Lost in Krishna, distinctions forgotten
Original Marathi from the Tukaram Gatha · About Sant Tukaram
मराठी मूळ
तुका ह्मणे पुन्हा न येती मागुत्या । कृष्णासीं खेळतां दिवस गमे ॥1॥
दिवस राती कांहीं नाठवे तयांसी । पाहातां मुखासी कृष्णाचिया ॥2॥
याच्या मुखें नये डोळयासी वीट । राहिले हे नीट ताटस्थ चि ॥3॥
ताटस्थ राहिलें सकळ शरीर । इंिद्रयें व्यापार विसरलीं ॥4॥
विसरल्या तान भुक घर दार । नाहीं हा विचार आहों कोठें ॥5॥
कोठें असों कोण जाला वेळ काळ । नाठवे सकळ विसरल्या ॥6॥
विसरल्या आह्मीं कोणीये जातीच्या। वर्णा ही चहूंच्या एक जाल्या ॥7॥
एक जाल्या तेव्हां कृष्णाचिया सुखें । निःशंकें भातुकें खेळतील ॥8॥
खेळता भातुकें कृष्णाच्या सहित । नाहीं आशंकित चित्त त्यांचें ॥9॥
चित्तीं तो गोविंद लटिकें दळण । करिती हें जन करी तैसें ॥10॥
जन करी तैसा खेळतील खेळ । अवघा गोपाळ करूनियां ॥11॥
करिती आपला आवघा गोविंद । जना साच फंद लटिका त्या ॥12॥
त्याणीं केला हरि सासुरें माहेर । बंधु हे कुमर दीर भावें ॥13॥
भावना राहिली एकाचिये ठायीं । तुका ह्मणे पायीं गोविंदाचे ॥14॥
Tukaram Gatha (Marathi Wikisource)
English Translation
Says Tuka, once gone, they do not return. Playing with Krishna, the day passes unnoticed. Day and night mean nothing to them, gazing upon Krishna's face. Looking at Him, the eyes never tire. They remain motionless and still. The whole body becomes transfixed. The senses forget their functions. They forgot hunger, thirst, home, and threshold. They did not think about where they were. They forgot what time it was, what moment had passed. They forgot everything. They forgot what caste they belonged to. All four varnas became one. Becoming one in Krishna's joy, they played house without a care. They played house together with Krishna, free of any hesitation. Govinda was in their chitta. The grinding was only a pretense. The world took it for real, but they played it as a game. What the world took as serious, they played as sport, making Govinda the center of it all. They made Hari their in-laws' home and their mother's home. Brothers, husbands, kinsmen, all were cast in the role by that devotion. Says Tuka, all feeling settled at the feet of Govinda.
We ask forgiveness for any inaccuracies in rendering Tukaram ji’s original Marathi.
In Plain Words
Tuka says: once gone, they do not come back again; the day passes while they play with Krishna. Day and night mean nothing to them, gazing on Krishna's face. The eyes never tire of His face; they stand fixed and still. The whole body stands transfixed; the senses forget their work. They forget thirst and hunger, home and door; there is no thought of where they are. Where are we, what hour, what time has passed, they remember nothing, they have forgotten. We have forgotten what caste we are; all four classes have become one. Become one, then, in Krishna's joy, they play house without a care. They play house together with Krishna; their hearts hold no doubt. In their hearts is Govinda; the grinding is only a pretense. The world does this for real; they play at it as the world does. The play the world takes as serious, they play as sport, making Gopala the whole of it. They make Govinda their everything; what the world takes as true is false to them. They made Hari their husband's home and their mother's home; brothers, sons, kinsmen, all by their love. All their feeling settled in one place. Tuka says: at the feet of Govinda.
What it means
Tukaram describes what total absorption in God does to ordinary life. Time, hunger, place, even the body's sense all drop away under the gaze on Krishna's face, and with them drops caste: all four classes become one in His joy. The poem then draws the line between the world and the devotee through the same daily chores. The world grinds and keeps house in deadly earnest; these lovers do the very same acts as play, because Govinda, not the work, is the real center. Every relation, husband's home, mother's home, brother, son, has been recast as a way of holding Him. The closing image gathers it all: their whole feeling has come to rest at one place, the feet of Govinda.
Krishna Leela
Poems celebrating Krishna's birth, childhood, and divine play.
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