Gokul love, God serves devotees
Original Marathi from the Tukaram Gatha · About Sant Tukaram
मराठी मूळ
वैकुंठीच्या लोकां दुर्लभ हरिजन । तया नारायण समागमें ॥1॥
समागम त्यांचा धरिला अनंतें । जिहीं चित्तवित्त समपिनलें ॥2॥
समथॉ तीं गाती हरीचे पवाडे । येर ते बापुडे रावराणे॥3॥
रामकृष्णें केलें कौतुक गोकुळीं । गोपाळांचे मेळीं गाई चारी ॥4॥
गाई चारी मोहोरी पांवा वाहे पाठीं । धन्य जाळी काठी कांबळीचें ॥5॥
काय गौिळयांच्या होत्या पुण्यरासी । आणीक त्या ह्मैसी गाई पशु ॥6॥
सुख तें अमुप लुटिलें सकळीं । गोपिका गोपाळीं धणीवरि ॥7॥
धणीवरि त्यांसी सांगितली मात । जयाचें जें आर्त तयापरी ॥8॥
परी याचि तुह्मी आइका नवळ । दुर्गम जो खोल साधनासि ॥9॥
शिक लावूनियां घालिती बाहेरी । पाहाती भीतरी सवें चि तो ॥10॥
तोंडाकडे त्यांच्या पाहे कवतुकें । शिव्या देतां सुखें हासतुसे ॥11॥
हांसतसे शिव्या देतां त्या गौळणी । मरतां जपध्यानीं न बोले तो ॥12॥
तो जेंजें करिल तें दिसे उत्तम । तुका ह्मणे वर्म दावी सोपें ॥13॥
Tukaram Gatha (Marathi Wikisource)
English Translation
The people of Vaikuntha consider the company of Hari's devotees a rare treasure. Ananta embraced those who surrendered their chitta and wealth to Him. They are the truly powerful, singing Hari's heroic deeds. All other kings and rulers are mere wretches beside them. Rama and Krishna performed wonders in Gokul, herding cows among the cowherds. He herded cows, carried a flute on His back. Blessed were His staff, His blanket, His stick. He who is beyond even the contemplation of the three worlds runs to round up the cattle. He wears the garlands they offer on His own head. The food offering He desires is a morsel begged from their hands. He snatches morsels from their mouths and eats their leftovers with relish. He weaves peacock feathers into His crown and dances, clapping to their rhythms. Those with whom Hari dances have forgotten all body-consciousness. Says Tuka, the worship of the faithful is received by God unknowingly. Without being asked, He reveals His true abode. To reach that abode, He wanders behind them, in the company of His devotees.
We ask forgiveness for any inaccuracies in rendering Tukaram ji’s original Marathi.
In Plain Words
Even the people of Vaikuntha rarely reach the company of Hari's devotees; with those devotees Narayana keeps company. Ananta holds close those who gave Him their whole heart and all they own. They are the truly strong ones, who sing Hari's great deeds; beside them, kings and rulers are only poor wretches. Rama and Krishna made their play in Gokul, herding the cattle among the cowherds. He herds the cattle, carries a flute on His back. Blessed is His staff, His stick, His coarse blanket. What store of merit did the cowherds have? And their buffaloes too, their cows, their beasts. They all plundered boundless joy, the gopis and the cowherds, to their fill. He told each one according to her own longing, and satisfied her to the full. But hear this wonder, He says: He is hard to reach by hard practice. They scold Him and push Him outside; He looks in and stays right with them. He watches their faces with delight; when they curse Him He only laughs, glad. Those cowherd women curse Him and He laughs; the man who will not come for chanting and meditation at the hour of death. Whatever He does looks good to them. Tuka says: He shows the secret, and it is easy.
What it means
Tukaram is inverting the usual ladder of holiness. The heavenly beings of Vaikuntha envy the simple cowherds of Gokul, because God keeps company not with the high but with those who hand Him their whole heart and all they own. He measures greatness by that surrender: the cowherds who sing Hari's deeds outrank every king. The point of the herding and the flute and the rough blanket is that God who is unreachable by hard discipline comes close to people who simply scold Him, push Him out, and live with Him like family. The closing contrast is sharp: the devotee who curses Him familiarly is nearer than the man who only remembers God formally, in chanting and meditation, at the end. Tuka calls this the secret, and says it is easy: love, not technique, is the door.
Devotion to Vitthal
Poems of praise, invocation, and intimate address to Lord Vitthal at Pandharpur.
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