Social criticism, sobered only by the blow
Original Marathi from the Tukaram Gatha · About Sant Tukaram
मराठी मूळ
मदें मातलें नागवें नाचे । अनुचित वाचे बडबडी॥1॥
आतां शिकवावा कोणासी विचार । कर्म तें दुस्तर करवी धीट॥ध्रु.॥
आलें अंगासी तें बिळवंत गाढें । काय वेडएापुढें धर्मनीत ॥2॥
तुका ह्मणे कळों येईल तो भाव । अंगावरिल घाव उमटतां ॥3॥ ॥2॥
Tukaram Gatha (Marathi Wikisource)
English Translation
Drunk with pride, one dances about naked, babbling improprieties. Whom shall one counsel now? Karma, that relentless force, emboldens the shameless. When madness possesses the body, what use is moral teaching before the insane? Says Tuka, the true nature becomes clear only when the blows begin to land upon the body.
We ask forgiveness for any inaccuracies in rendering Tukaram ji’s original Marathi.
In Plain Words
Drunk with pride, he dances about naked and babbles improper things with his mouth. Whom can you counsel now? Karma, that force hard to cross, makes the shameless one bold. What has taken hold of him is strong and stubborn; what use is moral teaching set before a madman? Tuka says: his true nature will become clear only when the blows begin to land on his body.
What it means
Tukaram describes a person so drunk on pride that he loses all sense of shame, exposed and raving, beyond the reach of advice. He sees this as the work of karma, a force too hard to cross that emboldens such a person, so reasoning with him is like teaching morality to a madman. The point is not contempt for one man but a warning about how blinding pride becomes: counsel cannot reach it. The closing line is sober: this kind of person only comes to his senses when consequences strike and the blows land on his own body. It calls the reader to examine whether pride has made him just as deaf to correction.
Social Criticism
Rebuke of hypocrisy, caste pride, false teachers, greed, and religious pretence.
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