Krishna lila, the promise and the closed eyes
Original Marathi from the Tukaram Gatha · About Sant Tukaram
मराठी मूळ
ऐसा मी अपार पार नाहीं अंत । परि कृपावंत भाविकांचा ॥1॥
दुर्जनां चांडाळां करीं निदानळण । करीं संरक्षण अंकितांचें ॥ध्रु.॥
भक्त माझे सखे जिवलग सांगाती । सर्वांग त्यांप्रति वोडवीन ॥2॥
पीतांबरछाया करीन त्यांवरी । सदा त्यांचे घरीं दारी उभा ॥3॥
माझे भक्त मज सदा जे रातले । त्यांघरीं घेतलें धरणें म्यां ॥4॥
कोठें हें वचन ठेविलें ये वेळे । तुका ह्मणे डोळे झांकियेले ॥5॥
Tukaram Gatha (Marathi Wikisource)
English Translation
I am boundless, without end or limit, yet I am full of compassion for the faithful. I crush the wicked and protect those who are pledged to Me. My devotees are My friends, My dear companions. I will extend My whole being to shield them. I will spread the shade of My yellow garment over them and stand always at their door. My devotees who are always devoted to Me, in their homes I have taken up permanent residence. Says Tuka, where has that promise gone now? You have simply closed Your eyes.
We ask forgiveness for any inaccuracies in rendering Tukaram ji’s original Marathi.
In Plain Words
I am boundless; I have no edge, no end. Yet I am full of mercy for the faithful. I destroy the wicked and the cruel. I guard those who are pledged to me. My devotees are my friends, my dear companions; I will hold out my whole body to shield them. I will spread the shade of my yellow garment over them and stand always at their door. My devotees who are always given to me, in their houses I have settled to stay. Tuka says: where have you put that promise now? You have simply shut your eyes.
What it means
Krishna lays out his side of the covenant in full: the limitless one binds himself to the faithful, destroying what threatens them and standing guard at their door, even taking up permanent residence in their homes. Then Tuka, in his own voice, turns the long promise into a complaint. If all that was sworn, where is it now; why does God seem absent and unmoved. The closing line, that he has simply closed his eyes, is the cry of a devotee holding the Lord to his own word. The poem does not soften the protest; it sets the grandeur of the promise against the silence the bhakta is feeling, and lets the ache stand.
Krishna Leela
Poems celebrating Krishna's birth, childhood, and divine play.
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