One moment with God, beyond price
Original Marathi from the Tukaram Gatha · About Sant Tukaram
मराठी मूळ
येथील जें एक घडी । तये जोडी पार नाहीं ॥1॥
ती त्यांचा सासुरवास । कैंचा रस हा तेथें ॥ध्रु.॥
अवघे दिवस गेले कामा । हीं जन्मा खंडण ॥2॥
तुका ह्मणे रतल्या जनीं । सोडा झणी कान्होबा ॥3॥ ॥8॥
Tukaram Gatha (Marathi Wikisource)
English Translation
A single moment here is worth more than any treasure. Their worldly homes are like a hard in-laws' house; what sweetness can be found there? All the days spent here have purified their very births. Says Tuka, do not release these absorbed women, O Krishna.
We ask forgiveness for any inaccuracies in rendering Tukaram ji’s original Marathi.
In Plain Words
A single moment here is worth more than any treasure. There is no end to that gain. Their worldly homes were like a hard in-laws' house; what sweetness was ever there? All the days spent here have made their very births clean. Tuka says: do not let these absorbed women go, O Krishna.
What it means
Tukaram weighs one moment of nearness to God against everything else and pleads for the gopis to be kept. A single moment here outweighs any treasure, and its gain is endless. Their ordinary homes were a hard place, like a bride's harsh in-laws' house, with no real sweetness in them. The time spent with Krishna has purified their whole existence. So he asks Krishna outright: now that they are absorbed in You, do not release them. The soul that has finally come home should not be sent back.
Krishna Leela
Poems celebrating Krishna's birth, childhood, and divine play.
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