Krishna, the herdsman's invitation
Original Marathi from the Tukaram Gatha · About Sant Tukaram
मराठी मूळ
याल तर या रे लागें । अवघे माझ्या मागें मागें ॥१॥
आजि देतों पोटभरी । पुरे म्हणाल तोंवरी ॥ध्रु.॥
हळू हळू चला । कोणी कोणाशीं न बोला ॥२॥
तुका म्हणे सांडा घाटे । तेणें नका भरूं पोटें ॥३॥
Tukaram Gatha (Marathi Wikisource)
English Translation
If you wish to come, then come along, all of you, follow close behind me. Today I will feed you to your heart's content, until you yourselves say, enough. Walk softly, softly, and let no one speak a word to anyone. Says Tuka, abandon your scheming and do not stuff your bellies with that.
We ask forgiveness for any inaccuracies in rendering Tukaram ji’s original Marathi.
In Plain Words
If you want to come, then come, all of you, follow close behind me. Today I will feed you to the full, until you yourselves say enough. Walk softly, softly; let no one speak to anyone. Tuka says: drop your scheming, and do not fill your bellies with that.
What it means
Krishna calls his cowherd friends to follow him to a hidden feast where he will satisfy them completely, until they themselves cry enough. The conditions are simple: come close behind him, move quietly, and stop talking among yourselves. The final line names the catch. "Filling the belly with scheming" is the trap; if you come stuffed with your own clever plans, there is no room for what he wants to give. Read inwardly, this is the call to follow God in silence and self-emptying, dropping the calculating mind so that grace can fill you instead.
Krishna Leela
Poems celebrating Krishna's birth, childhood, and divine play.
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