The God of gods swallows the fire
Original Marathi from the Tukaram Gatha · About Sant Tukaram
मराठी मूळ
भिऊं नका बोले झाकुनियां राहा डोळे । चालवील देव धाक नाहीं येणें वेळे ॥१॥
बाप रे हा देवांचा ही देव कळों । नेदी माव काय करी करवी ते ॥ध्रु.॥
पसरूनि मुख विश्वरूप खाय जाळ । सारूनियां संधी अवघे पाहाती गोपाळ ॥२॥
तुका म्हणे आम्ही मागें भ्यालों वांयांविण । कळों आलें आतां या सांगातें नाहीं शिण ॥३॥
Tukaram Gatha (Marathi Wikisource)
English Translation
Do not be afraid, speak up, do not hide your eyes. God will manage everything; there is no threat at this moment. This is the God of gods, whose power none can fathom. He spread his mouth wide and swallowed the forest fire in his cosmic form, and when the danger passed, all the cowherd boys simply watched. Says Tuka, we were afraid before for no reason; now that we are in his company, there is no weariness at all.
We ask forgiveness for any inaccuracies in rendering Tukaram ji’s original Marathi.
In Plain Words
Do not be afraid, he says; do not hide your eyes. God will manage everything; there is no danger this time. This one is the God of gods; none can fathom his power, none can know what he does or how. He opened his mouth wide and in his cosmic form swallowed the fire, and when the danger had passed, all the cowherd boys simply watched. Tuka says: we were afraid before for nothing; now that we are in his company, there is no weariness at all.
What it means
Krishna answers the cowherds' terror by telling them not to hide their eyes but to look, because God will handle it. The poem names him the God of gods whose power and ways no one can measure. Then the rescue: in his cosmic form he opens his mouth and swallows the whole forest fire, and the boys watch the danger end. Tukaram draws the lesson in the last line, the earlier fear was wasted, for in God's company there is no danger and no weariness; the soul that stays near him is kept safe.
Krishna Leela
Poems celebrating Krishna's birth, childhood, and divine play.
More in this theme →