Social criticism, fleeing the kirtan
Original Marathi from the Tukaram Gatha · About Sant Tukaram
मराठी मूळ
नावडे ज्या कथा उठोनियां जाती । ते यमा फावती बरे वोजा ॥1॥
तो असे जवळी गोंचिडाच्या न्यायें । देशत्यागें ठायें तया दुरी ॥ध्रु.॥
नव्हे भला कोणी नावडे दुसरा । पाहुणा किंकरा यमा होय ॥2॥
तुका ह्मणे तया करावें तें काई । पाषाण कां नाहीं जळामध्यें ॥3॥
Tukaram Gatha (Marathi Wikisource)
English Translation
Those who dislike the sacred story and get up and leave become easy prey for Yama, the lord of death. Death clings to them like a tick; only by leaving the country entirely can one escape it. One who is good to no one, whom no one likes, becomes a guest and servant of Yama. Says Tuka, what can be done for such a one? Does a stone not remain a stone even in water?.
We ask forgiveness for any inaccuracies in rendering Tukaram ji’s original Marathi.
In Plain Words
Those who dislike the holy story and get up and walk out fall easy prey to Yama, the lord of death. Death stays close to them like a tick; only by leaving the whole country can they get away from it. The one who is good to no one, whom no one likes, becomes a guest and servant of Yama. Tuka says: what can be done for such a one? Does a stone stop being a stone even in water?
What it means
Tukaram describes the person who cannot bear the company of God's story and leaves it. Such a one belongs to death, he says: Yama clings as a tick clings, so near that no ordinary distance escapes it. The hardness is the point. A man good to no one and liked by no one has cut himself off, and the stone in water makes it plain, water soaks the stone but never softens it. The harshness is aimed at the closed, unwilling heart and asks the listener whether their own resistance has gone stony.
Social Criticism
Rebuke of hypocrisy, caste pride, false teachers, greed, and religious pretence.
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