Krishna lila, the child returns, the boys wonder
Original Marathi from the Tukaram Gatha · About Sant Tukaram
मराठी मूळ
सांडियेलें रूप विक्राळ भ्यासुर । झालें सकुमार कोडिसवाणें ॥1॥
शाम चतुर्भुज मुकुट कुंडलें । सुंदर दंडलें नव बाळ ॥ध्रु.॥
गोपाळ ह्मणती कैसें रे बा कृष्णा । रूप नारायणा धरियेलें ॥2॥
कैसा वाढलासी विक्राळ जालासी । गटगटा ज्वाळांसी गििळयेलें ॥3॥
तुका ह्मणे भावें पुसती गोपाळ । अनाथवत्सल ह्मणोनियां ॥4॥
Tukaram Gatha (Marathi Wikisource)
English Translation
He set aside that fearsome, terrible form and became tender and beautiful once more. Dark, four-armed, with crown and earrings, a lovely new child, adorned and gentle. The cowherds said, What was that, dear Krishna? What form did You assume, O Narayana? How You grew and became so enormous, gulping down the flames in great swallows. Says Tuka, the cowherds ask with innocent devotion, for He is the tender guardian of the helpless.
We ask forgiveness for any inaccuracies in rendering Tukaram ji’s original Marathi.
In Plain Words
He let go of that fearsome, terrible form and became tender and lovely again. Dark, four-armed, with crown and earrings, a beautiful new child, gentle and adorned. The cowherds say: What was that, dear Krishna? What form did you take, O Narayana? How you grew, how terrible you became, gulping down the flames in great swallows. Tuka says: the cowherds ask with simple devotion, for he is the tender guardian of the helpless.
What it means
Krishna grants the request and shrinks back into the gentle child, crowned and beautiful. But the boys cannot let the wonder go; they keep asking what they just saw, how their small friend swelled into something that swallowed fire. Their questions are not doubt but artless devotion, the awe of people who love him and have just glimpsed what he really is. Tuka names the reason he answers them at all: he is the tender guardian of the helpless, who lets the small and bewildered come close and ask.
Krishna Leela
Poems celebrating Krishna's birth, childhood, and divine play.
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