The path of smallness, lower than the lowest
Original Marathi from the Tukaram Gatha · About Sant Tukaram
मराठी मूळ
लाहानपण दे गा देवा । मुंगी साखरेचा रवा ॥1॥
ऐरावत रत्न थोर । तया अंकुशाचा मार ॥ध्रु.॥
ज्याचे अंगीं मोठेपण । तया यातना कठीण ॥2॥
तुका ह्मणे जाण । व्हावें लाहनाहुनि लाहन ॥3॥
Tukaram Gatha (Marathi Wikisource)
English Translation
O God, grant me smallness. The ant carries away a grain of sugar. Airavata, great jewel of elephants, suffers the blow of the goad. Whoever carries greatness in their being endures harsh torment. Says Tuka, know this: one should become smaller than the smallest.
We ask forgiveness for any inaccuracies in rendering Tukaram ji’s original Marathi.
In Plain Words
Give me smallness, O God. The ant carries off its grain of sugar. Airavata, the great jewel of elephants, takes the blow of the goad. Whoever carries greatness in himself endures harsh torment. Tuka says: know this, become smaller than the smallest.
What it means
Tukaram prays not for power but for littleness, and gives a plain picture of why. The tiny ant carries off its sweet grain in peace, while Airavata, the mightiest of elephants, is the one struck and driven by the goad. Greatness, he says, brings hard punishment, because the larger you make yourself the more you are weighed, watched, and hurt. The teaching he draws out is to keep going lower, to become smaller than the smallest, since it is the small who eat the sugar and escape the goad.
The Moral Ideal
Purity, sincerity, truthfulness, humility, peacefulness, and service.
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