Social criticism, the half-hearted pilgrim
Original Marathi from the Tukaram Gatha · About Sant Tukaram
मराठी मूळ
इंिद्रयाचें पुरे कोड । तें चि गोड पुढती ही ॥1॥
जावें म्हणती पंढरपुरा । हा चि बरा संसार ॥ध्रु.॥
बैसलें तें मनामुळीं । सुख डोळीं देखिलें ॥2॥
तुका ह्मणे देती कान । वाणावाण निवडूनी ॥3॥
Tukaram Gatha (Marathi Wikisource)
English Translation
The cravings of the senses are satisfied, yet the same pleasures seem sweet again. People say they will go to Pandharpur, but they find this worldly life more agreeable. What has settled at the root of the mind is what the eyes see as happiness. Says Tuka, they lend their ears selectively, sorting between what they want and what they do not.
We ask forgiveness for any inaccuracies in rendering Tukaram ji’s original Marathi.
In Plain Words
The senses get their fill, and the same pleasures look sweet all over again. People say they will go to Pandharpur, yet they find this worldly life more to their liking. What has settled deep in the mind is what the eyes call happiness. Tuka says: they lend their ears only where they please, picking and choosing what they want to hear.
What it means
Tukaram watches the trap of repeated craving: the senses are satisfied, and at once the same pleasures look sweet again, so satisfaction never sticks. People talk piously about going to Pandharpur, but what they really prefer is the worldly life they already have. The point he lands is about the heart, not the lips: whatever has lodged at the root of the mind is what a person will count as happiness and chase with the eyes. Even their listening is selective, taking in only what flatters the desire already sitting inside, which is worth turning back on oneself rather than at the neighbor.
Social Criticism
Rebuke of hypocrisy, caste pride, false teachers, greed, and religious pretence.
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