Abhanga 2806
A useful canonical meal-blessing. Food is pure when eaten in Hari-chintana. Other (kinds-of) eating fill the belly like a leather-wineskin. The one who ate is satisfied — in Hari-chintana the kāḷā was made. Taste comes — that which is mixed-with-Viṭhṭhala. The teaching: make Hari-chintana the mixing-substance for your food. Without it, even-good-food is utilitarian-belly-filling. With it, even-simple-food has chavī. The verse is sung at meals across Maharashtra; you can pray it as a meal-blessing: let this food become pavitra by being eaten in Hari-chintana.
The verse
पवित्र तें अन्न । हरिचिंतनीं भोजन ॥१॥
येर वेठ्या पोट भरी । चाम मसकाचे परी ॥ध्रु.॥
जेऊनि तो धाला । हरिचिंतनीं केला काला ॥२॥
तुका म्हणे चवी आलें । जें कां मिश्रित विठ्ठलें ॥३॥
Literal translation
Pavitra tē anna — that food is pavitra (pure); Hari-chintanī bhojana — (when) the bhojana (eating) is in Hari-chintana. Yera vēṭhyā pōṭa bharī — other (kinds of) vēṭhyā (extorted-labor-wages) fill the belly; chāma masakāñce parī — like (a) chāma masaka (leather-wineskin). Jēūnī tō dhālā — the one who ate was dhālā (satisfied); Hari-chintanī kelā kāḷā — in Hari-chintana, the kāḷā (mixing-of-food) was made. Tukā says: chavī ālē — taste has come; jē kām miśrita Viṭhṭhalē — that which is miśrita Viṭhṭhalē (mixed-with-Viṭhṭhala).
What it means
This 4-verse abhang is one of the most-daily-quoted Tukārām texts in Maharashtra — the canonical meal-blessing and eating-discipline text.
The opening canonical-claim: pavitra tē anna — Hari-chintanī bhojana — food is pure (pavitra) — (when) the eating is in Hari-chintana. The pavitra (purity) of food is not in the ritual-purity-of-the-ingredients; it is in Hari-chintana during eating. This is a profound-reorientation of the purity-question.
The dhrūpada contrast: yera vēṭhyā pōṭa bharī — chāma masakāñce parī — other (vēṭhyā) (kinds-of-eating) fill the belly — like a leather-wineskin. Vēṭhyā — an unusual word, perhaps extorted-labor-wage (referring to food earned by forced-labor or commerce-as-extraction). Other-eating just fills the belly like a chāma masaka (leather-wineskin, a utilitarian-bag for carrying liquid). The image is sharp: eating-as-mere-utility, like filling a leather-bag.
The mechanism: jēūnī tō dhālā — Hari-chintanī kelā kāḷā — the one who ate was satisfied — in Hari-chintana, the kāḷā (mixing) was made. Kāḷā — the mixing — refers to the traditional mixing-of-food-and-buttermilk (or the kīrtana-tradition of kāḷā-kīrtana where various-foods are mixed and shared). Here: the kāḷā was made in Hari-chintana — i.e., the food-and-Hari-chintana are mixed-together inside.
The closing chavī-claim: chavī ālē — jē kām miśrita Viṭhṭhalē — taste has come — that which is mixed-with-Viṭhṭhala. Chavī (taste, flavor) arrives only when the food is miśrita Viṭhṭhalē — mixed-with-Viṭhṭhala. Without this miśrana (mixing with the Lord), there is no chavī — only belly-filling.
For someone today
A useful canonical meal-blessing. Food is pure when eaten in Hari-chintana. Other (kinds-of) eating fill the belly like a leather-wineskin. The one who ate is satisfied — in Hari-chintana the kāḷā was made. Taste comes — that which is mixed-with-Viṭhṭhala. The teaching: make Hari-chintana the mixing-substance for your food. Without it, even-good-food is utilitarian-belly-filling. With it, even-simple-food has chavī. The verse is sung at meals across Maharashtra; you can pray it as a meal-blessing: let this food become pavitra by being eaten in Hari-chintana.
Where this applies
- The canonical daily-quoted meal-blessing text
- Recognizing pavitra-anna = Hari-chintana-bhojana, not ritual-purity-of-ingredients
- The chāma-masaka (leather-wineskin) anti-utilitarian-eating image
- The taste-arrives-only-with-Viṭhṭhala-miśrita test