The trap of I and thou, surrender required
Original Marathi from the Tukaram Gatha · About Sant Tukaram
मराठी मूळ
जालों स्वयें कृष्ण आठव हा चित्तीं । भेद भयवृित्त उरली आहे ॥1॥
उरली आहे रूप नांव दिसे भिन्न । मी आणि हा कृष्ण आठवतो ॥2॥
तोंवरि हा देव नाहीं तयापासीं । आला दिसे त्यासि तो चि देव ॥3॥
देवरूप त्याची दिसे वरी काया । अंतरीं तो भयाभीत भेदें ॥4॥
भेदें तुका ह्मणे अंतरे गोविंद । साचें विण छंद वांयां जाय ॥5॥
Tukaram Gatha (Marathi Wikisource)
English Translation
'I have become Krishna,' he thought. Yet the awareness of separateness, the fear and duality, still lingered. Name and form still appeared distinct. The thought 'I and this Krishna' persisted. As long as this sense of separateness remained, God was not truly with him. Though his outer body appeared divine, within he was still shaken by duality and fear. Says Tuka, through the sense of difference, Govinda remains distant. Without genuine surrender, all longing is in vain.
We ask forgiveness for any inaccuracies in rendering Tukaram ji’s original Marathi.
In Plain Words
I have myself become Krishna: this thought stayed in his mind. The sense of separateness, the fearful state, was still left. It was still left; form and name still appeared distinct. The thought I, and this Krishna, kept returning. As long as that remained, God was not truly with him; only then would the one who came appear to him as God himself. His outward body looked divine, but inside he was still afraid, shaken by the sense of difference. Tuka says: through the sense of difference, Govinda stays distant; without the real thing, all this longing goes to waste.
What it means
Here Tukaram refines the lesson with great care so it cannot be misread. Even after Kamsa is filled with Krishna, a residue clings: the thought I have become Krishna still keeps an I standing apart from a Krishna, and with it come fear and a sense of two. As long as that split survives, God is not truly present, however divine the outer scene may look. The closing line is the warning to every seeker: where the feeling of difference remains, Govinda stays at a distance, and without genuine surrender even intense longing is wasted.
Krishna Leela
Poems celebrating Krishna's birth, childhood, and divine play.
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