Krishna's play, duty from the heart
Original Marathi from the Tukaram Gatha · About Sant Tukaram
मराठी मूळ
वोळलीचा दोहूं पान्हा । मज कान्हा सांगितला ॥१॥
घ्या जि हेंगे क्षीर हातीं । निगुतीनें वाढावें ॥ध्रु.॥
सांगितलें केलें काम । नव्हे धर्म सत्याचा ॥२॥
तुका म्हणे नवें जुनें । ऐसें कोणें सोसावें॥३॥
Tukaram Gatha (Marathi Wikisource)
English Translation
The newly calved cow has let down her milk. Kanho himself told me about it. Take this milk in your hands and serve it carefully. A task done because one is told is not the same as true duty done from the heart. Says Tuka, who should bear the burden of the old being treated as new and the new as old?
We ask forgiveness for any inaccuracies in rendering Tukaram ji’s original Marathi.
In Plain Words
The newly calved cow has let down her milk. Kanho himself told me of it. Take this milk in your hands and serve it carefully. A task done because you were told to is not the same as true duty done from the heart. Tuka says: who should have to bear the old being passed off as new, and the new as old?
What it means
A small scene of serving milk at the feast carries a teaching about the spirit of service. The fresh milk comes on Krishna's own word, and the instruction is to take it and serve it with care. The turn is the third line: doing something merely because you were ordered to is not the same as true duty offered from the heart. Tukaram then protests the mixing up of true and false, the old being passed off as new, asking who should have to put up with such substitution. The point is that God is not satisfied by outward, grudging compliance; only sincere, heartfelt service counts.
Krishna Leela
Poems celebrating Krishna's birth, childhood, and divine play.
More in this theme →