Krishna lila, the fortunate ones and the rest of us
Original Marathi from the Tukaram Gatha · About Sant Tukaram
मराठी मूळ
एक ह्मणती कृष्णा वासिलें त्वां मुख । तेव्हां थोर धाक पडिला आह्मां ॥1॥
गिळों लागलासी अग्नीचे कल्लोळ । आह्मी चळचळां कांपतसों ॥ध्रु.॥
ज्वाळांबरोबरि गिळशील आह्मां। ऐसें मेघशामा भय वाटे ॥2॥
तुका ह्मणे ऐसे भाग्याचे गोपाळ । फुटकें कपाळ आमुचें चि ॥3॥
Tukaram Gatha (Marathi Wikisource)
English Translation
One cowherd says, Krishna, when You opened Your mouth, a great terror fell upon us. As You began swallowing the torrents of flame, we were trembling all over. We feared that along with the flames, You would swallow us too, O dark-clouded Lord. Says Tuka, how fortunate were those cowherds. The cracked forehead is only ours.
We ask forgiveness for any inaccuracies in rendering Tukaram ji’s original Marathi.
In Plain Words
One says: Krishna, when you opened your mouth, a great fear fell on us. As you began swallowing the torrents of flame, we trembled and shook. We feared that along with the flames you would swallow us too, O dark-clouded Lord. Tuka says: how fortunate those cowherds were. The cracked forehead is only ours.
What it means
The cowherds confess the terror they felt even while being saved, the fear that the swallowing might not spare them. Then Tuka turns the whole scene back on himself and on us. Those boys stood beside Krishna and saw him with their own eyes; their luck was complete. The cracked, unlucky forehead, he says, belongs to us who came too late and did not see. It is a sharp claim against his own fortune, naming the ache of the devotee who longs for a nearness the lila already gave to others.
Krishna Leela
Poems celebrating Krishna's birth, childhood, and divine play.
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