Krishna, the riverbank feast above heaven
Original Marathi from the Tukaram Gatha · About Sant Tukaram
मराठी मूळ
उपजोनियां पुढती येऊं । काला खाऊं दहींभात ॥१॥
वैकुंठीं तों ऐसें नाहीं । कवळ कांहीं काल्याचें ॥ध्रु.॥
एकमेकां देऊं मुखीं । सुखीं घालूं हुंबरी ॥२॥
तुका म्हणे वाळवंट । बरवें नीट उत्तम ॥३॥
Tukaram Gatha (Marathi Wikisource)
English Translation
Let us be born again and again, so that we may share the feast of curd and rice together. In Vaikuntha there is nothing like the morsel of this communal meal. Let us feed one another mouth to mouth and play together with joyful cries. Says Tuka, the sandy riverbank of Pandharpur is beautiful, level, and perfect.
We ask forgiveness for any inaccuracies in rendering Tukaram ji’s original Marathi.
In Plain Words
Let us be born again and again, so we can eat the shared meal of curd and rice together. There is nothing like this in Vaikuntha, not a single morsel of the communal feast. Let us feed one another, mouth to mouth, and call out together with joyful cries. Tuka says: the sandy bank of Pandharpur is lovely, level, and the best place of all.
What it means
Tukaram speaks in the voice of Krishna's cowherd companions, sharing the simple kālā, the mixed meal of curd and rice eaten together on the riverbank. The startling wish is to be reborn over and over, not to escape rebirth, just to keep this fellowship of feeding and laughter with Krishna. Against that, even Vaikuntha, the highest heaven, has nothing to offer: liberation itself is less sweet than this shared morsel. The closing line transfers the scene to Pandharpur's sandbank, telling the listener that the same companionship with God is available right here, on this earth, among devotees.
Krishna Leela
Poems celebrating Krishna's birth, childhood, and divine play.
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