Social criticism, the false guru
Original Marathi from the Tukaram Gatha · About Sant Tukaram
मराठी मूळ
आमचे गोसावी अयाचितवृत्ती । करवी शिष्याहातीं उपदेश ॥१॥
दगडाची नाव आधींच ते जड । ते काय दगड तारूं जाणे ॥१॥
तुका म्हणे वेष विटंबिला त्यांनी । सोंगसंपादणी करिती परी॥३॥
Tukaram Gatha (Marathi Wikisource)
English Translation
Our so-called masters live on unsolicited charity and have their disciples do the teaching on their behalf. A boat made of stone is heavy from the start; how can a stone boat carry anyone across? Says Tuka, they have disgraced the very garb of renunciation, performing only the outward show of holiness.
We ask forgiveness for any inaccuracies in rendering Tukaram ji’s original Marathi.
In Plain Words
Our so-called holy men live on charity they pretend not to seek, and they make their own disciples do the teaching for them. A boat made of stone is heavy from the start; how can a stone boat carry anyone across? Tuka says: they have disgraced the very garb they wear, keeping up nothing but the costume of holiness.
What it means
Tukaram is exposing a hollow kind of guru. These figures take charity while pretending to want nothing, and they push the actual teaching onto their disciples, having not made the crossing themselves. His image is exact: a stone boat is dead weight from the start, so it cannot ferry anyone, and a guru with no inner realization cannot carry a seeker across. The point is aimed at the pattern, not at robes themselves; he says such men have shamed the renouncer's dress, turning a sacred sign into mere costume and performance. It is a call to look past the outward show to whether anything real is there.
Social Criticism
Rebuke of hypocrisy, caste pride, false teachers, greed, and religious pretence.
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