Satire, the false holy man
Original Marathi from the Tukaram Gatha · About Sant Tukaram
मराठी मूळ
मुंगी होउनि साकर खावी । निजवस्तूची भेटी घ्यावी॥1॥
वाळवंटी साकर पडे । गज येउनि काय रडे ॥ध्रु.॥
जाला हरिदास गोसांवी । अवघी मायिक क्रिया दावी ॥2॥
पाठ पाठांतरिक विद्या । जनरंजवणी संध्या ॥3॥
प्रेम नसतां अंगा आणी । दृढ भाव नाहीं मनीं ॥4॥
ब्रह्मज्ञान वाचे बोले । करणी पाहातां न निवती डोळे ॥5॥
मिथ्या भगल वाढविती । आपुली आपण पूजा घेती ॥6॥
तुका ह्मणे धाकुटें व्हावें । निजवस्तूसी मागुनि घ्यावें ॥7॥
Tukaram Gatha (Marathi Wikisource)
English Translation
Become an ant to eat the sugar; seek the meeting with your true self. When sugar lies scattered on the ground, what good does it do for an elephant to come and weep over it? One becomes a holy man or renunciant and puts on a show of illusory practice. Learning, scholarship, and evening prayers all become mere entertainment for the crowd. Without genuine love in the mind, and without firm conviction in the mind, mere words of Brahman-knowledge on the tongue amount to nothing if the conduct belies them. They inflate false grandeur and worship themselves. Says Tuka, become small and humble; then ask for the true treasure and receive it.
We ask forgiveness for any inaccuracies in rendering Tukaram ji’s original Marathi.
In Plain Words
Become an ant to eat the sugar; take the meeting with your own true self. When sugar lies scattered on the ground, what use is it for the elephant to come and weep over it? A man turns holy man, turns renunciant, and only puts on a show of false practice. Reciting, scholarship, evening rites: all of it becomes entertainment for the crowd. There is no love in him, no firm faith in the mind. He speaks Brahman-knowledge with his tongue, but watch his conduct and the eyes find no rest. They puff up false grandeur. They take worship for themselves. Tuka says: become small. Then ask for the true treasure, and receive it.
What it means
Tukaram contrasts two ways of approaching the sweetness of God. The ant becomes small and so can eat the sugar; the elephant is too big to gather scattered grains and can only stand there weeping. He turns the same lens on the religious performer who takes the robe of a holy man or renunciant: the recitation, the learning, the evening prayers are all staged for an audience, with no love and no settled faith behind them. Brahman-knowledge on such a tongue is hollow, because the conduct contradicts the words; worst of all, the performer inflates his own grandeur and ends up accepting worship meant for God. The remedy, and the warning to examine oneself, is to become small like the ant and ask humbly for the real treasure rather than display a counterfeit.
Worldly Metaphors
Poems using images from games, occupations, and daily life as spiritual teaching.
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