Social criticism, the hollow poet
Original Marathi from the Tukaram Gatha · About Sant Tukaram
मराठी मूळ
कवेश्वरांचा तो आह्मांसी विटाळ । प्रसाद वोंगळ चिवडिती ॥1॥
दंभाचे आवडी बहिराट अंधळे । सेवटासि काळें होइल तोंड ॥ध्रु.॥
सोन्यासेजारी तों लाखेची जतन । सतंत ते गुण जैसेतैसे ॥2॥
सेव्य सेववता न पडतां ठावी । तुका ह्मणे गोवी पावती हीं ॥3॥
Tukaram Gatha (Marathi Wikisource)
English Translation
We are disgusted by the so-called master poets. They chew over God's grace and spit it out as refuse. Blind and outward-looking in their love of pretense, their faces will blacken in the end. So long as gold is nearby, one must guard the lacquer carefully; the qualities of each remain what they are. Says Tuka, when the served and the server do not recognize each other, both fall into confusion.
We ask forgiveness for any inaccuracies in rendering Tukaram ji’s original Marathi.
In Plain Words
These so-called master poets are a defilement to us. They chew over God's grace and spit it out as garbage. Deaf and blind in their love of show, their faces will turn black in the end. As long as gold is near it, the lacquer must be guarded with care; each keeps its own true worth. Tuka says: when the one to be served and the one who serves do not know each other, both fall into a tangle.
What it means
Tukaram is attacking a pattern, the showy religious performer who handles holy things for display. Such people take God's grace and degrade it, turning what is sacred into refuse through their love of pretense and their deafness to its real meaning, and he warns that this ends in disgrace. The image of gold beside lacquer points to the danger of confusion: the cheap thing can be mistaken for the precious unless each is recognized for what it truly is. His closing point is mutual misrecognition: when the worshipper does not really know the God he claims to serve, both ends of the relationship collapse into muddle. The verse asks the listener to test whether his own devotion is real worth or only imitation shine.
Social Criticism
Rebuke of hypocrisy, caste pride, false teachers, greed, and religious pretence.
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