Krishna, the lover's quiet plea
Original Marathi from the Tukaram Gatha · About Sant Tukaram
मराठी मूळ
आपुल्या आह्मी पुसिलें नाही । तुज कांहीं कारणें॥1॥
मागें मागें धांवत आलों । कांहीं बोलों यासाटीं ॥ध्रु.॥
बहुत दिस होतें मनीं । घ्यावी धणी एकांतीं ॥2॥
तुका ह्मणे उभा राहें । कान्हो पाहें मजकडे ॥3॥
Tukaram Gatha (Marathi Wikisource)
English Translation
I have not asked about our own affairs because of You. I came running behind You; that is why I speak. For many days this longing has been in my mind: to have my fill of You in solitude. Says Tuka, stand still, O Krishna, and look toward me.
We ask forgiveness for any inaccuracies in rendering Tukaram ji’s original Marathi.
In Plain Words
I did not ask about my own affairs; it was for Your sake. I came running behind You; that is why I speak. For many days it has been in my mind: to have my fill of You in solitude. Tuka says: stand still, O Kanha; look toward me.
What it means
Tukaram speaks in the tone of an intimate who has been chasing the beloved. He says he never came to settle his own business; he ran after Krishna for Krishna's own sake, and that is the only reason he is speaking now. The wish he has carried for many days is simple and tender: to be alone with God and take his fill of him. The poem ends not in a grand demand but in a small one, asking Krishna only to stop and turn and look at him, the whole longing pressed into a single glance.
Krishna Leela
Poems celebrating Krishna's birth, childhood, and divine play.
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