Krishna's play, the unruly herd
Original Marathi from the Tukaram Gatha · About Sant Tukaram
मराठी मूळ
नको आम्हांसवें गोपाळा । येऊं ओढाळा तुझ्या गाई ॥१॥
कोण धांवें त्यांच्या लागें । मागें मागें येरझारी ॥ध्रु.॥
न बैसती एके ठायीं । धांवती दाही दाहा वाटां ॥२॥
तुका म्हणे तू राख मनेरी । मग त्या येरी आम्ही जाणों ॥३॥
Tukaram Gatha (Marathi Wikisource)
English Translation
Do not come along with us, cowherd boy, for your cows are wild and unruly. Who will run after them, going back and forth endlessly? They will not sit still in one place; they run off in ten different directions. Says Tuka, you just herd them with your mind, and then we will know how to manage the rest.
We ask forgiveness for any inaccuracies in rendering Tukaram ji’s original Marathi.
In Plain Words
Do not come with us, cowherd boy. Your cows are wild and will not be controlled. Who will run after them, going back and forth without end? They will not sit still in one place. They run off in ten different directions. Tuka says: you herd them with your mind, and then we will know how to manage the rest.
What it means
Tukaram keeps to the cowherds' teasing voice, but underneath the cows are the restless senses and thoughts that scatter in every direction. The boys protest that they cannot keep the wild herd together; chasing them is endless and useless labor. The turn comes at the end: only Krishna himself can hold them, herding them with his mind rather than their feet. The plea is that grace, not the devotee's effort, is what finally gathers the scattered, and once he does that, the rest becomes easy.
Krishna Leela
Poems celebrating Krishna's birth, childhood, and divine play.
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