Krishna's play, even gods forget themselves
Original Marathi from the Tukaram Gatha · About Sant Tukaram
मराठी मूळ
आजि ओस अमरावती । काला पाहावया येती । देव विसरती । देहभाव आपुला ॥१॥
आनंद न समाये मेदिनी । चारा विसरल्या पाणी । तटस्थ त्या ध्यानीं । गाई जाल्या श्वापदें ॥ध्रु.॥
जें या देवांचें दैवत । उभें आहे या रंगांत । गोपाळांसहित । क्रीडा करी कान्होबा ॥२॥
Tukaram Gatha (Marathi Wikisource)
English Translation
Today even the heavenly city stands empty, for the gods have come to witness the communal feast. The gods themselves forget their divine nature at the sight. Joy overflows across the earth; the cows have forgotten their fodder and water. Beasts and cattle stand transfixed in meditation. The very deity of the gods stands here in this arena, playing with the cowherd boys. Kanho sports in their company.
We ask forgiveness for any inaccuracies in rendering Tukaram ji’s original Marathi.
In Plain Words
Today the city of the immortals stands empty, for the gods have come to watch the feast. The gods forget their own divine nature at the sight. Joy cannot fit on the earth; the cows have forgotten their fodder and water. Cattle and beasts stand transfixed as if in meditation. The very deity that the gods worship is standing here in this arena, playing with the cowherd boys. Kanho sports in their company.
What it means
Tukaram measures the worth of Krishna's simple play by who is drawn to it. Heaven empties out, because the gods themselves leave their thrones to watch the cowherd feast. They lose track of their own godhood at the sight; even animals stand still as if absorbed in meditation. The hidden claim is the last line: the God whom the gods themselves worship is the very boy playing here among cowherds. The exalted and the lowly are reversed, and the highest reality is found not in heaven but in this plain, joyful scene by the river.
Krishna Leela
Poems celebrating Krishna's birth, childhood, and divine play.
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