Scandal borne for love
Original Marathi from the Tukaram Gatha · About Sant Tukaram
मराठी मूळ
कोणी सुना कोणी लेंकी । कोणी एकी सतंता ॥1॥
अवघियांची जगनिंद । जाली धिंद सारखी ॥ध्रु.॥
अवघ्या अवघ्या चोरा । विना वरा मायबापा ॥2॥
तुका ह्मणे करा सेवा । आलें जीवावर तरी ॥3॥
Tukaram Gatha (Marathi Wikisource)
English Translation
Some were daughters-in-law, some were daughters, some were mothers of families. All of them alike were talked about by the world; equal scandal fell upon them all. They were all alike in being thieves of love, apart from the one Beloved, their Mother and Father. Says Tuka, serve Him even if it costs your life.
We ask forgiveness for any inaccuracies in rendering Tukaram ji’s original Marathi.
In Plain Words
Some were daughters-in-law, some daughters, some mothers of families. The world talked about every one of them; the same scandal fell on them all. They were all alike thieves of love, stealing toward the one Beloved, who is their Mother and Father. Tuka says: serve Him, even if it costs your life.
What it means
Tukaram names the cost the gopis pay and tells the listener to pay it too. Whatever their place in the household, daughter, daughter-in-law, mother, the world gossiped about all of them equally. He calls them thieves, but what they steal toward is the one Beloved, who is parent to them all. The instruction at the end is blunt: serve God even at the price of your own life. The disgrace of the world is the ordinary cost of loving God openly, and it is worth paying.
Krishna Leela
Poems celebrating Krishna's birth, childhood, and divine play.
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