Praise, Krishna swallows the forest fire
Original Marathi from the Tukaram Gatha · About Sant Tukaram
मराठी मूळ
ते काय पवाडे नाहीं म्यां ऐकिले । गोपाळ रिक्षले वनांतरीं ॥1॥
मावेचा वोणवा होऊनि राक्षस । लागला वनास चहूंकडे ॥ध्रु.॥
गगनासी ज्वाळा लागती तुंबळ । गोधनें गोपाळ वेडावलीं ॥2॥
तुका ह्मणे तेथें पळावया वाट । नाहीं वा निपट ऐसें जालें ॥3॥
Tukaram Gatha (Marathi Wikisource)
English Translation
Have I not heard those tales of valor? The cowherds were rescued in the forest. A demon took the form of a wildfire and set the forest ablaze on all sides. Flames leapt up to the sky in towering pillars; the cattle and cowherds were bewildered. Says Tuka, there was absolutely no way to flee. That is how dire the situation had become.
We ask forgiveness for any inaccuracies in rendering Tukaram ji’s original Marathi.
In Plain Words
Have I not heard those tales of His power? The cowherds were saved in the forest. A demon turned into a wildfire and set the forest blazing on every side. Towering flames rose to the sky; the cattle and the cowherds were lost in fear. Tuka says: there was no way at all to flee. That is how desperate it had become.
What it means
Tuka recalls one of Krishna's deeds as the cowherd of Vrindavan to prove the reach of his power. He has heard the tale, he says, of how the gopas were rescued in the forest when a demon took the form of a wildfire and ringed the woods in flame. He sets the scene at its worst: pillars of fire reaching the sky, the cattle and cowherds dazed with terror, and absolutely no path of escape left. By stopping at the moment of total helplessness, he sharpens the point left implicit: when no human escape remained, deliverance came only from Krishna. The remembered miracle becomes ground for trust that the same Lord saves those who have no other way out.
Krishna Leela
Poems celebrating Krishna's birth, childhood, and divine play.
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