Krishna's justice, the false within
Original Marathi from the Tukaram Gatha · About Sant Tukaram
मराठी मूळ
विटंबिलें भट । दिला पाठीवरी पाट ॥1॥
खोटें जाणोनि अंतर । न साहे चि विश्वंभर ॥ध्रु.॥
तें चि करी दान । जैसें आइके वचन ॥2॥
तुका ह्मणे देवें । पूतना शोषियेली जीवें॥3॥ ॥5॥
Tukaram Gatha (Marathi Wikisource)
English Translation
He humiliated the deceitful priest, placing a slab upon his back. The Lord of the universe cannot abide what is false within. He gives only what accords with the words He hears. Says Tuka, the Lord drained Putana of her very life.
We ask forgiveness for any inaccuracies in rendering Tukaram ji’s original Marathi.
In Plain Words
He shamed the priest and laid a slab on his back. Knowing the heart was false, Vishvambhara will not bear it. He gives exactly what matches the words he hears. Tuka says: the Lord drained Putana of her very life.
What it means
Tukaram turns to Krishna as the one who cannot abide falseness inside a person. He gives back to each exactly what their inner words deserve: humiliation and a stone on the back for the deceitful priest, and death drawn out of Putana, who came in a nurse's guise with poison in her breast. The stress is not on cruelty but on truth: the Lord who fills all things reads the heart, not the show. The warning lands on the listener to examine what is actually inside, since that, not the outward act, is what he answers.
Krishna Leela
Poems celebrating Krishna's birth, childhood, and divine play.
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