संत साहित्य · Tukārām · Abhanga 2442 of 4582

Abhanga 2442

Most beings mistake their small, limited world for the whole of reality, and only a wider vision can see beyond it.

When you assume your familiar surroundings are the full extent of what's possible

When you exaggerate your own importance to compensate for a small, ordinary life

When you haven't yet imagined that something vaster exists beyond your current experience

The verse

ढेंकणासी बाज गड । उतरचढ केवढी ॥१॥ होता तैसा कळों भाव । आला वाव अंतरींचा ॥ध्रु.॥ बोरामध्यें वसे अळी । अठोळीच भोंवती ॥२॥ पोटासाटीं वेंची चणे । राजा म्हणे तोंडें मी ॥३॥ बेडकानें चिखल खावा । काय ठावा सागर ॥४॥ तुका म्हणे ऐसें आहे । काय पाहे त्यांत तें ॥५॥

Literal translation

For the bedbug, the cot is a fortress — what is the climb-and-descend. Inner-state becomes known. Worm in the jujube — only the pit around. For stomach peddles gram — calls himself king with the mouth. Frog eats mud — what does it know of the ocean. Tuka says: such is it — what to see in it.

What it means

THE THREE-IMAGES-OF-LIMITED-PERSPECTIVE ABHANG. Three concentric images of constrained-vision.

Bedbug-fortress: ḍhēnkaṇāsī bāja gaḍa — for the bedbug, the cot is a fortress. The bedbug-cannot-imagine larger-spaces than-the-cot.
Worm-in-the-jujube: bōrāmadhyē vasē aḷī — aṭhōḷīcha bhōmvatī — worm in the jujube — only the pit around. The worm-in-the-jujube-fruit knows-only-the-pit (āṭhōḷī) around-it.
Frog-and-ocean: bēḍakānē chikhala khāvā — kāya ṭhāvā sāgara — frog eats mud — what does it know of the ocean. The mud-eating-frog knows-nothing of-the-ocean's-vastness. Compare Maṇḍūka-Upaniṣad-tradition / kūpa-maṇḍūka (well-frog) topos.

The gram-peddler-king: pōṭāsāṭīm vēnchī chaṇē — rājā mhaṇē tōṇḍē mī — for stomach peddles gram, calls himself king with the mouth. One who-peddles-gram-for-bread calls-himself-king with-his-mouth — empty-self-aggrandizement.

The teaching: Limited-perspective is-the-condition of-most-beings; only-the-bhakta's-vision can-see beyond.

[T]

For someone today

For today: bedbug thinks cot is fortress; worm knows only the jujube-pit; gram-peddler calls self king; frog eats mud — knows nothing of the ocean .

Where this applies

When your worldview feels complete but is actually shaped by a very small, familiar space
When you catch yourself boasting about status or achievements that don't match your actual situation
When you assume there's nothing bigger beyond what you've personally seen or experienced
When you judge the scale of your life or problems without realizing how much more exists beyond it

Bhakti