Social criticism, the hollow teacher
Original Marathi from the Tukaram Gatha · About Sant Tukaram
मराठी मूळ
सेंकीं हें ना तेंसें जालें । बोलणें तितुकें वांयां गेलें॥1॥
स्वयें आपण चि रिता । रडे पुढिलांच्या हिता ॥ध्रु.॥
सुखसागरीं नेघे वस्ती । अंगीं ज्ञानपणाची मस्ती ॥2॥
तुका ह्मणे गाढव लेखा । जेथें भेटेल तेथें ठोका ॥3॥
Tukaram Gatha (Marathi Wikisource)
English Translation
Neither this nor that has been accomplished. All the talk has gone to waste. He himself is empty within, yet he weeps for the welfare of others. He will not dwell in the ocean of bliss, for he is drunk on the pride of his own supposed knowledge. Says Tuka, count such a one as a donkey, and strike him wherever you find him.
We ask forgiveness for any inaccuracies in rendering Tukaram ji’s original Marathi.
In Plain Words
Neither this nor that has come of it; all his talk has gone to waste. He himself is empty inside, yet he weeps over the good of other people. He will not make his home in the ocean of bliss, because he is drunk on the pride of his own learning. Tuka says: reckon such a one a donkey, and wherever you meet him, give him a knock.
What it means
Tukaram goes after the empty man who instructs others while having nothing within. All his words come to nothing because they spring from no inner attainment, yet he poses as one weeping for everyone else's welfare. The reason he stays dry is named plainly: pride in his own supposed knowledge keeps him from ever entering the ocean of bliss. The closing line is deliberately rough, count him a donkey and knock him wherever you find him, but the target is the pattern of hollow, self-intoxicated teaching, not a person to be despised. It is a warning to examine whether one's own learning has become a barrier rather than a door.
Social Criticism
Rebuke of hypocrisy, caste pride, false teachers, greed, and religious pretence.
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