Social criticism, the body wasted on pride
Original Marathi from the Tukaram Gatha · About Sant Tukaram
मराठी मूळ
देवें दिला देह भजना गोमटा । तों या जाला भांटा बाधिकेच्या ॥1॥
ताठोनियां मान राहिली वरती । अहंकारा हातीं लवों नल्हे ॥ध्रु.॥
दास ह्मणावया न वळे रसना । सइरवचना बासे गळा ॥2॥
तुका ह्मणे कोठें ठेवावा विटाळ । स्नानें नीर्मळ व्हावयासी ॥3॥
Tukaram Gatha (Marathi Wikisource)
English Translation
God gave this body for beautiful worship, but it has become a vessel for vice. The neck has stiffened with pride and will not bow to the grip of ego. The tongue will not call itself a servant but instead sings the praises of flattery. Says Tuka, where should this impurity be placed? One must bathe to become pure.
We ask forgiveness for any inaccuracies in rendering Tukaram ji’s original Marathi.
In Plain Words
God gave this body, handsome, for worship; instead it has become a vessel for vice. The neck has stiffened upward with pride and will not bend in the grip of ego. The tongue will not call itself a servant; it sits in the throat singing flattery. Tuka says: where is this defilement to be put down? One must bathe to come clean.
What it means
Tukaram laments that a body meant for worshipping God has been turned to bad use. The neck has gone rigid: pride holds the head up so high it cannot bow, and ego keeps its grip. The tongue, which should name itself God's servant, instead flatters and praises the wrong things. He asks where such defilement could even be set down, and answers that it takes a washing to be made clean. The poem points the rebuke at the patterns of pride and flattery, and at the need to cleanse them in oneself, not at scorn for any particular person.
Social Criticism
Rebuke of hypocrisy, caste pride, false teachers, greed, and religious pretence.
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