Wonder, the infinite in the infant
Original Marathi from the Tukaram Gatha · About Sant Tukaram
मराठी मूळ
उंबरांतील कीटका । हें चि ब्रह्मांड ऐसें लेखा ॥1॥
ऐसीं उंबरें किती झाडीं । ऐशीं झाडें किती नवखडीं ॥ध्रु.॥
हें चि ब्रह्मांड आह्मांसी । ऐसीं अगणित अंडें कैसीं ॥2॥
विराटाचे अंगी तैसे । मोजूं जातां अगणित केंश ॥3॥
ऐशा विराटाच्या कोटी । सांटवल्या ज्याच्या पोटीं ॥4॥
तो हा नंदाचा बाळमुकुंद । तान्हा ह्मणवी परमानंद ॥5॥
ऐशी अगम्य ईश्वरी लीळा । ब्रह्मानंदीं गम्य तुक्याला ॥6॥
Tukaram Gatha (Marathi Wikisource)
English Translation
The insect inside a fig thinks the fig is the whole universe. But how many such figs hang on trees, and how many such trees stand in the nine continents? We think this is our universe, yet countless such cosmic eggs exist beyond counting. Upon the body of the Cosmic Being, these are as innumerable as hairs. Crores of such cosmic forms are contained in His belly. And yet He is Nanda's child, the little Mukunda, who calls Himself the infant of supreme bliss. Such is the unfathomable divine play, and Says Tuka, by the grace of Brahmananda, it becomes knowable.
We ask forgiveness for any inaccuracies in rendering Tukaram ji’s original Marathi.
In Plain Words
The insect inside a fig thinks the fig is the whole universe. But how many such figs hang on a tree? And how many such trees stand across the nine lands? So it is with us: we think this is the whole universe. Yet countless such cosmic eggs exist beyond counting. On the body of the Cosmic Being they are as many as the hairs. Crores of such vast forms are held inside His belly. And He is Nanda's child, the little Mukunda, the infant who is supreme bliss itself. Such is the unfathomable divine play. Tuka says: by the grace of Brahmananda, it becomes known to me.
What it means
Tukaram sets two scales side by side to break the mind that thinks it sees the whole. The insect in the fig takes its fig for the universe; we do the same with our own cosmos, never guessing how many universes there are. He piles up the immensity, countless cosmic eggs, all of them mere hairs on the body of the Cosmic Being, crores of such forms held in a single belly. Then he drops the whole weight onto its opposite: this same all-containing Lord is Nanda's small son, Mukunda, the infant who is bliss. The point is that the unmeasurable and the cradled child are one, and that this play is not solved by counting but given, here as Tuka's own knowing through grace.
The Nature of God
Explorations of God's character, power, grace, and relationship to the world.
More in this theme →