Krishna's darshan, self emptied
Original Marathi from the Tukaram Gatha · About Sant Tukaram
मराठी मूळ
मुख डोळां पाहे । तैशी च ते उभी राहे ॥1॥
केल्याविण नव्हे हातीं । धरोनि आरती परती ॥ध्रु.॥
न धरिती मनीं। कांहीं संकोच दाटणी ॥2॥
तुका ह्मणें देवें । ओस केल्या देहभावें ॥3॥
Tukaram Gatha (Marathi Wikisource)
English Translation
Each woman gazes upon His face and remains standing just as she is. Nothing can be gained without holding out the lamp of worship and then stepping back. They harbor no hesitation or restraint in their minds. Says Tuka, the Lord has emptied them entirely of body-consciousness.
We ask forgiveness for any inaccuracies in rendering Tukaram ji’s original Marathi.
In Plain Words
She gazes at his face with her eyes, and stays standing just as she is. It cannot come into her hands without the doing: she holds out the lamp of worship, then steps back. They hold no hesitation in their minds, no crowding shyness. Tuka says: the Lord has emptied them of body-feeling.
What it means
Tukaram catches the moment one of the women is stopped still by Krishna's face, rooted where she stands. The waving of the lamp and the stepping back is the gesture of worship, the only way the darshan is received. What he notes is the absence of self-consciousness: no shyness, no holding back, no awareness of the body at all. That is the work of the Lord, who has emptied them of the body-sense, so nothing of the small self stands between them and him.
Krishna Leela
Poems celebrating Krishna's birth, childhood, and divine play.
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