Krishna's play, emptying the bundle
Original Marathi from the Tukaram Gatha · About Sant Tukaram
मराठी मूळ
जालों आतां एके ठायीं । न वंचूं कांहीं एकमेकां ॥१॥
सरलों हेंगे देउनि मोट । कटकट काशाची ॥ध्रु.॥
सोडोनियां गांठीं पाहें । काय आहे त्यांत तें ॥२॥
तुका म्हणे जालों निराळा । आतां गोपाळा देऊं बोभा ॥३॥
Tukaram Gatha (Marathi Wikisource)
English Translation
Now we have all come together in one place; let us not deceive one another. We have settled the account by giving up our bundles; what quarrel remains? Open your knots and see what is inside. Says Tuka, I have become free of all burdens; now let us call out to our dear cowherd companion.
We ask forgiveness for any inaccuracies in rendering Tukaram ji’s original Marathi.
In Plain Words
Now we have all come together in one place; let us not cheat one another. We have settled the account by handing over our bundles; what quarrel is left? Open your knots and look at what is inside. Tuka says: I have become free; now let us call out to our dear cowherd friend.
What it means
The feast image becomes a picture of full honesty and surrender. The boys are gathered in one place and pledge not to hold anything back from each other; they hand over their bundles and so the account between them is settled, leaving nothing to fight about. To open your knots and show what is inside is to hide nothing, to keep no private store. Tukaram says that once he is emptied out in this way he has become free, unburdened, and only then is he ready to call out to Krishna. The teaching is that calling on God comes after letting go of what we secretly clutch.
Krishna Leela
Poems celebrating Krishna's birth, childhood, and divine play.
More in this theme →