The cowherds answer, inner sight was open
Original Marathi from the Tukaram Gatha · About Sant Tukaram
मराठी मूळ
काय आह्मां चाळविसी वायांविण । ह्मणसी दुरून देखिलासि ॥1॥
लावूनियां डोळे नव्हतों दुिश्चत । तुज परचित्त माव होती ॥2॥
होती दृिष्ट आंत उघडी आमची । बाहेरी ते वांयां चि कुंची झाकुं ॥3॥
आगी खातो ऐसा आमचा सांगाती । आनंदें नाचती भोंवताली ॥5॥
भोंवतीं आपणा मेळविलीं देवें । तुका ह्मणे ठावें नाहीं ज्ञान ॥6॥
Tukaram Gatha (Marathi Wikisource)
English Translation
The cowherds say, 'Why do You deceive us for nothing? You say You saw the fire from afar.' 'Our eyes were open inside. We were not distracted. The illusion was Yours alone.' 'Our inner sight was open, though outwardly we pretended to close our eyes.' 'Our companion eats fire!' they cry, and dance around Him in delight. Says Tuka, God surrounded Himself with them, yet they did not possess true knowledge.
We ask forgiveness for any inaccuracies in rendering Tukaram ji’s original Marathi.
In Plain Words
Why do you put us off for nothing, the cowherds say; you say you saw the fire from far off. We shut our eyes but we were not blind inside; the illusion was yours alone. Our inner sight stayed open; only outwardly, for nothing, did we cover it with our hands. Our companion eats fire, they cry, and dance around him in delight. Tuka says: God gathered them about himself, though they had no learned knowledge.
What it means
Tukaram lets the cowherds talk back to Krishna with the freedom of love. He had told them to close their eyes and pretended he only saw the fire from a distance, but they tease him that the trick was his, since their inner sight never closed even when their hands covered their faces. Then, delighted rather than awed, they shout that their playmate eats fire and dance around him. The closing line is the quiet teaching: God drew these boys close to himself even though they had no formal knowledge, no scripture or learning. He is showing that intimacy and inner sight come through love, not through schooling.
Krishna Leela
Poems celebrating Krishna's birth, childhood, and divine play.
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