The hidden purpose, subduing Kaliya
Original Marathi from the Tukaram Gatha · About Sant Tukaram
मराठी मूळ
आला यांचा भाव देवाचिया मना । अंतरीं कारणांसाठीं होता ॥1॥
होता भाव त्यांचा पाहोनि निराळा । नव्हता पाताळा गेला आधीं ॥2॥
आधीं पाठीमोरीं जालीं तीं सकळें । मग या गोपाळें बुडी दिली ॥3॥
दिली हाक त्याणें जाऊनि पाताळा । जागविलें काळा भुजंगासि ॥4॥
भुजंग हा होता निजला मंदिरीं । निर्भर अंतरीं गर्वनिधि ॥5॥
गर्व हरावया आला नारायण । मिस या करून चेंडुवाचें ॥6॥
चेंडुवाचे मिसें काळया नाथावा । तुका ह्मणे देवा कारण हें ॥7॥
Tukaram Gatha (Marathi Wikisource)
English Translation
Their true feelings reached God's awareness. He had been holding back, waiting for the right moment. He had seen that their devotion was mixed. He had not actually gone to the nether world at first. Only after they turned away did the Cowherd-Boy dive deep. He went down to the nether world and called out to the serpent. He roused the Kaliya serpent who had been sleeping in his palace. That serpent was deep in slumber, full of arrogant pride. Narayana came to crush that pride, using the ball as His pretext. Says Tuka, subduing Kaliya was the Lord's true purpose.
We ask forgiveness for any inaccuracies in rendering Tukaram ji’s original Marathi.
In Plain Words
Their true feeling reached God's mind; in His heart He had a purpose. Seeing their feeling held back and apart, He had not in fact gone down to the nether world at first. Only after they all turned their backs did the Cowherd-Boy dive in. Diving, He went down to the nether world and woke Kaliya the serpent. The serpent had been lying asleep in his palace, full to the brim within, a hoard of pride. Narayana came to take away that pride, making the ball His pretext. Under cover of the ball, He came to master Kaliya. Tuka says: this was the Lord's true purpose.
What it means
Now Tukaram lifts the curtain on the whole episode. The lost ball and the dive were never the point; Krishna's true aim was to crush the pride of Kaliya, the great serpent sleeping in his pool swollen with arrogance. He did not even go down at first; only when the people turned away did He descend, reading their inner feeling. The ball was a pretext, a setting arranged for the real work. The teaching is that God stages the visible drama for a hidden purpose, and pride, here the serpent's hoard, is what He comes to break.
Krishna Leela
Poems celebrating Krishna's birth, childhood, and divine play.
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