Social criticism, food for the dead, none for the living
Original Marathi from the Tukaram Gatha · About Sant Tukaram
मराठी मूळ
2704. भुके नाहीं अन्न । मेल्यावरी पिंडदान ॥1॥
नैवेद्याचा आळ । वेच ठाकणीं सकळ ॥2॥
तुका ह्मणे जड । मज न राखावें दगड ॥3॥
Tukaram Gatha (Marathi Wikisource)
English Translation
There is no food for the hungry while alive, yet after death there is the offering of rice-balls. The excuse of food-offerings to God merely serves the occasion's expenses. Says Tuka, do not keep me captive like a heavy stone.
We ask forgiveness for any inaccuracies in rendering Tukaram ji’s original Marathi.
In Plain Words
There is no food for the hungry while he is alive, yet after he dies there is the offering of rice-balls. The fuss over food offered to God only covers the cost of the occasion. Tuka says: do not keep me captive like a heavy stone.
What it means
Tukaram strikes at a plain hypocrisy: the living go hungry and unfed, but once a man is dead the family lavishes rice-ball offerings on the corpse. He sees the elaborate ritual food as mostly about the expense and show of the event, not real charity or devotion. The point is that ceremony has displaced living mercy. His closing plea asks God not to let him sink into that dead, stone-like weight of empty observance, but to keep him alive and free.
Social Criticism
Rebuke of hypocrisy, caste pride, false teachers, greed, and religious pretence.
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