Krishna, the all-pervading son of Nanda
Original Marathi from the Tukaram Gatha · About Sant Tukaram
मराठी मूळ
पाहातां रूप डोळां भरें । अंतर नुरे वेगळें । इच्छावशें खेळ मांडी । अवघें सांडी बाहेरी ॥1॥
तो हा नंदानंदन बाइये । यासी काय परिचार वो ॥ध्रु.॥
दिसतो हा नव्हे तैसा । असे दिशाव्यापक । लाघव हा खोळेसाटीं । होतां भेटी परतेना ॥2॥
ह्मणोनि उभी ठालीये । परतलीये या वाटा । आड करोनियां तुका। जो या लोकां दाखवितो ॥3॥
Tukaram Gatha (Marathi Wikisource)
English Translation
Gazing upon His form, the eyes are filled; no inner distance remains. He sets up His playful games at will, casting aside everything external. He is the son of Nanda, O women; what offering can match His beauty? He appears ordinary, but He pervades every direction. His charm is such that once He embraces you, He never lets go. Therefore I stand still, having turned back from all other roads. Says Tuka, He uses me as a screen to show Himself to the world.
We ask forgiveness for any inaccuracies in rendering Tukaram ji’s original Marathi.
In Plain Words
Gazing on His form, the eyes are filled. No distance is left inside. He sets up His games as He pleases and casts everything else outside. He is the son of Nanda, women. What can match His beauty? He looks ordinary, but He fills every direction. His charm is such that once He embraces you, He will not turn back. So I stand still here, having turned away from every other road. Tuka says: He uses me as a screen, and through me He shows Himself to the world.
What it means
Tukaram speaks as one swept up in Krishna's beauty, in the voice of the gopis addressing each other. To look at His form is to be filled, with no inner gap left between the self and Him, while He plays freely and pushes all else aside. The seeming paradox is that this ordinary-looking cowherd boy, Nanda's son, actually pervades every direction, and once He embraces a soul He never lets go. So the poet turns back from every other path and stands fixed in Him. The last line names his own role: he is only the screen God stands behind to reveal Himself to others.
Krishna Leela
Poems celebrating Krishna's birth, childhood, and divine play.
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