Social criticism, the scorner of Hari
Original Marathi from the Tukaram Gatha · About Sant Tukaram
मराठी मूळ
अमंगळ वाणी । नये ऐकों ते कानीं ॥१॥
जो हे दूषी हरिची कथा । त्यासि क्षयरोगव्यथा ॥ध्रु.॥
याति वर्ण श्रेष्ठ । परि तो चांडाळ पापिष्ठ ॥२॥
तुका म्हणे पाप । माय नावडे ज्या बाप ॥३॥
वाचे नुच्चारी गोविंदा । सदा करी परनिंदा ॥ध्रु.॥
कैसा निरयगांवा । जाऊं न पवे विसावा ॥२॥
तुका म्हणे दंड । कैसा न पवे तो लंड ॥३॥
Tukaram Gatha (Marathi Wikisource)
English Translation
Inauspicious speech should never be allowed to enter the ears. One who disparages the story of Hari will suffer the agony of wasting disease. Even if born in the highest caste, such a person is a wretched sinner. Says Tuka, sin belongs to the one who has no love for mother and father. One whose tongue never utters the name of Govinda but always indulges in slandering others: such a person walks straight toward the city of hell and finds no rest. Says Tuka, how will such a wretch escape punishment?.
We ask forgiveness for any inaccuracies in rendering Tukaram ji’s original Marathi.
In Plain Words
Foul speech should not be let into the ears. The one who reviles the story of Hari, his is the agony of wasting disease. Born in the highest caste, he is still a vile sinner. Tuka says: sin belongs to the one who has no love for his mother and father. The tongue that never says Govinda, that always slanders others, how will it reach any rest in the city of hell it is bound for? Tuka says: how will that scoundrel escape his punishment?
What it means
Tukaram tells the listener to keep foul speech out of the ears, then names the worst kind: reviling the story of Hari. He measures a person not by birth but by conduct; even the highest caste does not save the one who mocks the holy story or has no love for mother and father, who remains a sinner regardless. He sets the slanderer beside the one who never lets Govinda's name cross his tongue and instead spends it tearing others down. The warning is pointed at that pattern of contempt and slander itself: it leads only toward a place of no rest, and no punishment is escaped by it. Read it as a mirror for one's own speech, not as a license to despise the speaker.
The Moral Ideal
Purity, sincerity, truthfulness, humility, peacefulness, and service.
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