Krishna's play, no impurity near God
Original Marathi from the Tukaram Gatha · About Sant Tukaram
मराठी मूळ
माझे गडी कोण कोण । निवडा भिन्न यांतुनी ॥१॥
आपआपणामध्यें मिळो । एक खेळों एकाशीं ॥ध्रु.॥
घाबरियांच्या मोडा काड्या । धाडा भाड्यां वळतियां ॥२॥
तुका म्हणे देवापाशीं । विटाळशी नसावी ॥३॥
Tukaram Gatha (Marathi Wikisource)
English Translation
Who are my true companions? Sort them out from this group. Let those who are alike come together; let us play among our own. Break the sticks of the cowardly and send the timid hirelings away to tend the herds. Says Tuka, in the presence of God, there should be no impurity of heart.
We ask forgiveness for any inaccuracies in rendering Tukaram ji’s original Marathi.
In Plain Words
Who are my true companions? Sort them out from the rest. Let those who are alike come together; let us play among our own. Break the sticks of the cowardly, and send the timid hirelings off to tend the herds. Tuka says: in the presence of God there should be no impurity of heart.
What it means
Spoken in the voice of the play, this sorts the company that may come close to God. It asks who the real companions are and gathers like with like, those fit for the play set apart from those who are not. The cowardly and the merely hired, who serve for wages and not from love, are turned away to the cattle work. Tukaram lands the meaning in the last line: nearness to God is not a matter of standing or skill but of a clean heart. The sorting is inward, an examination of one's own motive, not contempt for any person.
Krishna Leela
Poems celebrating Krishna's birth, childhood, and divine play.
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