Social criticism, false renunciation
Original Marathi from the Tukaram Gatha · About Sant Tukaram
मराठी मूळ
भक्ता ह्मणऊनि वंचावें जीवें । तेणें शेण खावें काशासाटीं ॥1॥
नासिले अडबंद कौपीन ते माळा । अडचण राउळामाजी केली ॥ध्रु.॥
अंगीकारिले सेवे अंतराय । तया जाला न्याय खापराचा ॥2॥
Tukaram Gatha (Marathi Wikisource)
English Translation
To cheat others in the name of devotion, why should one then eat filth for that? They have spoiled the signs of renunciation, the loincloth and the rosary, and created obstruction in the very temple. Those who have accepted service but placed obstacles in it receive judgment fit for a broken pot.
We ask forgiveness for any inaccuracies in rendering Tukaram ji’s original Marathi.
In Plain Words
To cheat people in the name of devotion: why then eat filth for it? They have ruined the marks of renunciation, the loincloth and the rosary, and made trouble inside the very temple. Those who took up service but blocked it get the judgment fit for a broken pot.
What it means
Tukaram is attacking the abuse of religious appearance. To use the show of devotion to swindle others is to sink to eating filth, and for what gain. Such people disgrace the very signs of a renunciant, the loincloth and the rosary, and turn the temple itself, where service should be offered, into a place of obstruction. Those who accepted sacred service and then sabotaged it earn, he says, the worth of a broken pot, fit only to be cast aside. The charge is against the hypocrisy, not against renunciation or the temple.
Social Criticism
Rebuke of hypocrisy, caste pride, false teachers, greed, and religious pretence.
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