Krishna's company, God makes them into God
Original Marathi from the Tukaram Gatha · About Sant Tukaram
मराठी मूळ
गाती ओंव्या कामें करितां सकळें । हालवितां बाळें देवावरि ॥1॥
ॠिद्धसिद्धी दासी दारीं ओळंगती । सकळ संपित्त सर्वां घरीं ॥2॥
घरीं बैसलिया जोडलें निधान । करिती कीर्त्तन नरनारी ॥3॥
नारीनर लोक धन्य त्यांची याति । जयांसि संगति गोविंदाची ॥4॥
गोविंदें गोविंद केले लोकपाळ । चिंतनें सकळ तुका ह्मणे ॥5॥
Tukaram Gatha (Marathi Wikisource)
English Translation
They sang ovis while doing all their work, while rocking their children, singing of God. The powers of prosperity and accomplishment served as handmaids at their doors. Every home was blessed with abundance. Sitting at home, they found treasures. Men and women performed kirtan. Blessed was the lineage of those who had the company of Govinda. Govinda made the people into Govindas themselves. Says Tuka, through contemplation, all were transformed.
We ask forgiveness for any inaccuracies in rendering Tukaram ji’s original Marathi.
In Plain Words
They sang ovis while doing all their work, rocking their children, singing of God. The powers and the perfections waited at their doors like servant-girls. There was every kind of wealth in every house. Sitting at home, they had found the treasure. Men and women did kirtan. Blessed were the people, blessed their birth, who had the company of Govinda. Govinda made the people into Govindas. Tuka says: through that remembrance, all of them were changed.
What it means
Tukaram shows what the company of God does to ordinary life. The people of Dwaraka sing of God while they work and rock their children, and the very powers and attainments that others chase through hard practice wait on them like maids at the door. The real wealth, he says, was found just by sitting at home in remembrance. The last line is the boldest claim: by keeping his company and holding him in mind, the people are not merely blessed but made into Govinda themselves. Constant remembrance, in this telling, does not only bring God near; it remakes the one who remembers into his likeness.
Krishna Leela
Poems celebrating Krishna's birth, childhood, and divine play.
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