Krishna's play, God who answers the meek
Original Marathi from the Tukaram Gatha · About Sant Tukaram
मराठी मूळ
काल्याचिये आसे । देव जळीं जाले मासे । पुसोनियां हांसे । टिरीसांगातें हात ॥१॥
लाजे त्यासि वांटा नाहीं । जाणे अंतरीचें तें ही । दीन होतां कांहीं । होऊं नेदी वेगळें ॥ध्रु.॥
उपाय अपाय यापुढें । खोटे निवडितां कुडे । जोडुनियां पुढें । हात उभे नुपेक्षी ॥२॥
तें घ्या रे सावकाशें । जया फावेल तो तैसें । तुका म्हणे रसें । प्रेमाचिया आनंदें ॥३॥
गोपाळ म्हणती कान्होबा या रे कांहीं मागों । आपुलाले आम्ही जीवीची तया आवडी सांगों ।
Tukaram Gatha (Marathi Wikisource)
English Translation
Craving the communal meal, God entered the water and became a fish. He wipes his hands and laughs, playing pranks along the riverbank. He knows no shame about taking his share; he sees what is within every heart. When someone becomes meek, he never lets them feel separate. Before him, all schemes and strategies prove false and hollow. Those who stand with folded hands, he never neglects. Says Tuka, take this at your ease; let each enjoy as they can, savoring the nectar of love and delight. The cowherd boys say, come Kanho, let us ask for something, let us tell him the longing that dwells in our hearts.
We ask forgiveness for any inaccuracies in rendering Tukaram ji’s original Marathi.
In Plain Words
Wanting the feast, God went into the water and became a fish. He wipes his hands and laughs, slapping his thigh, playing along the riverbank. He feels no shame about taking his share; he knows what is inside every heart. When someone grows meek, he never lets them feel set apart. Before him every scheme and strategy is shown to be false and hollow. Those who stand with folded hands, he never neglects. Tuka says: take this at your ease; let each one enjoy as he can, savoring the nectar of love and delight. The cowherd boys say, come Kanho, let us ask for something; let us each tell him the longing in our hearts.
What it means
This opens the cycle of the gopala-kala, the cowherd boys' shared meal, with Krishna in the middle of it. Tukaram paints God as one who joins the play without dignity or distance: he becomes a fish for a feast, laughs, plays pranks, takes his portion unashamed. The point of the praise is in the second half: this same God reads every heart and refuses to let the lowly feel separate from him. All clever maneuvering collapses before him; only folded hands, simple surrender, are never turned away. The boys' request at the end sets up the whole sequence that follows, where each one will name what he wants.
Krishna Leela
Poems celebrating Krishna's birth, childhood, and divine play.
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