Allegory, the guarded game and its costly prize
Original Marathi from the Tukaram Gatha · About Sant Tukaram
मराठी मूळ
पाहा रे तमासा तुमचा येथें नव्हे लाग । देईन तो भाग आलियाचा बाहेरी ॥१॥
जागा रे गोपाळ नो ठायीं ठायीं जागा । चाहुलीनें भागा दूर मजपासूनि ॥ध्रु.॥
न रिघतां ठाव आम्हा ठावा पाळतियां । भयाभीत वांयां तेथें काय चांचपा ॥२॥
तुका म्हणे हातां चडे जीवाचिये साटीं । मिटक्या देतां गोड मग लागतें शेवटीं ॥३॥
Tukaram Gatha (Marathi Wikisource)
English Translation
Watch this sport; your tricks will not work here. I will give a share to whoever comes and send them out. Wake up, cowherd boys, stay alert in your positions. When you hear a footstep, scatter far from me. Without entering the guarded space, we watchful ones know the terrain; there is no point fumbling around in fear. Says Tuka, what falls into your hands is won at the cost of your very life. Snap your fingers in delight, for the sweetness comes at the very end.
We ask forgiveness for any inaccuracies in rendering Tukaram ji’s original Marathi.
In Plain Words
Watch this sport. Your tricks will not work here. Whoever comes, I will give him his share and send him out. Wake up, cowherd boys; stay alert at your posts. When you hear a footstep, scatter far from me. Without entering the guarded ground, we who keep watch already know the field. There is no use fumbling about in fear. Tuka says: what falls into your hands is won at the cost of your very life. Snap your fingers in delight, for the sweetness comes only at the very end.
What it means
Again Tukaram uses the herd-boys' game to teach the inner contest. The keeper of the field warns that clever tricks are useless here; each one who comes gets his exact due and is sent off, and the players must stay awake at their posts and scatter at the first footstep. The watchful ones do not need to blunder into the guarded ground in fear, because they already know its lie. Then the stakes are named without softening: the prize is won at the cost of your very life. Nothing real is gained cheaply. And the last note is patience, the sweetness does not come early; it arrives only at the very end, so keep going to the finish.
Krishna Leela
Poems celebrating Krishna's birth, childhood, and divine play.
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