Social criticism, devotion ruined by hypocrisy
Original Marathi from the Tukaram Gatha · About Sant Tukaram
मराठी मूळ
भजन या नासिलें हेडि । दंभा लंडा आवडी ॥1॥
जेवीत ना आइता पाक । नासी ताक घुसळूनि ॥ध्रु.॥
एकाएकीं इच्छी पाठ । नेणे चाट कां जेवूं ॥2॥
तुका ह्मणे मुलाम्याचें । बंधन साचें सेवटीं ॥3॥
Tukaram Gatha (Marathi Wikisource)
English Translation
Devotion has been ruined by contempt and neglect, while love of hypocrisy flourishes. One refuses to eat the meal that is ready and spoils the buttermilk by churning it to nothing. One craves rewards without effort and does not know why one should even partake. Says Tuka, the bond of pretense will tighten in the end.
We ask forgiveness for any inaccuracies in rendering Tukaram ji’s original Marathi.
In Plain Words
Devotion has been ruined by scorn and neglect, while love of show flourishes. A man will not eat the meal already cooked, and spoils the buttermilk by churning it to nothing. He suddenly wants the reward, the dish set before him, but does not even know why he should eat. Tuka says: in the end the bond of pretense holds him fast.
What it means
Tukaram attacks the way real devotion gets pushed aside while empty display is prized. His images are homely and sharp: a man who refuses the food that is already prepared, who churns good buttermilk until nothing is left, who wants the reward without knowing the first thing about why one eats at all. The aim is at the pattern of religious pretending, the craving for the fruit without the substance. He warns that pretense is not free; it becomes a binding, a knot that tightens around the one who chose it.
Social Criticism
Rebuke of hypocrisy, caste pride, false teachers, greed, and religious pretence.
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