Social criticism, the learned fool
Original Marathi from the Tukaram Gatha · About Sant Tukaram
मराठी मूळ
विषय तो मरणसंगीं । नेणे सुटिका अभागी ॥1॥
शास्त्राचा केला लुंडा । तोंडीं पाडियेला धोंडा ॥ध्रु.॥
अगदीं मोक्ष नाहीं ठावा । काय सांगावें गाढवा ॥2॥
तुका ह्मणे ग्यानगड । सुखें देवा पावेना नाड ॥3॥
Tukaram Gatha (Marathi Wikisource)
English Translation
Sense pleasure clings until the moment of death; the unfortunate one knows no release. He has rolled up the scriptures into a bundle and stuffed a stone into his mouth. He has absolutely no notion of liberation. What can one say to a donkey? Says Tuka, such a blockhead cannot reach God even through the fortress of knowledge.
We ask forgiveness for any inaccuracies in rendering Tukaram ji’s original Marathi.
In Plain Words
Sense pleasure clings to him right up to death; the wretched man knows no release. He has rolled up the scriptures into a bundle and stuffed a stone into his mouth. He has no notion of liberation at all. What can you say to a donkey? Tuka says: such a blockhead cannot reach God even from the fortress of knowledge.
What it means
Tukaram attacks the figure who is full of learning yet enslaved to the senses to his dying day. The man has reduced the scriptures to a packed-up bundle and silenced their truth as if he had jammed a stone in his own mouth; of real liberation he has no clue. The bitter line, what can you say to a donkey, points at willful stupidity, not at any one person to be despised. The warning lands on us: knowledge piled up as a fortress is worthless if it never breaks the grip of craving, and even from there one cannot reach God.
Social Criticism
Rebuke of hypocrisy, caste pride, false teachers, greed, and religious pretence.
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