Social criticism, the false ascetic
Original Marathi from the Tukaram Gatha · About Sant Tukaram
मराठी मूळ
लांब लांब जटा काय वाढवूनि । पावडें घेऊनि क्रोधें चाले ॥1॥
खायाचा वोळसा शिव्या दे जनाला । ऐशा तापशाला बोध कैंचा ॥ध्रु.॥
सेवी भांग अफू तमाखू उदंड । परि तो अखंड भ्रांतीमाजी ॥2॥
तुका ह्मणे ऐसा सर्वस्वें बुडाला । त्यासी अंतरला पांडुरंग ॥3॥
Tukaram Gatha (Marathi Wikisource)
English Translation
What use is growing long matted hair, seizing a staff, and marching about in anger? One who curses everyone and craves only to eat, what wisdom can such a pretender possess? He consumes hemp, opium, and tobacco in excess, yet remains perpetually lost in delusion. Says Tuka, one who is drowned in such ways in every respect is forsaken by Panduranga.
We ask forgiveness for any inaccuracies in rendering Tukaram ji’s original Marathi.
In Plain Words
What use is it to grow long matted hair, to take up a staff, and to march about in anger? He curses everyone and lives only to eat. What teaching can such a pretender hold? He swallows hemp and opium and tobacco without limit, yet he stays lost in delusion the whole time. Tuka says: a man drowned in such ways through and through is forsaken by Panduranga.
What it means
Tukaram strips the costume off a fake holy man to show there is no holiness underneath. The matted locks, the staff, the stern bearing are props; behind them is a man who curses people, lives for his next meal, and stays stupefied on hemp, opium, and tobacco. None of the outward signs of renunciation have touched his delusion. The warning, aimed at the pattern and not at any one person, is severe: a man who lets his whole life sink into this performance has cut himself off from God, who does not come to the costume but to the heart it hides.
Social Criticism
Rebuke of hypocrisy, caste pride, false teachers, greed, and religious pretence.
More in this theme →