Abhanga 4110
The divine's greatness is too vast to ever fully describe or repay, and true gratitude leads not to complaint but to honest humility about one's own shortcomings.
The verse
तुझी कीर्ती सांगों तुजपुढें जरी । ब्रम्हांडीं ही हरी माईना ते ॥१॥
मेरूची लेखणी सागराची शाई । कागद हा मही न पुरे चि ॥ध्रु.॥
अनंत अपार आपंगिले भक्त । माझें चि संचित ओडवेना ॥२॥
तुका म्हणे तुम्हां बोल नाहीं देवा । पामरें म्यां सेवा केली नाहीं ॥३॥
Literal translation
Your-kīrti — won't-fit-brahmāṇḍa. Meru-pen-ocean-ink-mahī-paper — not-enough. Ananta-apāra-bhaktas-protected — my-sanchita-can't-equal. Tukā: no-bōla — I-didn't-do-sevā.
What it means
THE canonical 3-verse infinite-praise text. If I were to tell your glory before you, it would not fit even in the whole brahmāṇḍa. With Meru as pen, the ocean as ink, this earth as paper — it would not be enough. You have protected countless immeasurable bhaktas; my own sanchita-puṇya cannot make returns for this. There is no blame on you, Deva — I, a poor creature, have not done service. The Meru-pen-ocean-ink-mahī-paper is the classical impossibility-image of writing-the-Lord's-fame. Pair with 3034 (Vārkarī-mokṣa-adhikārī), 3992 (Lord-bound-by-bhakti-sukha).
For someone today
Tukaram says that if he tried to describe the full greatness of the divine, it would not fit even in the entire universe, and even with the tallest mountain as a pen, the whole ocean as ink, and the whole earth as paper, it still would not be enough to write it all down. He marvels that countless devotees beyond number have been protected and cared for, more than his own good deeds could ever repay. He then turns the blame inward, saying it is not God who is at fault but himself, a humble and imperfect person who simply has not given enough real devotion in return. The lesson is that gratitude this vast naturally leads to humility rather than self-praise.
मराठी: तुकाराम म्हणतात की देवाच्या पूर्ण महानतेचे वर्णन करायचे झाले तर ते संपूर्ण विश्वातही मावणार नाही, आणि सर्वात उंच पर्वताची लेखणी, संपूर्ण समुद्राची शाई आणि संपूर्ण पृथ्वीचा कागद वापरला तरी ते लिहायला पुरणार नाही. असंख्य भक्तांचे रक्षण आणि काळजी घेतली गेली आहे याचे त्यांना आश्चर्य वाटते, जे त्यांच्या स्वतःच्या पुण्याईने कधीच फेडता येणार नाही. मग ते दोष स्वतःकडे वळवतात, म्हणतात की यात देवाची चूक नाही तर आपण स्वतः, एक साधा आणि अपूर्ण माणूस, यांनी पुरेशी खरी भक्ती परत दिलेली नाही. इतकी विशाल कृतज्ञता स्वाभाविकपणे स्वस्तुतीकडे नव्हे तर नम्रतेकडे नेते हाच यातील बोध आहे.
Where this applies
- When you try to express gratitude so deep that ordinary words feel completely inadequate
- When you realize how much has been given to you compared to how little you have given back
- When you catch yourself blaming a higher power instead of honestly looking at your own effort
- When you feel awe at how many people, not just you, have been cared for and protected