Social criticism, the false devotee
Original Marathi from the Tukaram Gatha · About Sant Tukaram
मराठी मूळ
पापिया चांडाळा हरिकथा नावडे । विषयालागीं आवडें गाणें त्याला ॥1॥
ब्राह्मणा दक्षणा देतां रडे रुका । विषयालागीं फुका लुटीतसे ॥ध्रु.॥
वीतभरि लंगोटी नेदी अतीताला । खीरम्या देतो शाला भोरप्यासी ॥2॥
तुका ह्मणे त्याच्या थुंका तोंडावरि । जातो यमपुरी भोगावया ॥3॥
Tukaram Gatha (Marathi Wikisource)
English Translation
The wicked wrongdoer takes no pleasure in hearing the story of Hari but loves songs devoted to sense pleasures. He weeps at paying a coin as a gift to a Brahmin but freely squanders his wealth on sensory indulgence. He will not give even a small loincloth to a holy guest but lavishes gifts upon sycophants. Says Tuka, spit upon his face. He is bound for the realm of Yama.
We ask forgiveness for any inaccuracies in rendering Tukaram ji’s original Marathi.
In Plain Words
The wicked, low man takes no joy in the story of Hari, but he loves songs about the pleasures of the senses. Asked to give one coin to a Brahmin, he weeps over it; on his cravings he pours out money for nothing. He will not give a hand's width of loincloth to a holy wanderer, but he gives shawls to flatterers and frauds. Tuka says: spit on his face. He goes to the city of Yama to suffer for it.
What it means
Tukaram draws the portrait of a man whose spending exposes his real religion. He hoards when devotion or charity is asked and squanders freely on his appetites and on the flatterers who feed his vanity, refusing even a scrap to a genuine holy guest. The harsh line, spit on his face, is aimed at the pattern of hypocrisy, the heart that values sensual indulgence over Hari and flatterers over the poor, and warns where that pattern ends. Read against oneself, it is a question about where one's own money and pleasure actually go.
Social Criticism
Rebuke of hypocrisy, caste pride, false teachers, greed, and religious pretence.
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