bliss. The verse also offers the egalitarian frame — the pankti kept no distinctions — eating in a row where everyone gets the same, no separations by caste or rank. The combination of the no-distinctions eating row and the bliss found in the leftover is a complete bhakti meal-theology.
मराठी: 'उच्छिष्ट प्रसाद' या संकल्पनेत काही विशिष्ट प्रकारचे मिळणे येते — गुरूने ज्यातून खाल्ले तेच मिळणे, वडीलधाऱ्याने वापरलेले तेच मिळणे, आधी कुणी बसलेली जागाच मिळणे, आधी दुसऱ्याला दिलेले प्रेमच नंतर आपल्याला मिळणे. सर्वसाधारण अहंकार अशा गोष्टींना 'कमी दर्जाच्या' देणग्या मानून नाकारतो. भक्तीचा आनंद मात्र याच्या उलट वाचतो — 'उरलेलेच खरे सुख आहे'. हा अभंग समतेचा दृष्टिकोनही देतो — 'पंगतीत कोणताही भेद ठेवला गेला नाही' — रांगेत सगळ्यांना सारखेच मिळणे, जात किंवा दर्जाचा भेद नाही. भेदविरहित पंगत आणि उरलेल्यातील आनंद या दोन्हींचे मिळून एक संपूर्ण भक्ती-भोजन-तत्त्वज्ञान तयार होते.
Where this applies
- Receiving leftover-prasāda as the chosen share, not the demoted share
- The pankti-bhōjana practice and its no-distinction-kept egalitarianism
- The Lord-as-cook image — the cook who readies the favorite-portions by his own hand
- Recognizing the bhakti-joy in bhinnābhinna gōḍī ēka rasā