Social criticism, the religion that is sold
Original Marathi from the Tukaram Gatha · About Sant Tukaram
मराठी मूळ
घेऊं नये तैसें दान । ज्याचें धन अभिळाषी ॥1॥
तो ही येथें कामा नये । नकान जाय ह्मणोनि ॥ध्रु.॥
विकी स्नानसंध्या जप । करी तप पुढिलांचें ॥2॥
तुका ह्मणे दांभिक तो । नकान जातो स्वइच्छा ॥3॥
Tukaram Gatha (Marathi Wikisource)
English Translation
Do not accept improper gifts from one who covets your wealth. Such a person is of no use here either; he goes to hell because of it. He sells his prayers, his rituals, and his austerities, performing them for others' benefit alone. Says Tuka, that hypocrite goes to hell of his own free will.
We ask forgiveness for any inaccuracies in rendering Tukaram ji’s original Marathi.
In Plain Words
Do not take such a gift, given by one who covets your wealth. He too is of no use here; he goes to hell because of it. He sells his bathing and his prayers and his chanting; he does his austerities for someone else's sake. Tuka says: that hypocrite goes to hell of his own free will.
What it means
Tukaram warns against a tangled exchange: a gift offered by someone who is really after your wealth, which corrupts both the giver and the taker. He then turns on the man who has made his religion a trade, selling his ritual bath, his prayers, his chanting, performing his austerities not for God but on commission for others. The verse names this hypocrisy as self-chosen ruin: he goes to hell of his own free will, because no one forced him to make devotion a business. The point lands on motive over form. Outwardly the rites are correct; inwardly they are for sale, and that hollow inside is the fall. It invites the listener to ask for whose sake their own practice is done.
Social Criticism
Rebuke of hypocrisy, caste pride, false teachers, greed, and religious pretence.
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