Social criticism, the begging Naths
Original Marathi from the Tukaram Gatha · About Sant Tukaram
मराठी मूळ
कान फाडूनियां मुद्रा तें घालिती । नाथ म्हणविती जगामाजी ॥1॥
घालोनियां फेरा मागती द्रव्यासी । परि शंकरासी नोळखती ॥2॥
पोट भरावया शिकती उपाय । तुका ह्मणे जाय नर्क लोका ॥3॥
Tukaram Gatha (Marathi Wikisource)
English Translation
They split their ears and wear earrings, calling themselves Naths before the world. Going around on begging rounds, they ask for money, yet they do not truly know Shankara. They learn tricks only to fill their bellies. Says Tuka, such ones go to hell.
We ask forgiveness for any inaccuracies in rendering Tukaram ji’s original Marathi.
In Plain Words
They split their ears and put in the earrings, and call themselves Naths before the world. They go on their rounds and beg for money, yet they do not truly know Shankara. They learn these tricks only to fill their bellies. Tuka says: such ones go to the world of hell.
What it means
Tukaram turns to the Nath ascetics, marked by the split ears and the ring, who carry the name of a great tradition. His charge is that the name and the rite have become a livelihood: they go round begging coins while the God the order is built on, Shankara, remains unknown to them. The point is that the discipline has emptied into technique, learned only to feed the belly. He lands the cost bluntly, and the question for the reader is whether one's own practice has quietly become a means of getting rather than a real seeking of God.
Social Criticism
Rebuke of hypocrisy, caste pride, false teachers, greed, and religious pretence.
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