Social criticism, the fortune-tellers
Original Marathi from the Tukaram Gatha · About Sant Tukaram
मराठी मूळ
सांगों जाणती शकुन । भूत भविष्य वर्तमान ॥1॥
त्यांचा आह्मांसी कंटाळा । पाहों नावडती डोळां ॥ध्रु.॥
तुका ह्मणे जाती । पुण्यक्षयें अधोगती ॥3॥
Tukaram Gatha (Marathi Wikisource)
English Translation
Those who claim to read omens and know the past, present, and future: I am wearied by them and cannot bear to look upon them. Says Tuka, when their store of merit is spent, they sink to the lower realms.
We ask forgiveness for any inaccuracies in rendering Tukaram ji’s original Marathi.
In Plain Words
Those who claim to read omens and to know the past, the future, and the present: I am wearied by them; I do not like to look at them with my eyes. Tuka says: when their store of merit runs out, they fall to the lower realms.
What it means
Tukaram is dismissing the trade in omens and fortune-telling. Those who advertise knowledge of past, present, and future tire him; he will not even rest his eyes on them, because their show pulls attention toward signs and futures and away from God. The warning at the end is plain: whatever power or standing such display buys is borrowed against a limited store of merit, and when that store is spent the person sinks to the lower realms. The point is to examine our own appetite for predictions and credit, not to despise the people caught in it.
Social Criticism
Rebuke of hypocrisy, caste pride, false teachers, greed, and religious pretence.
More in this theme →