Social criticism, the teaching not received
Original Marathi from the Tukaram Gatha · About Sant Tukaram
मराठी मूळ
सामावे कारण । नाहीं सोसत धरणें ॥1॥
लादी थींके लाजिरवाणी । हीनकमाईची घाणी ॥ध्रु.॥
पुष्प जवळी नाका। दुगपधीच्या नांवें थुंका ॥2॥
तुका ह्मणे किती । उपदेशहीन जाती॥3॥
Tukaram Gatha (Marathi Wikisource)
English Translation
The ground cannot hold what is poured upon it endlessly. A poorly built floor oozes and shames itself with the stench of low earning. A flower held to the nose brings pleasure, yet one spits at the mention of foul milk. Says Tuka, how many generations pass without receiving any teaching?.
We ask forgiveness for any inaccuracies in rendering Tukaram ji’s original Marathi.
In Plain Words
The ground cannot hold what is poured on it without end. A badly built floor oozes and shames itself with the stench of cheap work. A flower held to the nose gives pleasure, but at the mention of spoiled milk one spits. Tuka says: how many generations pass with no teaching given to them?
What it means
Tukaram looks at what becomes of people left without true teaching. Like overloaded ground that cannot absorb more, or a shoddy floor that seeps and stinks, an untaught life leaks out its own meanness and shames itself. He sets two responses side by side: a flower draws us close, foul milk makes us recoil, and so a life is met with either welcome or disgust depending on what it has become. The closing line names the real loss: whole generations pass without ever receiving real instruction. The grief is for the neglect, not contempt for those it failed.
Social Criticism
Rebuke of hypocrisy, caste pride, false teachers, greed, and religious pretence.
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