Abhanga 3023
Devotion has the power to make even the greatest and most powerful being shrink down, by love, to fit inside an ordinary devotee's small heart.
The verse
चवदा भुवनें लोक तिन्हीं दाढे जो कवळी । संपुष्ट तो संबळीमध्यें देखा ॥१॥
उत्पत्तिसंहारकरिता जो पाळण । तो नंदा नंदन म्हणवीतसे ॥ध्रु.॥
असुर तोडरी दैत्यांचा काळ । जाला द्वारपाळ बळीचा तो ॥२॥
लक्षुमीचा स्वामी क्षीराच्या सागरा । उच्छिष्टकवळा पसरी मुख ॥३॥
तुकयाबंधु म्हणे चतुरांचा रावो । भावें तो पाहा हो केला वेडा ॥४॥
Literal translation
Chavadā bhuvane lōka tinhīm dāḍhe jō kavaḷī — (he) who holds the fourteen-bhuvanas and three-worlds in one jaw; sampuṣṭa tō sambaḷīmadhyē dekhā — see, that (one) in the sambaḷī (small-pot) of (the) vessel. Utpatti-samhāra-karitā jō pāḷaṇa — (he) who is the pāḷaṇa — doing utpatti-samhāra; tō Nandā-nandana mhaṇavītasē — that one is called Nanda-nandana. Asura tōḍarī daityāñcā kāḷa — (he is) the asuras' tōḍarī (anklet) — the daityas' kāḷa; jālā dvāra-pāḷa baḷīñcā tō — (he) became Bali's dvāra-pāḷa. Lakṣumīñcā svāmī kṣīrāñcyā sāgarā — Lakṣmī's svāmī, of the kṣīra-sāgara; uchchhiṣṭa-kavaḷā pasarī mukha — for an uchchhiṣṭa-kavaḷā spreads (his) mouth. Tukayā-bandhu mhaṇe chaturāñcā rāvō — Tukārām's-brother says: the rāvō of the chaturas; bhāve tō pāhā hō kelā veḍā — by bhāva, see, he became mad.
What it means
A 4-verse cosmic-paradox-set by Tukyā-bandhu. NON-Tukārām.
Four paradoxes of-the-Lord-becoming-small-by-bhāva: 1. Holds-14-bhuvanas-in-one-jaw (Bāla-Krṣṇa-vāmana-cosmic-form) — yet sits-in-the-bhakta's-small-pot 2. Performs-utpatti-samhāra-pālana — yet becomes-called Nanda-nandana (cowherd-boy) 3. Anklet-of-asuras, death-of-daityas — yet became Bali's door-guard (Vāmana-Trivikrama myth) 4. Lakṣmī's-svāmī of-kṣīra-sāgara — yet spreads-mouth-for-leftover-morsel (Sudāmā-or-Vidura-myth)
The closing: the king-of-clever-ones — by bhāva, see, he became mad. This is a Vārkarī-canonical-claim: the Lord-himself-becomes-mad-and-small-by-the-bhakta's-bhāva. The bhakta's-bhāva is the agent — the cosmic-Lord-the-object.
For someone today
Kānhobā marvels here at a set of striking paradoxes. The one whose single jaw holds the fourteen realms and the three worlds is somehow found, look closely, sitting inside the bhakta's own small pot. The one who creates, sustains, and destroys the universe lets himself be called simply Nanda's little son. The one who is death itself to demons and asuras once became a mere doorkeeper for Bali. The lord of Lakṣmī, master of the ocean of milk, opens his mouth for nothing more than a leftover morsel. Tukārām's brother says: watch how the king of the wise, through love, lets himself be made a fool. It shows how devotion has the power to make even the greatest and most powerful being shrink down, by love, to fit inside an ordinary devotee's small heart.
मराठी: कान्होबा येथे विस्मयजनक विरोधाभासांची मालिका मांडतो. ज्याच्या एका जबड्यात चौदा भुवने आणि तिन्ही लोक मावतात, तो पाहा, भक्ताच्या छोट्याशा भांड्यातही सामावलेला दिसतो. जो सृष्टीची निर्मिती, पालन आणि संहार करतो, तोच स्वतःला नंदाचा मुलगा म्हणवून घेतो. जो दैत्य-असुरांचा साक्षात मृत्यू आहे, तोच बळीचा साधा द्वारपाळ बनतो. लक्ष्मीचा स्वामी, क्षीरसागराचा धनी, उष्ट्या घासासाठी आपले तोंड पसरतो. तुकारामांचा भाऊ म्हणतो — पाहा, चतुरांचा राजा प्रेमापोटी वेडा बनतो. भक्तीत इतकी शक्ती असते की सर्वात मोठा, सर्वशक्तिमान असणाराही प्रेमामुळे आकुंचित होऊन एका सामान्य भक्ताच्या छोट्याशा हृदयात सामावतो, हेच हा अभंग सांगतो.
Where this applies
- When someone feels God or the sacred is too vast and distant to reach, and needs to be reminded that devotion brings the infinite into something small and near
- When a person feels embarrassed about loving someone or something so openly that it looks foolish to others
- When someone wonders how a powerful figure could ever lower themselves to serve or wait on someone humble
- When a person needs encouragement that simple, humble devotion can hold something far greater than itself