Social criticism, the hollow holy man
Original Marathi from the Tukaram Gatha · About Sant Tukaram
मराठी मूळ
गाजराची पुंगी । तैसे नवे जाले जोगी ॥1॥
काय करोनि पठन । केली अहंता जतन ॥ध्रु.॥
अल्प असे ज्ञान । अंगीं ताठा अभिमान ॥2॥
तुका ह्मणे लंड । त्याचें हाणोनि फोडा तोंड॥3॥
Tukaram Gatha (Marathi Wikisource)
English Translation
A trumpet made of a carrot: such are these newly-minted holy men. Through their reading and recitation they have only nourished their ego. Their knowledge is meager, yet their pride and arrogance are immense. Says Tuka, such rascals deserve to have their mouths struck shut.
We ask forgiveness for any inaccuracies in rendering Tukaram ji’s original Marathi.
In Plain Words
A trumpet made from a carrot: that is what these new holy men are. What did their reading do? It only fed their pride and kept it safe. Their knowledge is small; their stiffness and self-importance are large. Tuka says: such rascals deserve to have their mouths struck shut.
What it means
Tukaram is mocking the freshly made ascetic whose holiness is all noise and no substance. A carrot trumpet looks like an instrument but cannot sound; the new jogi looks pious but is empty inside. He points out the trap directly: their study did not dissolve the ego, it nourished it, so the more they recite the prouder they grow. The aim of the warning is not to despise any particular man but to expose the pattern in which learning becomes a costume for arrogance, and to make us check whether our own practice is feeding the very self it claims to undo.
Social Criticism
Rebuke of hypocrisy, caste pride, false teachers, greed, and religious pretence.
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