Social criticism, pride blackens the face
Original Marathi from the Tukaram Gatha · About Sant Tukaram
मराठी मूळ
अभिमानाचें तोंड काळें । दावी बळें अंधार ॥1॥
लाभ न्यावा हातोहातीं । तोंडी माती पाडोनि ॥ध्रु.॥
लागलीसे पाठी लाज । जालें काज नासाया ॥2॥
तुका ह्मणे कुश्चळ मनीं । विटंबनीं पडिलीं तीं ॥3॥
Tukaram Gatha (Marathi Wikisource)
English Translation
Pride blackens one's face and forcibly brings darkness. One should seize the profit at hand and rub dirt in pride's mouth. Shame has begun to chase from behind, threatening to ruin everything accomplished. Says Tuka, those with impurity in their minds have fallen into utter degradation.
We ask forgiveness for any inaccuracies in rendering Tukaram ji’s original Marathi.
In Plain Words
Pride blackens a man's face and forces darkness on him. Seize the true gain in your own hands; rub dirt in pride's mouth. Shame comes chasing from behind, ready to ruin all you have done. Tuka says: those with filth in their minds have fallen into utter disgrace.
What it means
Tukaram treats pride as a thing that ruins the very face it puffs up, dragging the proud into darkness by their own strength. Against it he sets a blunt instruction: grasp the real gain while it is in hand, and humiliate pride itself, rub dirt in its mouth, before it speaks for you. He warns that shame is already at the heels of the proud, waiting to undo whatever good they managed. Read inwardly, the verse is about catching one's own pride early, because a mind that nurses it ends in plain disgrace.
Social Criticism
Rebuke of hypocrisy, caste pride, false teachers, greed, and religious pretence.
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