Social criticism, the lawlessness of the age
Original Marathi from the Tukaram Gatha · About Sant Tukaram
मराठी मूळ
कलयुगामाजी थोर जालें बंड । नष्ट लोक लंड जाले फार ॥1॥
न धरिती सोय न पुसती कोणा । येतें जैसें मना तैसें चाले ॥ध्रु.॥
सज्जनाचा वारा टेकों नेदी द्वारा । ऐसिया पामरा तारी कोण ॥2॥
विश्वास तयाचा बैसेना कोठें ही । स्तुति निंदा पाहीं जीवीं धरी ॥3॥
तुका ह्मणे कैसें केलें नारायणें । जाणावें हें कोणें तयाविण ॥4॥
Tukaram Gatha (Marathi Wikisource)
English Translation
In the Kali Yuga, great disorder has arisen. Wicked and brazen people have multiplied. They follow no guidance and ask no one; they act on whatever enters their minds. They will not let the breeze of a good person touch their door; who can save such wretches? Trust cannot be placed in them anywhere; they cherish both praise and blame equally. Says Tuka, how strange is this creation of Narayana. Who but He can understand it?.
We ask forgiveness for any inaccuracies in rendering Tukaram ji’s original Marathi.
In Plain Words
In the Kali age a great disorder has risen up. Wicked and brazen people have grown many. They keep to no right way and ask no one; whatever comes into the mind, that is how they go. They will not let the breeze of a good man touch their door. Who can carry such wretches across? No trust will settle on them anywhere; they hold praise and blame as one and the same in their hearts. Tuka says: what a thing Narayana has made. Who but he could understand it?
What it means
Tukaram is lamenting the moral chaos he sees in the present age. He describes people grown wicked and shameless in great numbers, who follow no settled way and consult no one, acting only on whatever impulse rises in the mind. They will not even let the breeze of a good person reach their door, shutting out the one influence that might save them; trust cannot rest on them, and they treat praise and blame as equal, indifferent to either. The point lands on self-examination: these are not distant monsters but the patterns of a heart closed to good company and ungoverned by any inner standard. Tukaram hands the riddle back to God, wondering how such a creation came to be and admitting that only Narayana can understand it.
Social Criticism
Rebuke of hypocrisy, caste pride, false teachers, greed, and religious pretence.
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