Social criticism, the base nature
Original Marathi from the Tukaram Gatha · About Sant Tukaram
मराठी मूळ
माहार माते चपणी भरे । न कळे खरें पुढील ॥1॥
वोंगळ अधमाचे गुण । जातां घडी न लगे चि ॥ध्रु.॥
श्वान झोळी स्वामिसत्ता । कोप येतां उतरे ॥2॥
तुका ह्मणे गुमान कां । सांगों लोकां अधमासी ॥3॥
Tukaram Gatha (Marathi Wikisource)
English Translation
The lowly one fills his pouch slyly when no one is looking; the future remains unknown. Such are the ways of the vile and base; they take less than a moment to fall. A dog stays loyal only as long as the master's authority holds; when anger comes, loyalty fades. Says Tuka, why should I waste words telling the world about the nature of the wicked?.
We ask forgiveness for any inaccuracies in rendering Tukaram ji’s original Marathi.
In Plain Words
The base man slyly fills his pouch when no one is watching. What he will do next, no one knows. These are the ways of the low and the foul. They take less than a moment to fall. A dog stays loyal only while the master's power holds. When anger comes, the loyalty drops away. Tuka says: why should I waste words telling people about the nature of the wicked?
What it means
Tukaram is naming a pattern of character rather than condemning a fixed class of people: the habit of grabbing in secret and serving only while it pays. Such a nature, he says, can collapse in an instant, because it was never grounded in anything real. The dog that stays loyal only as long as the master holds power is the picture of self-interest dressed up as devotion; when the wind turns, the loyalty is gone. His weary closing question, why bother spelling out the obvious, points the warning back at the listener: do not be the one whose constancy lasts only as long as it is convenient. The lesson is self-examination, not contempt.
Social Criticism
Rebuke of hypocrisy, caste pride, false teachers, greed, and religious pretence.
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