Social criticism, the quarrel of pride
Original Marathi from the Tukaram Gatha · About Sant Tukaram
मराठी मूळ
हें ही ऐसें तें ही ऐसें । उभय पिसें अविचार ॥1॥
अभिमानाचे ठेलाठेलीं । मधीं जाली हिंपुष्टी ॥ध्रु.॥
धीरा शांती ठाव नुरे । हा चि उरे आबाळ्या ॥2॥
कौतुक हें पाहे तुका । कढतां लोकां अधनि ॥3॥
Tukaram Gatha (Marathi Wikisource)
English Translation
This is like that and that is like this. Both sides are mad with senselessness. In the pushing and shoving of pride, distress has arisen in the middle. Neither patience nor peace finds any place. Only commotion remains. Says Tuka, he watches this spectacle as the people churn in their misery.
We ask forgiveness for any inaccuracies in rendering Tukaram ji’s original Marathi.
In Plain Words
This one is like this, that one is like that; both are mad and senseless. In the pushing and shoving of pride, distress springs up in the middle. Patience finds no place, peace finds no place; only uproar is left. Tuka says: he watches this show, while the people churn in their own ruin.
What it means
Tukaram describes a fight in which both sides are equally foolish. Each is sure it is right, and the collision of their prides produces only suffering for everyone caught between them. Where ego runs the contest, patience and peace have nowhere to stand, and all that remains is noise and turmoil. Tuka watches it as a sad spectacle: the people grind themselves down in their own misery. The poem is pointed at the pattern of prideful quarreling itself, the impulse in any of us to win, not at one party over the other; both are warned.
Social Criticism
Rebuke of hypocrisy, caste pride, false teachers, greed, and religious pretence.
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