Each sees by their own faith
Original Marathi from the Tukaram Gatha · About Sant Tukaram
मराठी मूळ
सैन्य जन हांसे राया जालें काई । वासपे तो ठायीं आपणासि ॥1॥
आपणा आपण जयास तीं तैसीं । वैरभाव ज्यांसि भक्ति नाहीं ॥2॥
नाहीं याचा त्याचा भाव एकविध । ह्मणउनि छंद वेगळाले ॥3॥
वेगळाल्या भावें ती तया हांसती । तयास दिसती अवघीं हरि ॥4॥
हरिला कंसाचा जीव भाव देवें । द्वेषाचिया भावें तुका ह्मणे ॥5॥
Tukaram Gatha (Marathi Wikisource)
English Translation
The army and the people laughed. 'What has happened to the king?' He could not recognize himself. To each and to all, everything appeared as it did according to their faith. Those without devotion held enmity, and so their experience was different. With different feelings, they laughed at him, while to him everything appeared as Hari. Says Tuka, through the vision of enmity, Kamsa's soul was absorbed by God.
We ask forgiveness for any inaccuracies in rendering Tukaram ji’s original Marathi.
In Plain Words
The army and the people laughed: what has happened to the king? He could no longer recognize himself. To each and to all, everything appeared as their own faith made it appear. Those without devotion held only enmity, so what they saw was different. Their feeling was not single-pointed like his, so their experience went its separate way. With those scattered feelings they laughed at him, while to him everything appeared as Hari. Tuka says: through the vision of enmity, Kamsa's soul was absorbed by God.
What it means
Tukaram explains why the same scene looks different to different people. Kamsa, whose whole mind is fixed on Krishna, sees Krishna in everything, while the courtiers around him, scattered and without devotion, see only a king gone mad and laugh. The teaching is that we each meet the world according to the faith we bring to it; what fills the mind shapes what the eyes find. The unsettling conclusion stands: because Kamsa's attention was undivided, even his hatred carried him into God, while the mockers, having no single focus, gained nothing.
Krishna Leela
Poems celebrating Krishna's birth, childhood, and divine play.
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