Krishna and the gopis, single-hearted love
Original Marathi from the Tukaram Gatha · About Sant Tukaram
मराठी मूळ
भजल्या गोपिका सर्व भावें देवा । नाहीं चित्तीं हेवा दुजा कांहीं ॥1॥
दुजा छंदु नाहीं तयांचिये मनीं । जागृति सपनीं कृष्णध्यान ॥2॥
ध्यान ज्यां हरीचें हरीसि तयांचें । चित्त ग्वाही ज्यांचें तैशा भावें ॥3॥
भाग्यें पूर्वपुण्यें आठविती लोक । अवघे सकिळक मथुरेचे ॥4॥
मथुरेचे लोक सुखी केले जन । तेथें नारायण राज्य करी ॥5॥
राज्य करी गोपीयादवांसहित । कमिनलें बहुतकाळ तेथें ॥6॥
तेथें दैत्यीं उपसर्ग केला लोकां । रचिली द्वारका तुका ह्मणे ॥7॥
Tukaram Gatha (Marathi Wikisource)
English Translation
The gopis worshiped God with their whole being, harboring no second desire in their chitta. No other longing existed in their minds. Waking or sleeping, they contemplated Krishna. Those whose meditation is on Hari, Hari's meditation is on them. Their chittas are their own witness, sealed by mutual devotion. Through the merit of past lives, all the people of Mathura remembered God. The people of Mathura were made happy. There Narayana ruled. He ruled alongside the gopis and Yadavas for a long time. Then the demons troubled the people, and so, says Tuka, Dwaraka was built.
We ask forgiveness for any inaccuracies in rendering Tukaram ji’s original Marathi.
In Plain Words
The gopis worshiped God with their whole being. There was no envy, no second thing, in their hearts. No other longing was in their minds. Awake or in sleep, they meditated on Krishna. Those whose meditation is on Hari, on them Hari meditates. Their own hearts are the witness of such love. By the merit of past lives, the people remembered God, all the people of Mathura. The people of Mathura were made happy. There Narayana ruled. He ruled along with the gopis and the Yadavas. He stayed there a long time. Then the demons troubled the people. Tuka says: and so Dwaraka was built.
What it means
Tukaram holds up the gopis as the measure of devotion: they want nothing besides Krishna, waking or sleeping, with no rival desire and no envy. He states the reciprocity plainly, that the one who meditates on Hari is meditated on by Hari in turn, and the only proof needed is the lover's own heart. From this he widens out to Mathura, where past merit lets the whole city remember God and live in happiness under Krishna's rule. The verse closes by turning the story forward: when the demons threaten the people, Krishna moves them to safety and Dwaraka is built, showing again that his rule is always bent toward sheltering those who are his.
Krishna Leela
Poems celebrating Krishna's birth, childhood, and divine play.
More in this theme →