Krishna, caught and never let go
Original Marathi from the Tukaram Gatha · About Sant Tukaram
मराठी मूळ
देवकीनंदनें । केलें आपुल्या चिंतनें ॥1॥
मज आपुलिया ऐसें । मना लावूनियां पिसें ॥ध्रु.॥
गोवळे गोपाळां । केलें लावूनियां चाळा ॥2॥
तुका ह्मणे संग । केला दुरि नव्हे मग॥3॥
Tukaram Gatha (Marathi Wikisource)
English Translation
The Son of Devaki has done this through His own contemplation. He has driven me mad with longing, making me His very own. He enchanted the cowherd boys and drew them into His play. Says Tuka, once He enters your company, He can never be made distant again.
We ask forgiveness for any inaccuracies in rendering Tukaram ji’s original Marathi.
In Plain Words
The Son of Devaki did this by thinking of me. He made me His own, fastening a madness onto my mind. He fixed His play upon the cowherds and the cowherd boys and drew them in. Tuka says: once He keeps your company, He does not then go far away.
What it means
Tukaram describes being claimed by Krishna as something Krishna himself begins. The Son of Devaki turned his attention toward Tukaram and made him his own, planting a kind of glad madness in his mind so that the longing is not even self-chosen. He recalls how the same Krishna once drew the cowherds and gopas into his play, as a sign of how he captures those he loves. The reassurance Tukaram lands on is that this is not a passing visit: once Krishna takes up company with you, he does not afterward withdraw to a distance.
Krishna Leela
Poems celebrating Krishna's birth, childhood, and divine play.
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