Social criticism, the convenient creed
Original Marathi from the Tukaram Gatha · About Sant Tukaram
मराठी मूळ
जीव तो चि देव भोजन ते भक्ति । मरण तेचि मुक्ति पापांडएाची ॥1॥
पिंडाच्या पोषकी नागविलें जन । लटिकें पुराण केलें वेद ॥ध्रु.॥
मना आला तैसा करिती विचार । ह्मणती संसार नाहीं पुन्हा ॥2॥
तुका ह्मणे पाठीं उडती यमदंड । पापपुण्य लंड न विचारी ॥3॥
Tukaram Gatha (Marathi Wikisource)
English Translation
These people say the jiva is God, eating is devotion, and death is liberation from sin. By pampering the body they have deceived the world and made the Puranas and Vedas a lie. They rationalize as they please and declare there is no rebirth. Says Tuka, the rod of Yama will fall upon their backs. This debauched wretch reckons neither merit nor sin.
We ask forgiveness for any inaccuracies in rendering Tukaram ji’s original Marathi.
In Plain Words
These people say the jiva is God, that eating is devotion, that death is freedom from sin. By feeding the body they have robbed the world and made the Vedas and Puranas a lie. They reason however it suits them and declare there is no rebirth. Tuka says: the rod of Yama falls on their backs. This debauched fool weighs neither sin nor merit.
What it means
Tukaram is attacking a comfortable doctrine that turns indulgence into a creed: that the self is already God, that satisfying the body counts as worship, and that death simply cancels all sin. He sees this as self-serving reasoning that pampers the body, cheats people, and treats scripture as a lie to be explained away. The harshness lands on the pattern, the convenient logic that denies rebirth and stops weighing right from wrong, and it invites self-examination about whether one is rationalizing appetite as truth. He warns that consequence does not vanish just because one has argued it away.
Social Criticism
Rebuke of hypocrisy, caste pride, false teachers, greed, and religious pretence.
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