Social criticism, the divided heart
Original Marathi from the Tukaram Gatha · About Sant Tukaram
मराठी मूळ
उरा लावी उर आळंगितां कांता । संतासी भेटतां अंग चोरी ॥1॥
अतीत देखोनि होय पाठमोरा । व्याहएासी सामोरा जाय वेगीं ॥ध्रु.॥
द्विजा नमस्कारा मनीं भाव कैचा । तुकानचे दासीचा लेंक होय ॥2॥
तुका ह्मणे तुह्मी क्रोधासी न यावें । स्वभावा करावें काय कोणीं ॥3॥
Tukaram Gatha (Marathi Wikisource)
English Translation
He embraces his wife chest to chest, but when meeting a saint he shrinks away. Seeing a holy wanderer, he turns his back, yet he rushes to greet his in-laws. He bows to a brahmin without any feeling in his mind, yet he becomes a slave to his mistress's child. Says Tuka, do not be angry with such people. What can anyone do against their ingrained nature?.
We ask forgiveness for any inaccuracies in rendering Tukaram ji’s original Marathi.
In Plain Words
He holds his wife chest to chest in embrace, but when a saint comes near he shrinks away. Seeing a holy wanderer, he turns his back; yet he hurries to greet his in-laws. He bows to a brahmin with no feeling in his mind, but becomes a slave to his mistress's child. Tuka says: do not be angry with such people. What can anyone do against an ingrained nature?
What it means
Tukaram catalogs a man whose warmth and reverence are all spent in the wrong direction: tenderness for the wife and in-laws, cold avoidance of saints and wanderers, an empty bow to the brahmin while he serves a mistress's household with real devotion. The point is not the particular people but the misdirection itself, a heart fully capable of love that simply never turns toward the holy. The closing turn is striking: do not be angry, Tukaram says, because this is svabhava, deep-grained habit, and anger will not move it. He names the pattern and then, instead of contempt, asks for a clear-eyed sorrow at how fixed such a nature can become.
Social Criticism
Rebuke of hypocrisy, caste pride, false teachers, greed, and religious pretence.
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