Moral warning, the greedy judge
Original Marathi from the Tukaram Gatha · About Sant Tukaram
मराठी मूळ
लोभावरी ठेवुनि हेत । करी असत्य न्याय नीत॥1॥
त्याच्या पूर्वजां पतन । नरकीं किडे होती जाण ॥ध्रु.॥
कोटिगोहत्यापातक। त्यासी घडेल निष्टंक ॥2॥
मासां श्रवे जे सुंदरा । पाजी विटाळ पितरां ॥3॥
तुका ह्मणे ऐसियासी । यम गांजील सायासी ॥4॥
Tukaram Gatha (Marathi Wikisource)
English Translation
He who sets his mind on greed and renders false judgments as though they were fair, know that his ancestors fall into hell and become worms there. The sin of a million cow-slaughters clings to him without a doubt. The one who listens to the praises of a wicked beauty feeds pollution to his forefathers. Says Tuka, Yama will torment such a person with great severity.
We ask forgiveness for any inaccuracies in rendering Tukaram ji’s original Marathi.
In Plain Words
The man who fixes his heart on greed and twists false rulings to look like fair justice, know this: his ancestors fall, and become worms in hell. The sin of a million cow-slaughters fastens on him beyond all doubt. He who delights in the praises of a wicked beauty feeds defilement to his forefathers. Tuka says: Yama will torment such a man with hard labor.
What it means
Tukaram is naming a specific corruption, the official or judge who serves his own greed and dresses injustice up as fairness. He drives home the weight of it with the harshest measures his world knew: ancestors dragged down to become worms, the guilt of a million cow-slaughters, the pollution of one's own forefathers. The warning is aimed at the pattern of selling justice for gain, not at any one person; it asks the listener to examine where greed is quietly bending his own sense of right. The closing line places the reckoning with Yama, the lord of death's justice, where no bribe reaches.
The Moral Ideal
Purity, sincerity, truthfulness, humility, peacefulness, and service.
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