Krishna-lila, separation deepens love
Original Marathi from the Tukaram Gatha · About Sant Tukaram
मराठी मूळ
आस निरसली गोविंदाचे भेटी । संवसारा तुटी पुढिलिया ॥1॥
पुढें पाठविलें गोविंदें गोपाळां । देउनि चपळां हातीं गुढी ॥2॥
हाका आरोिळया देउनि नाचती । एक सादाविती हरि आले ॥3॥
आरंधीं पडिलीं होतीं तयां घरीं । संकीर्ण त्या नारी नरलोक ॥4॥
लोका भूक तान नाहीं निद्रा डोळा । रूप वेळोवेळां आठविती ॥5॥
आहाकटा मग करिती गेलिया । आधीं ठावा तयां नाहीं कोणा ॥6॥
आधीं चुकी मग घडे आठवण । तुका ह्मणे जन परिचयें ॥7॥
Tukaram Gatha (Marathi Wikisource)
English Translation
All longing was fulfilled by meeting Govinda. The cycle of future births was broken. Govinda sent the cowherds ahead, placing victory-banners in the hands of those lively ones. They shouted, cheered, and danced. Some called out, 'Hari has come!' The homes they had left in turmoil, the anxious women and men, knew no hunger, thirst, or sleep. Again and again they remembered that beautiful form. When He was gone, they cried out, 'Alas!' Before that, none had known how much He meant. Says Tuka, first comes separation, then comes the depth of remembrance.
We ask forgiveness for any inaccuracies in rendering Tukaram ji’s original Marathi.
In Plain Words
Every longing was satisfied by meeting Govinda. The chain of births to come was broken. Govinda sent the cowherds on ahead. He put victory-banners in the hands of those lively boys. They shouted and cheered and danced. Some called out: Hari has come. The homes they had left were in turmoil; the women and men there were full of fear. Those people felt no hunger, no thirst, no sleep on their eyes. Again and again they kept remembering His form. When He had gone, then they cried out: alas. Before that, none of them had known how much He was. First comes the missing, then comes the remembering. Tuka says: people only know by what they have lost.
What it means
Here the cowherds run home as heralds of Krishna's return, while at home the families have been sick with worry over Him. Tukaram catches the strange arithmetic of love in the last lines: while Krishna was present and safe, no one measured what He meant to them; it is His absence that woke the ache of remembrance. Separation is not punishment here but a teacher, the thing that finally makes the heart see how much it holds. The everyday truth, people only know by what they have lost, is pointed inward: do not wait for the loss to learn the worth of what is near.
Krishna Leela
Poems celebrating Krishna's birth, childhood, and divine play.
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