Social criticism, the hollow renunciant
Original Marathi from the Tukaram Gatha · About Sant Tukaram
मराठी मूळ
होऊनि संन्यासी भगवीं लुगडीं । वासना न सोडी विषयांची ॥1॥
निंदिती कदान्न इिच्छती देवान्न । पाहाताती मान आदराचा ॥2॥
तुका ह्मणे ऐसें दांभिक भजन । तया जनादनन भेटे केवीं ॥3॥
Tukaram Gatha (Marathi Wikisource)
English Translation
Having become a renunciant and wearing ochre robes, he still does not abandon the craving for sense pleasures. He condemns plain food but craves for fine dishes. He watches for marks of honor and attention. Says Tuka, such hypocritical devotion will never lead to a meeting with Janardana.
We ask forgiveness for any inaccuracies in rendering Tukaram ji’s original Marathi.
In Plain Words
He has become a renunciant and wears the ochre robe, yet he has not let go of his craving for the senses. He scorns plain food but longs for fine dishes. He keeps watch for marks of honor and respect. Tuka says: such hypocritical worship; how could it ever bring him to a meeting with Janardana?
What it means
Tukaram exposes the gap between the renunciant's robe and his unchanged appetite. The ochre cloth announces that the man has given up the world, but his craving for fine food and his hunger for honor show he has only relocated his desires, not dropped them. The point is not the robe but the self-display: outward renunciation can become one more way to be admired. He lands it on the cost, that such pretended worship can never reach God, and the reader is left to test whether their own giving-up is real or a costume.
Social Criticism
Rebuke of hypocrisy, caste pride, false teachers, greed, and religious pretence.
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