Krishna-lila, pride keeps God far
Original Marathi from the Tukaram Gatha · About Sant Tukaram
मराठी मूळ
जाणवलें इंद्रा चरित्र सकळ । वांकुल्या गोपाळ दाविताती ॥1॥
तातडिया मेघां आज्ञा करी राव । गोकुळींचा ठाव उरों नेदा ॥2॥
नेदाविया काई म्हसी वांचों लोक । पुरा सकिळक सिळाधारीं ॥3॥
धाक नाहीं माझा गोविळयां पोरां । सकिळक मारा ह्मणे मेघां ॥4॥
ह्मणविती देव आपणां तोंवरी । जंव नाहीं वरी कोपलों मी ॥5॥
मीपणें हा देव न कळे चि त्यांसी । अभिमानें रासि गर्वाचिया ॥6॥
अभिमानरासि जयाचिये ठायीं । तुका ह्मणे तई देव दुरी ॥7॥
Tukaram Gatha (Marathi Wikisource)
English Translation
Indra learned of the whole affair. The cowherds were mocking him openly. Indra commanded the clouds of deluge: 'Do not leave a single survivor in Gokul.' 'Do not let cattle or people live. Bury them all under a hail of boulders.' 'These little cowherds and their children have no fear of me. Kill them all,' he told the clouds. 'They call themselves gods only until I am roused.' In his arrogance, God remained unknown to him. Mountains of pride had piled up. Says Tuka, wherever there is a mountain of pride, God remains far away.
We ask forgiveness for any inaccuracies in rendering Tukaram ji’s original Marathi.
In Plain Words
Indra came to know the whole affair: the cowherds were openly mocking him. The king commanded the storm-clouds in haste: do not leave a single place standing in Gokul. Do not let cattle or people live; bury them all under a hail of stones. These little cowherd boys have no dread of me. Kill them all, he told the clouds. They call themselves gods, he said, only until I am roused. In his I-ness this God stayed unknown to him; his arrogance was a heap of pride. Tuka says: wherever there is a heap of pride, there God stays far away.
What it means
Stung that the cowherds have stopped honoring him, Indra orders the deluge to wipe out Gokul, all from wounded pride. Tukaram uses Indra as the pattern to examine, not a person to despise: the very God who could undo him stays hidden from his eyes precisely because he is so full of himself. His mipana, his I-ness, is a wall. The closing line states the law of the heart that the whole episode illustrates: where pride piles up, God keeps His distance, not as a punishment imposed from outside but because a swollen self leaves no room to recognize Him. The warning is turned toward us, to watch for the same heap forming within.
Krishna Leela
Poems celebrating Krishna's birth, childhood, and divine play.
More in this theme →