Social criticism, you reap your own nature
Original Marathi from the Tukaram Gatha · About Sant Tukaram
मराठी मूळ
अतित्याई बुडे गंगे । पाप लागे त्याचें त्या ॥1॥
हें तों आपुलिया गुणें । असे जेणें योजिलें ॥ध्रु.॥
अवचटें अिग्न जाळी । न सांभाळी दुःख पावे ॥2॥
जैसें तैंसें दावी आरसा । नकटएा कैसा पालटे ॥3॥
Tukaram Gatha (Marathi Wikisource)
English Translation
Even the river Ganga is polluted by the sins of the inhospitable; the fault belongs to the wrongdoer alone. This is the consequence of one's own nature, as one has fashioned it. If fire is handled carelessly, it burns; one who fails to take care suffers pain. A mirror shows whatever is before it; how can it change the face of one whose nose is cut off? Says Tuka, each one's qualities produce their corresponding results.
We ask forgiveness for any inaccuracies in rendering Tukaram ji’s original Marathi.
In Plain Words
The inhospitable man drowns even the Ganga in his sins; the fault stays his own. This comes from your own nature, the way you yourself have shaped it. Handle fire carelessly and it burns; the careless one suffers. A mirror shows just what stands before it; how can it change the face of one whose nose is cut off? Tuka says: each one's qualities bring their own matching fruit.
What it means
Tukaram insists that consequences belong to the doer, not to anything outside. The hard-hearted man pollutes even holy water, but the sin clings to him alone, because it flows from the nature he himself has formed. The images make the law plain: fire burns the careless, and a mirror cannot flatter a disfigured face, it only reflects what is there. Turned on ourselves, the abhanga warns that we cannot blame the world or even sacred things for what our own qualities produce; the fruit always matches the seed.
Social Criticism
Rebuke of hypocrisy, caste pride, false teachers, greed, and religious pretence.
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