Face to face, the last duality struck down
Original Marathi from the Tukaram Gatha · About Sant Tukaram
मराठी मूळ
वांयां तैसे बोल हरिशीं अंतर । केले होती चार भयभेदें ॥1॥
भेदभय गेलें नोळखे आपणा । भेटी नारायणा कंसा जाली ॥2॥
जाली भेटी कंसा हरिशीं निकट । सन्मुख चि नीट येरयेरां ॥3॥
येरयेरां भेटी युद्धाच्या प्रसंगीं । त्याचें शस्त्र अंगीं हाणितलें ॥4॥
त्याचें वर्म होतें ठावें या अनंता । तुका ह्मणे सत्तानायक हा ॥5॥
Tukaram Gatha (Marathi Wikisource)
English Translation
Those were empty words, keeping Hari at arm's length. Four walls of fear and duality had been built. When fear and duality dissolved, he no longer recognized himself. Then the meeting with Narayana took place for Kamsa. Kamsa met Hari face to face, close and direct, each standing before the other. They met in the encounter of battle, and God struck him with his own weapon. God knew his vulnerable point. Says Tuka, He is the sovereign master of all power.
We ask forgiveness for any inaccuracies in rendering Tukaram ji’s original Marathi.
In Plain Words
Empty as such words were, they kept Hari at a distance. Four walls of fear and difference had been raised. When that fear and difference fell, he no longer knew himself. Then the meeting with Narayana came to Kamsa. The meeting came; Kamsa stood close to Hari, the two of them straight and face to face. They met in the moment of battle, and God struck him with his own weapon. God knew his vulnerable point. Tuka says: he is the sovereign master of all power.
What it means
This closes the Kamsa sequence at the moment of death, and reads it as the breaking of the last barrier. Kamsa's protesting words and his fear had built walls of separation around him; only when those collapse and his self-knowledge dissolves does the true meeting with Narayana come. That meeting takes the outward shape of combat, with God striking Kamsa down using his own vulnerable point. Tukaram ends by naming who holds the final say: God is the sovereign master of all power, and the very enemy who fought him is delivered through that fatal encounter.
Krishna Leela
Poems celebrating Krishna's birth, childhood, and divine play.
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