Social criticism, as seed so fruit
Original Marathi from the Tukaram Gatha · About Sant Tukaram
मराठी मूळ
झंवविली महारें । त्याची व्याली असे पोरें ॥1॥
करी संताचा मत्सर । कोपें उभारोनि कर ॥ध्रु.॥
बीज तैसें फळ । वरी आलें अमंगळ ॥2॥
तुका ह्मणे ठावें । ऐसें जालें अनुभवें॥3॥
Tukaram Gatha (Marathi Wikisource)
English Translation
One fathered by a lowly person bears fruit according to that seed. He harbors envy toward the saints and raises his fist in anger. As the seed, so the fruit; what grows from it is inauspicious. Says Tuka, this is known and proven by experience.
We ask forgiveness for any inaccuracies in rendering Tukaram ji’s original Marathi.
In Plain Words
He is the offspring of a base begetting, and the fruit follows the seed. He hates the saints, and raises his fist in anger. As the seed, so the fruit; what comes of it is foul. Tuka says: I know this; experience has made it plain.
What it means
Tukaram is pointing at a pattern, not a person, when he ties what someone produces to the root it grew from. The man he describes hates the saints and lifts his fist against them, and Tukaram reads that hatred as the natural fruit of a corrupt source. The claim is harsh: vile conduct comes from a vile beginning, as fruit comes from seed. He grounds it not in theory but in what he says he has watched happen. The mirror for the listener is to ask what kind of fruit one's own anger toward holy people is bearing.
Social Criticism
Rebuke of hypocrisy, caste pride, false teachers, greed, and religious pretence.
More in this theme →