Social criticism, kirtan sold for a price
Original Marathi from the Tukaram Gatha · About Sant Tukaram
मराठी मूळ
कथा करोनियां मोल ज्यापें घेती । ते ही दोघे जाती नरकामध्यें ॥1॥
ब्रह्म पूर्ण करा ब्रह्म पूर्ण करा । अखंड स्मरा रामराम ॥ध्रु.॥
मधुरवाणीच्या नका पडों भरी । जाल यमपुरी भोगावया ॥2॥
तुका ह्मणे करीं ब्रह्मांड ठेंगणें । हात पसरी जिणें धिग त्याचें ॥3॥
Tukaram Gatha (Marathi Wikisource)
English Translation
Those who perform kirtan for a price, and those who pay for it, both go to hell. Fill yourselves with Brahman, fill yourselves with Brahman. Chant Rama, Rama without ceasing. Do not fall for honeyed words, or you will end up enduring the torments of Yama's city. Says Tuka, one who can make the universe seem small yet stretches out his hand to beg: cursed be his life.
We ask forgiveness for any inaccuracies in rendering Tukaram ji’s original Marathi.
In Plain Words
Those who tell the sacred story for a price, and those who pay them for it: both go to hell. Fill yourself full with Brahman, fill yourself full with Brahman; remember Rama, Rama, without a break. Do not fall under the spell of sweet honeyed words, or you will end up paying for it in Yama's city. Tuka says: a man who could make the whole universe look small, yet holds out his hand to beg, cursed be that life of his.
What it means
Tukaram condemns turning sacred storytelling into a transaction, and he puts both sides under the same judgment: the one who sells the kirtan and the one who buys it. Against the smooth, sweet-talking performer he sets the real thing, ceaseless remembrance of the Name, and warns that being charmed by honeyed delivery leads to suffering, not freedom. His sharpest line is about waste: a person whose spiritual reach is so vast he could make the cosmos seem tiny, who then shrinks himself to begging, has thrown his own life away. The criticism aims at the pattern of trading God for gain, and invites the listener to check whether his own devotion is for sale.
Social Criticism
Rebuke of hypocrisy, caste pride, false teachers, greed, and religious pretence.
More in this theme →