Social criticism, the stingy show-off
Original Marathi from the Tukaram Gatha · About Sant Tukaram
मराठी मूळ
वंचुनियां पिंड । भाता दान करी लंड ॥1॥
जैसी याची चाली वरी । तैसा अंतरला दुरी ॥ध्रु.॥
मेला राखे दिस । ज्यालेपणें जालें वोस ॥2॥
तुका ह्मणे देवा । लोभें न पुरे चि सेवा॥3॥
Tukaram Gatha (Marathi Wikisource)
English Translation
One who starves his own body yet boasts of giving charity is shameless. As he struts on the surface, so deep is the distance he has created from God. He observes death rites yet, in his living, has turned life desolate. Says Tuka, O God, greed ensures that true service can never be fulfilled.
We ask forgiveness for any inaccuracies in rendering Tukaram ji’s original Marathi.
In Plain Words
He cheats his own body, then makes a loud show of giving charity; the shameless man. As his conduct is on the surface, so far has he fallen away inside. He keeps the rites for the dead, while his own living life has gone to waste. Tuka says: God, where there is greed, service is never complete.
What it means
Tukaram exposes the man who starves himself to look generous, who performs death-rites and public charity while his inner life is empty. The poem's edge is the gap between the polished outside and the distance from God within; the showy surface is exactly the measure of how far he has drifted. The sharpest line turns the rites against him: he honors the dead but has let his own living turn desolate. The lesson is aimed at the pattern of greed dressed as piety, a thing to watch for in oneself, because where greed remains, no act of service is ever truly finished.
Social Criticism
Rebuke of hypocrisy, caste pride, false teachers, greed, and religious pretence.
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