Social criticism, the Name turned into trade
Original Marathi from the Tukaram Gatha · About Sant Tukaram
मराठी मूळ
काय हएाचें घ्यावें । नित्य नित्य कोणें गावें ॥1॥
केलें हरिकथेनें वाज । अंतरोनी जाते निज ॥ध्रु.॥
काम संसार । अंतरीं हे करकर ॥2॥
तुका ह्मणे हेंड । ऐसे मानिती ते लंड ॥3॥
Tukaram Gatha (Marathi Wikisource)
English Translation
What can be gained from such people? Who should sing daily for them? They have turned the telling of Hari into a trade, while their true nature retreats within. Worldly desire and household life churn noisily within them. Says Tuka, those who honor such people are shameless wretches.
We ask forgiveness for any inaccuracies in rendering Tukaram ji’s original Marathi.
In Plain Words
What is there to gain from such people? Who should sing for them, day after day? They have made the telling of Hari into a trade, while their true self slips away inside. Worldly desire and household life churn and grate within them. Tuka says: those who honor such people are shameless wretches.
What it means
Tukaram condemns the pattern of using devotion as a business. He asks what a sincere singer gains by performing for people who have turned the telling of Hari's story into a paid trade, since their real self drains away even as they perform. Inside them desire and household concern keep grinding; the kirtan is only a front. His harshest line falls on those who praise and prop up such performers. The target is the corruption of selling the Name and the flattery that rewards it, a warning to examine one's own motive in worship.
Social Criticism
Rebuke of hypocrisy, caste pride, false teachers, greed, and religious pretence.
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