Social criticism, the false guru
Original Marathi from the Tukaram Gatha · About Sant Tukaram
मराठी मूळ
एक करिती गुरु गुरु । भोंवता भारु शिष्यांचा ॥1॥
पुंस नाहीं पाय चारी । मनुष्य परी कुतरीं तीं ॥ध्रु.॥
परस्त्री मद्यपान। पेंडखान माजविलें ॥2॥
तुका ह्मणे निर्भर चित्तीं । अधोगती जावया ॥3॥
Tukaram Gatha (Marathi Wikisource)
English Translation
Some go about proclaiming themselves guru upon guru, with a crowd of disciples surrounding them. They walk on two feet like men, yet they are dogs. They have nurtured adultery, drunkenness, and gluttony. Says Tuka, they proceed toward the lower realms with chitta utterly carefree.
We ask forgiveness for any inaccuracies in rendering Tukaram ji’s original Marathi.
In Plain Words
Some keep proclaiming themselves guru, guru, with a crowd of disciples around them. They have no tails, they walk on two feet; they look like men, but they are dogs. They have nursed adultery, drinking, and gluttony. Tuka says: their minds are perfectly at ease as they head for the lower realms.
What it means
Tukaram aims this at the pattern of the self-appointed teacher who collects followers while feeding his own appetites. The sting of the image, men who are really dogs, is that the title and the crowd are mistaken for holiness when the inner life is given over to lust, drink, and greed. The most damning stroke is the last: such teachers feel no unease at all, their conscience untroubled even as they sink. The warning is for anyone tempted to measure a guide by the size of his following rather than by how he lives, and to examine whether one's own untroubled ease might itself be a sign of a downward road.
Social Criticism
Rebuke of hypocrisy, caste pride, false teachers, greed, and religious pretence.
More in this theme →