Social criticism, the false teacher who ruins the path
Original Marathi from the Tukaram Gatha · About Sant Tukaram
मराठी मूळ
तोडुनि पुष्पवटिका फळवृक्षयाति । बाभळा राखती करूनि सार ॥1॥
कोण हित तेणें देखिलें आपुलें । आणीक पाहिलें सुख काई ॥ध्रु.॥
धान्यें बीजें जेणें जािळलीं सकळें । पेरितो काळें जिरें बीज ॥2॥
मोडोनिया वाटा पुढिलांची सोय । आडरानें जाय घेउनि लोकां ॥3॥
विषाचें अमृत ठेवूनियां नाम । करितो अधम ब्रह्महत्या ॥4॥
तुका ह्मणे त्यास नाइके सांगतां । तया हाल करितां पाप नाहीं ॥5॥
Tukaram Gatha (Marathi Wikisource)
English Translation
He cuts down the flower garden and fruit trees but preserves the thorny acacia as if it were precious. What good has he seen in this for himself, and what joy has he found? He burns all the seeds and grains and sows cumin in their place at the wrong season. He destroys the road that others follow and leads the people off into trackless wilderness. He labels poison as nectar and commits spiritual murder. Says Tuka, he will not listen to any counsel; there is no sin in punishing such a one.
We ask forgiveness for any inaccuracies in rendering Tukaram ji’s original Marathi.
In Plain Words
He cuts down the flower garden and the fruit trees, and guards the thorn bush as if it were precious. What good has he found in this for himself? What joy has he seen? He burns up all the grain and the seed, and sows cumin at the wrong season. He breaks the road that those ahead have made, and leads the people off into trackless wilderness. He puts the name nectar on poison. The base man commits the killing of a soul. Tuka says: he will not listen when anyone tells him. To trouble such a one is no sin.
What it means
Tukaram condemns the false teacher who systematically destroys what nourishes and preserves what harms. Every image is an inversion of right guidance: cutting the fruit trees while saving the thorns, burning good seed and planting useless cumin out of season, tearing up the proven road and dragging followers into the wild. The deepest charge is the last: he labels poison as nectar, calling falsehood the truth, and so commits what Tukaram likens to the murder of a soul, since he leads trusting people to ruin. The poem aims at the pattern, the harm done by one who teaches wrongly and refuses all correction, not at a name. The closing line is severe by design, marking how grave Tukaram holds the offense of leading the trusting astray; the warning is for the listener to recognize and resist such guidance, and to examine whether they are following or becoming it.
Social Criticism
Rebuke of hypocrisy, caste pride, false teachers, greed, and religious pretence.
More in this theme →