Wonder, the ungraspable God held close
Original Marathi from the Tukaram Gatha · About Sant Tukaram
मराठी मूळ
ब्रम्हादिकां न कळे खोळ । ते हे आकळ धरिली ॥१॥
मोहरी पांवा वाहे काठी । धांवे पाठीं गाईचे ॥ध्रु.॥
उच्छिष्ट न लभे देवा । तें हें सदैवां गोवळ्या ॥२॥
तुका म्हणे जोड जाली । ते हे माउली आमुची ॥३॥
Tukaram Gatha (Marathi Wikisource)
English Translation
The form that even Brahma and the gods could not grasp has been seized and held right here. He carries a shehnai and a flute and a stick and runs after the cows. The leftovers that even the gods in heaven cannot obtain are freely available to the fortunate cowherds. Says Tuka, this wealth has come to us; this is our own Mauli, our mother.
We ask forgiveness for any inaccuracies in rendering Tukaram ji’s original Marathi.
In Plain Words
The form that Brahma and the gods could not grasp is held right here. He carries a reed pipe and a flute and a stick, and he runs behind the cows. The leftovers that the gods in heaven cannot get, the fortunate cowherds eat freely. Tuka says: this wealth has come to us; this is our own Mauli, our mother.
What it means
Tukaram sets the highest reach of the gods against what the cowherds already have in their hands. The God whose form even Brahma cannot lay hold of walks among them with a stick, herding cattle. What the heavens cannot obtain, the cowherds get as scraps. The point is the reversal: nearness to God in love outranks every exalted station, and the simple cowherds are the truly fortunate ones because to them this God is as close and familiar as a mother.
Krishna Leela
Poems celebrating Krishna's birth, childhood, and divine play.
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