Social criticism, the incorrigible offender
Original Marathi from the Tukaram Gatha · About Sant Tukaram
मराठी मूळ
चोरटें सुनें मारिलें टाळे । केंउं करी परि न संडी चाळे ॥1॥
ऐसें एक दुराचारी गा देवा । आपुलिया जीवा घात करी ॥ध्रु.॥
नाक गेलें तरि लाज ना विचार । हिंडे फजितखोर दारोदारीं ॥2॥
तुका ह्मणे कर्म बिळवंत गाढें । नेदी तया पुढेंमागें सरों ॥3॥
Tukaram Gatha (Marathi Wikisource)
English Translation
A thief caught and beaten still cannot abandon his tricks. There is one such evildoer, O God, who destroys his own life. Even when his nose is gone, he feels no shame and no remorse, wandering disgraced from door to door. Says Tuka, karma runs deep and holds firm. It does not let one move forward or backward.
We ask forgiveness for any inaccuracies in rendering Tukaram ji’s original Marathi.
In Plain Words
A thief who is caught and beaten still cannot give up his tricks. There is one such evildoer, O God, who destroys his own life. Even when his nose is cut off, he feels no shame and no second thought; he wanders disgraced from door to door. Tuka says: karma runs deep and holds firm. It will not let such a one move forward or back.
What it means
Tukaram looks at the pattern of the incorrigible offender, the man who is caught and punished and still cannot drop his habit. The harm is turned inward: it is his own life he ruins. Even public disgrace, his nose cut off, the old mark of shame, does not stir shame or reflection in him, so he keeps wandering from door to door. The hard truth Tuka names is that deep-rooted karma can lock a person in place, unable to go forward or back; the warning is meant for our own examination, to catch the habit in ourselves before it sets that hard.
Worldly Life
The perplexities of action, karma, and navigating life in the world.
More in this theme →