The gopis' merit, Krishna the unchanging crystal
Original Marathi from the Tukaram Gatha · About Sant Tukaram
मराठी मूळ
यांच्या पूर्वपुण्या कोण लेखा करी । जिंहीं तो मुरारी खेळविला ॥1॥
खेळविला जिंहीं अंतर्बाहएसुखें । मेळवूनि मुखें चुंबन दिलें ॥2॥
दिलें त्यांसी सुख अंतरीचें देवें । जिंहीं एका भावें जाणितला ॥3॥
जाणितला तिहीं कामातुर नारी । कृष्णभोगावरी चित्त ज्यांचें ॥4॥
ज्यांचें कृष्णीं तन मन जालें रत । गृह पति सुत विसरल्या ॥5॥
विष तयां जालें धन मान जन । वसविती वन एकांतीं त्या ॥6॥
एकांतीं त्या जाती हरीसी घेउनि । भोगइच्छाधणी फेडावया ॥7॥
वयाच्या संपन्ना तैसा त्यांकारणें । अंतरींचा देणें इच्छाभोग ॥8॥
भोग त्याग नाहीं दोन्ही जयापासीं । तुका ह्मणे जैसी स्पटिकशिळा ॥9॥
Tukaram Gatha (Marathi Wikisource)
English Translation
Who can count the past merits of those who played with Murari? They played with Him in both inner and outer delight, pressing their faces to His and kissing Him. God gave them the joy of His innermost chitta, for they knew Him with single devotion. Those passion-filled women who knew Him, whose minds were fixed on the delight of Krishna, whose every thought was absorbed in Krishna, forgot their homes, husbands, and children. Wealth, honor, and people became poison to them. They went to the forest seeking solitude. They took Hari with them into seclusion to satisfy the hunger of their longing. He gave them the inner fulfillment they desired, matching the fullness of their youth. Says Tuka, neither enjoyment nor renunciation exists as two in His presence. He is like a crystal, clear and unchanged.
We ask forgiveness for any inaccuracies in rendering Tukaram ji’s original Marathi.
In Plain Words
Who can count the past merits of those who played with Murari? They played with him in inner and outer delight, pressing their faces to his and giving him kisses. God gave them the joy of his innermost heart, for they knew him with single love. Those passion-filled women knew him, their minds fixed on the delight of Krishna. Their body and mind grew absorbed in Krishna; they forgot home, husband, and children. Wealth, honor, and people became poison to them; they made the forest their dwelling, in solitude. Into that solitude they go, taking Hari with them, to satisfy the hunger of their longing. Matching the fullness of their youth, he gives them the inner enjoyment they desire. He in whom enjoyment and renunciation are not two, Tuka says, is like a slab of crystal.
What it means
Tukaram praises the gopis' immense store of past merit, which let them play with Krishna in body and soul, and reads their passion as the highest knowing love. Their absorption is total: home, husband, children forgotten, and wealth, honor, and society turned to poison, so that they carry Hari into the forest's solitude to satisfy a longing that is finally for God himself. The point he draws is about God's nature, not theirs: he meets each one exactly according to her desire, giving the inner enjoyment she craves. The closing image of the crystal slab says God himself is unchanged by what passes through him; in him enjoyment and renunciation are not two opposing things but one clear, untouched reality.
Krishna Leela
Poems celebrating Krishna's birth, childhood, and divine play.
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