संत साहित्य · Tukārām · Abhanga 4326 of 4582

Abhanga 4326

However small and insignificant you feel, God does not neglect anyone who calls themselves his devotee, and he never breaks his word.

When you feel too insignificant to be noticed or cared for by anything greater.

When you wonder if simply calling on God actually earns you his attention.

When you need to trust that a promise, once given, will truly be kept.

The verse

किडा अन्नाचें मानुस । त्याचा म्हणविल्या दास ॥१॥ तें ही त्यासी उपेक्षीना । बोल आपुला सांडीना ॥ध्रु.॥ तो तूं नराचा नरेंद्र । तुजपासूनि इंद्र चंद्र ॥२॥ तुका म्हणे विश्वंभर । तुज वर्णी फणीवर ॥३॥

Literal translation

Kiḍā annāñce mānusa — kiḍa of anna (becomes) mānusa; tyāñcā mhaṇavilyā dāsa — called your dāsa. Te hī tyāsī upekṣīnā — (you) don't neglect even that one; bōla āpulā sāṇḍīnā — don't abandon your bōla. Tō tūm narāchā narendra — you are narendra of nara; tujapāsūnī Indra Chandra — from you, Indra-Chandra. Tukā mhaṇe Viśvambhara — Tukā says: Viśvambhara; tuja varṇī phaṇīvara — phaṇī-vara sings of you.

What it means

A 3-verse confidence-text. Even the most-humble (anna-worm = human) when-called-dāsa is-not-neglected; Lord doesn't-abandon-his-word.

For someone today

Tukaram reassures us that a human being, no grander than a tiny worm born of grain, is still not overlooked by God once that person calls themselves his devotee. God never abandons his own word. And this is no small God either: he is the greatest among the great, the source from which even Indra and Chandra come, praised by the mighty serpent Shesha himself, yet he still bothers to care for the smallest, most humble devotee.

मराठी: तुकाराम आपल्याला धीर देतात की माणूस हा अन्नातून जन्मलेल्या एका किड्याइतकाच क्षुद्र असला, तरी तो स्वतःला देवाचा दास म्हणवतो तेव्हा देव त्याची उपेक्षा करत नाही. देव आपला शब्द कधी मोडत नाही. आणि हा काही लहानसहान देव नाही - इंद्र-चंद्रही त्याच्यापासूनच निर्माण होतात, स्वतः शेषनागही त्याचे गुणगान गातो - तरीही तो सर्वात क्षुद्र, सर्वात नम्र भक्ताचीही काळजी घेतो.

Where this applies

When you feel too small or insignificant to matter to anything greater than yourself
When you doubt whether simply calling yourself a devotee actually means anything
When you need reassurance that a promise made by someone trustworthy will truly be kept
When you compare your own smallness to the vastness of the divine and feel forgotten