Abhanga 2472

The same divine power that holds countless universes in a hair can also appear as a small, unsteady child needing a doorstep to lean on.

The verse

Literal translation

What it means

THE COSMOS-IN-ONE-HAIR + CHILD-AT-GOPA-THRESHOLD ABHANG. Continues 2467's cosmographic meditation.

The paradox: - Ananta brahmāṇḍē — ēkē rōmīm aiśē ḍhēṇḍē — countless brahmāṇḍas gathered in one hair (cosmic-scale) - Tō yā gauḷiyāñchē gharīm — umbarā chaḍhatā ṭēnkā dharī — at the gōpa-house, climbing the threshold, holds for support (toddler-scale)

The same Lord who-contains countless-brahmāṇḍas-in-a-hair is-the-child holding-the-threshold-for-support to-climb-up at-the-cowherd's-house. The bhakti-paradox of-cosmic-grandeur-and-toddler-charm.

[T]

For someone today

For today: countless brahmāṇḍas in one hair; child holds threshold for support at gopa's house ; all kalās in his body.

Where this applies

• When you see something small and ordinary, like a stumbling child, and sense something sacred in it
• When you feel God is too vast and distant to relate to, and need reminding he can be close and tender too
• When you are drawn to devotional stories that show the divine in humble, everyday, domestic moments
• When you want to hold both awe at greatness and tenderness for weakness in the same breath

Related verses

• Abhanga 2467 — What looks like your whole world, like a fig to the insect living inside it, is only a tin
• Abhanga 4481 — Tukaram promises that sincerely calling on the Lord's name, knowingly or unknowingly, with
• Abhanga 4482 — Tukaram teaches that no ritual equals sincerely speaking the Lord's name, that self-center
• Abhanga 4497 — Tukaram describes a life so soaked in devotion that Krishna's presence fills every ordinar