Krishna, calling the cows home
Original Marathi from the Tukaram Gatha · About Sant Tukaram
मराठी मूळ
चला वळूं गाई । दूर अंतरल्या भाई ॥1॥
खेळ खेळतां जाला शीण । कोण करी वणवण ॥ध्रु.॥
गाई हकारी कान्हया । ह्मणोनि लागती ते पायां ॥2॥
तुका ह्मणे द्यावें । नाम संकीर्तन बरवें ॥3॥
Tukaram Gatha (Marathi Wikisource)
English Translation
Come, let us round up the cows; they have wandered far away, brothers. Playing all these games has been tiring; who wants to keep searching? Krishna calls the cows, and they come to His feet. Says Tuka, offer the Lord the beautiful gift of singing the Name in kirtan.
We ask forgiveness for any inaccuracies in rendering Tukaram ji’s original Marathi.
In Plain Words
Come, brothers, let us round up the cows; they have strayed far off. All this playing has worn us out; who wants to go wandering after them? Krishna calls the cows, and they come to His feet. Tuka says: offer the Lord the good gift of singing His Name in kirtan.
What it means
Tukaram closes the herding day with the boys tired and the cows scattered. They are spent from their games and reluctant to tramp around searching, so the work falls to Krishna, who simply calls and the cows come straight to His feet, the herd answering its master with no chase needed. On that small picture the poet turns to us with the one thing he always wants offered: the way to come to the Lord's feet ourselves is to give Him the beautiful gift of singing His Name in kirtan.
Krishna Leela
Poems celebrating Krishna's birth, childhood, and divine play.
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