Social criticism, the show of piety
Original Marathi from the Tukaram Gatha · About Sant Tukaram
मराठी मूळ
जपाचें निमित्त झोपेचा पसरु । देहाचा विसरू पाडूनियां॥1॥
ऐसीं तीं भजनें अमंगळवाणी । सोंगसंपादणी बहुरूप्याची ॥ध्रु.॥
सेवेविशीं केलें लोभाचिये आसे । तया कोठें असे उरला देव ॥2॥
तुका ह्मणे मानदंभ जया चित्तीं । तयाची फजीती करूं आह्मी ॥3॥
Tukaram Gatha (Marathi Wikisource)
English Translation
Under the pretense of chanting, he sprawls out in sleep, forgetting the body entirely. Such devotions are impure, mere costume changes of a traveling performer. Service done out of greed has no God remaining in it. Says Tuka, those whose chittas are filled with vanity and pretense, I shall expose them.
We ask forgiveness for any inaccuracies in rendering Tukaram ji’s original Marathi.
In Plain Words
Under the excuse of chanting, he sprawls out in sleep, forgetting the body entirely. Such devotions are foul. They are the costume-changes of a traveling impersonator. Service done out of greed has no God left in it. Tuka says: those whose minds are full of vanity and pretense, we will expose.
What it means
Tukaram is naming a pattern, not a person: outward acts of piety that are really cover for self-indulgence. The man who dozes off and calls it chanting has made worship a disguise, like a quick-change performer who puts on holy roles for an audience. The sharp claim follows: when service is driven by greed, God has already left it, however devout it looks. The point of self-examination is the same vanity and pretense he says he will expose; the test is whether our own worship is for God or for the watching crowd.
Social Criticism
Rebuke of hypocrisy, caste pride, false teachers, greed, and religious pretence.
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