Social criticism, the closing reckoning
Original Marathi from the Tukaram Gatha · About Sant Tukaram
मराठी मूळ
हें तों टाळाटाळीं । परि भोवताहे कळी ॥1॥
बरें नव्हेल शेवटीं । भय असों द्यावें पोटीं ॥ध्रु.॥
मुरगािळला कान । समांडिलें समाधान ॥2॥
धन्य ह्मणे आतां । येथें नुधवा माथां॥3॥
अबोलणा तुका । ऐसें कांहीं लेखूं नका ॥4॥
Tukaram Gatha (Marathi Wikisource)
English Translation
This is all evasion, but the quarrel is circling closer. The end will not be pleasant. Keep a healthy fear within. The ear has been twisted, and contentment has been forced into place. Says Tuka, do not now raise your head here. My silence should not be taken as nothing.
We ask forgiveness for any inaccuracies in rendering Tukaram ji’s original Marathi.
In Plain Words
This is all dodging and delay. But the quarrel is circling closer. It will not end well. Keep some fear in your belly. The ear has been twisted. Quiet has been forced into place. He says, fine, that is enough now; do not raise your head here again. Tuka says: do not count my silence as nothing.
What it means
Tukaram warns someone who keeps stalling and evading instead of facing a reckoning that is drawing near. The trouble is not going away; it circles closer, and the wise response is to keep a healthy fear inside rather than swagger. He points to a hard correction already delivered, an ear twisted, a forced silence, and tells the man to keep his head down and not provoke it again. The sting is in the last line: a saint's silence is not weakness or consent, and it should not be mistaken for nothing. Read it against the part of ourselves that mistakes another's patience for permission.
Social Criticism
Rebuke of hypocrisy, caste pride, false teachers, greed, and religious pretence.
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