Being Small

[Guest guest]

Namaste Ram Chandran-Ji:

 

What a profound message !

 

Saint Tukaram (although he worshipped viTTala he practiced and preached advaita

through ananya bhakti) expresses the same sentiments with the recommendation to

become small:

 

lahaanapaNa de gaa devaa . mu.ngii saakharecaa ravaa .

airaavata rat{}na thora . tyaasii a.nkushaacaa maara .

jyaace a.ngii.n moThepaNa . tayaa yaatanaa kaThiiNa .

tukaa mhaNe jaaNa . vhaave.n lahaanaahuuni lahaana .. tu. gaa. 744 ..

 

Here he compares elephant and an ant. Hay Lord! Let me remain small. Airavat

(an elephant, 14th Gem that came out of churning ocean) does not get an

opportunity to enjoy the sugar as an ant does because she is so small. On the

other hand airavat has to bare the constant poking from the “ankush”. Tukaram

wants us to realize this factor that one who is big has many different

suffering. Thus remaining or becoming small (namra - meaning polite, humble)

should be preferred.

 

niicapaNa barave.n devaa | na cale koNaacahii hevaa ||

mahaapure.n zhaaDe.n jaatii | tethe.n lavhaaLe vaacatii ||

yetaa si.ndhuu.ncyaa laharii | namra hotaa.n jaatii varii ||

tukaamhaNe kaLa | paaya dharilyaa nacale baLa || tu. gaa. 745 ||

 

Being little/small (by age) is always preffered because that time one does not

establish and keep animosity. During flood big tree get washed away but the

small shrubs survive. At sea, big waves wash to shore but the smallar one

weather the storm. Tukarama says, embrassing the feet of strong with humility

is the key because it disables them from moving forward without you.

 

I think the the key is to "RE-LEAN" the humility that existed when we were

little kids.

Again,thank you for sharing.

 

Regards,

 

Dr. Yadu

 

advaitin, "Ram Chandran" <RamChandran@a...> wrote:

> Namaste:

>

purpose is to get rid of barriers of adulthood!

>

> Moral: Life is simple to those with a pure mind, that of a child. We

> can liberate ourselves simpley by switching our adulthood attitude to

> childhood attitude! Is it that simple?