Krishna's two homes, the hidden heart
Original Marathi from the Tukaram Gatha · About Sant Tukaram
मराठी मूळ
धरी दोही ठायीं सारखा चि भाव । देवकी वसुदेव नंद दोघे ॥1॥
दोन्ही एके ठायीं केल्या नारायणें । वाढविला तिणें आणि व्याली ॥2॥
व्याला वाढला हा आपल्या आपण । निमित्या कारणें मायबापा ॥3॥
माय हा जगाची बाप नारायणा । दुजा करी कोण यत्न यासि ॥4॥
कोण जाणे याचे अंतरींचा भाव । कळों नेदी माव तुका ह्मणे ॥5॥
Tukaram Gatha (Marathi Wikisource)
English Translation
He held the same love for both sets of parents: Devaki and Vasudeva, Nanda and Yashoda. Narayana united them both. One gave birth, the other raised Him. He was born and grew by His own will, using parents as the instrument. He is the Mother and Father of the world, O Narayana. Who else can make any effort for Him? Says Tuka, who can know the feeling within His heart? He does not reveal His mystery.
We ask forgiveness for any inaccuracies in rendering Tukaram ji’s original Marathi.
In Plain Words
He holds the same love for both. Devaki and Vasudeva, Nanda and Yashoda, both pairs. Narayana made the two into one. One gave him birth, the other raised him. He was born and he grew up by his own will. The parents were only the occasion. He is the mother of the world; he is its father, O Narayana. Who else can do anything for him? Who knows the feeling inside his heart? Tuka says: he does not let his mystery be known.
What it means
Tukaram looks at Krishna's two sets of parents and refuses to rank them: the same love goes to both the birth-parents and the foster-parents. Then he overturns the picture. Krishna is not really a child who needs a mother and father; he is himself the mother and father of the whole world, and his birth and growing-up happen by his own will, with the parents only as the occasion. So no one can do anything for him, and no one can read what moves inside him. The verse lands on the limit of all our knowing: God keeps his own mystery, and will not let it be measured.
Krishna Leela
Poems celebrating Krishna's birth, childhood, and divine play.
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