Lament, the age undone by sin
Original Marathi from the Tukaram Gatha · About Sant Tukaram
मराठी मूळ
पापाचिया मुळें । जालें सत्याचें वाटोळें ॥1॥
दोष जाले बिळवंत । नाहीं ऐसी जाली नीत ॥ध्रु.॥
मेघ पडों भीती । पिकें सांडियेली िक्षती ॥2॥
तुका ह्मणे कांहीं । वेदा वीर्य शक्ति नाहीं॥3॥
Tukaram Gatha (Marathi Wikisource)
English Translation
Because of sin, truth has been undone. Faults have become powerful, and righteousness has vanished. The rains threaten to fall destructively; the crops have been abandoned in the fields. Says Tuka, the Vedas have lost their strength and vigor.
We ask forgiveness for any inaccuracies in rendering Tukaram ji’s original Marathi.
In Plain Words
Because of sin, truth has been ruined. Faults have grown strong. Right conduct is nowhere to be found. The rains threaten to fall and destroy. The crops are left lying in the fields. Tuka says: even the Vedas have lost their strength and power.
What it means
Tukaram laments an age where wrong has overpowered right and truth itself has come undone. He paints the breakdown spreading outward: sins grow muscular, righteousness disappears, and even the land turns hostile, with ruinous rains and abandoned harvests. The closing line is the gravest, that the Vedas, the oldest source of order, have lost their potency to hold things together. The poem names the stakes of a world cut loose from dharma, where the supports people once leaned on no longer bear weight.
Worldly Life
The perplexities of action, karma, and navigating life in the world.
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