Krishna-lila, anger at God forfeits the feast
Original Marathi from the Tukaram Gatha · About Sant Tukaram
मराठी मूळ
दुःखी होती लोभें करावें तें काई । उडतील गाई म्हैसी आतां ॥1॥
आणीकही कांहीं होईल अरिष्ट । नायिके हा धीट सांगितलें ॥2॥
सांगों चला याच्या मायबापांपाशीं । निघाले घरासि देवा रागें ॥3॥
रागें काला देतां न घेती कवळ । टोकवी गोपाळ क्रोधियांसि ॥4॥
क्रोध देवावरि धरियेला राग । तुका ह्मणे भाग न लभती ॥5॥
Tukaram Gatha (Marathi Wikisource)
English Translation
When people suffer through their own greed, what can be done? 'Our cows and buffaloes will be swept away now. Some other disaster will surely come. This bold one will not listen to what he is told.' They said, 'Let us go and tell His parents.' They left for home, angry at God. In their anger, they refused to eat the feast He had prepared. He tried to coax the angry ones, but they refused every morsel. Says Tuka, those who are angry at God forfeit their share of bliss.
We ask forgiveness for any inaccuracies in rendering Tukaram ji’s original Marathi.
In Plain Words
They suffer through their own greed; what can be done with it? They said: our cows and buffaloes will be carried off now. Some other disaster will come too. This bold boy will not listen to what we tell him. Come, let us go and tell His parents. They set off home, angry at God. In their anger, when He offered the feast, they would not take a mouthful. He coaxed the angry ones. They refused every morsel. Tuka says: those who hold anger against God do not get their share.
What it means
The frightened villagers turn from fear to resentment: they blame the boy, threaten to report Him to His parents, and storm off. The sharp moment is the food. Krishna has made the kala, the shared feast, and offers it, even coaxing them, but in their anger they refuse to eat a single bite. Tukaram reads this as the plain consequence of being angry at God: the grace is held out, and the resentful hand pushes it away. They do not get their share, not because it was withheld, but because anger closed them to it. The mirror is for the listener: resentment toward God locks the door from the inside on the very bliss being offered.
Krishna Leela
Poems celebrating Krishna's birth, childhood, and divine play.
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