This is a beautiful bhajan written by Sant Tukaram
and originally recorded by Kumar Gandharva.
Heard a different version of this song sung
by Pushkar Lele on SRGMP on Zee marathi.
The bhajan has beautiful words, vocals and
soul rendering music which takes the listener
to a different level of subconciousness.
The first words of the bhajan go as ...
Lahaanpan Dega Dewa
Mungi sakharecha rawa
which literally means -
"God please give me humbleness".
The following line of the bhajan - "Mungi
sakharecha rawa" - refers to the original
fable which says that a crystal of sugar is
enough for keeping an ant happy.
The bhajan delves on the ideology propounded
by most saints that a minimalist (non material)
approach is good enough for keeping one happy.
Further the song goes talks about lord Indra's
multi-trunked elephant - Airavat and
says that though it is the crown jewel of
the all powerful King of Gods, he is still rode,
hit and controlled by "Ankush" - the mahout.
This feeling is expressed in the line -
"Airaaavate Ratna thora ...
tyaasi ankushaacha maara...
Tya angi mothe pan .....
tya... yaatna kathin........"
The other two lines are pretty self explanatory,
which means a person who lacks humbleness,
always faces a lot of pain (yaatna kathin).
Unfortunately I do not have access to Kumarji's
version of the complete song to provide more
interpretation. If you do come across the version
on the internet, please leave us a comment.
