Satisfaction, the road falls away
Original Marathi from the Tukaram Gatha · About Sant Tukaram
मराठी मूळ
म्हणती धालों धणीवरी । आतां न लगे शिदोरी । नये क्षणभरी । आतां यासि विसंबों ॥१॥
चाल चाल रे कान्होबा । खेळ मांडूं रानीं । बैसवूं गोठणीं । गाई जमा करूनि ॥ध्रु.॥
न लगे जावें घरा । चुकलिया येरझारा । सज्जन सोयरा । मायबाप तूं आम्हां ॥२॥
तुका म्हणे धालें पोट । आतां कशाचा बोभाट । पाहाणें ते वाट । मागें पुढें राहिली ॥३॥
Tukaram Gatha (Marathi Wikisource)
English Translation
They say, we are satisfied to the brim; we need no more provisions now. We cannot bear to be apart from Him even for a moment. Come, come, O Krishna, let us set up our games in the forest and settle the cows in the fold. We need not go home anymore, for all that going and coming is finished. You are our true friend, our kin, our mother and father. Says Tuka, the belly is full; what is there to cry about now? The road we once watched for, ahead and behind, has simply fallen away.
We ask forgiveness for any inaccuracies in rendering Tukaram ji’s original Marathi.
In Plain Words
They say: we are full to the brim. We need no more provisions now. We cannot bear to be apart from Him even for a moment. Come, come, Krishna; let us set up our games in the forest and settle the cows in the fold. We need not go home anymore; all that coming and going is finished. You are our true friend, our kin, our mother and father. Tuka says: the belly is full. What is there to cry about now? The road we watched, ahead and behind, has fallen away.
What it means
The cowherds speak with the voice of a soul that has finally had enough of seeking. Being filled here is not about food; it is the end of restlessness, of provisioning for the next stretch of journey. When they say all coming and going is finished and the road ahead and behind has fallen away, Tukaram names the stakes plainly: the whole anxious traffic of getting somewhere stops once God is present as friend, kin, mother and father all at once. There is nowhere left to go because the one who is sought is already here, in the forest, in the game.
Krishna Leela
Poems celebrating Krishna's birth, childhood, and divine play.
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