Social criticism, the miser and the hoarding God
Original Marathi from the Tukaram Gatha · About Sant Tukaram
मराठी मूळ
जोडीच्या हव्यासें । लागे धनांचें चि पिसें ॥1॥
मग आणीक दुसरें । लोभ्या नावडती पोरें ॥ध्रु.॥
पाहे रुक्याकडे । मग अवघें ओस पडे ॥2॥
तुका ह्मणे देवा । तुला बहुत चि हेवा ॥3॥
Tukaram Gatha (Marathi Wikisource)
English Translation
In the frenzy of accumulating, one becomes mad only for wealth. Then a miser does not even care for his own children. He stares only at the coins, and everything else becomes barren. Says Tuka, O God, You have great fondness for hoarding too.
We ask forgiveness for any inaccuracies in rendering Tukaram ji’s original Marathi.
In Plain Words
In the fever of piling things up, a man goes mad for money alone. Then nothing else matters to him; even his own children mean nothing to a miser. He stares only at his coins, and everything around him turns barren. Tuka says: O God, you too are very fond of hoarding.
What it means
Tukaram describes the sickness of greed and then turns it, shockingly, on God himself. The miser's hunger to accumulate eats his heart until even his own children stop mattering; he sees only his coins, and his whole world goes dry. This is a warning about what the craving to possess does to a person, hollowing out every bond. Then Tuka aims the same charge upward: you, God, are no less fond of hoarding, keeping your grace stored up while your children wait. The sting is meant to provoke God into giving, and to make us examine our own clutching.
Social Criticism
Rebuke of hypocrisy, caste pride, false teachers, greed, and religious pretence.
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