Social criticism, the man who will not listen
Original Marathi from the Tukaram Gatha · About Sant Tukaram
मराठी मूळ
किती उपदेश करावा खळासी । नावडे तयासी बरें कांहीं ॥1॥
शुद्ध हे वासना नाहीं चांडाळाची । होळी आयुष्याची केली तेणें ॥ध्रु.॥
नाहीं शुद्ध भाव नायके वचन । आपण्या आपण नाडियेलें ॥2॥
तुका ह्मणे त्यासी काय व्याली रांड । करितो बडबड रात्रदिस ॥3॥
Tukaram Gatha (Marathi Wikisource)
English Translation
How much counsel can one give to the wicked? Nothing good appeals to them. The wretch has no pure desire; he has made a bonfire of his own lifespan. He has no genuine feeling and will not heed good words; he has only ruined himself. Says Tuka, what cursed woman bore such a one? He babbles senselessly day and night.
We ask forgiveness for any inaccuracies in rendering Tukaram ji’s original Marathi.
In Plain Words
How much can you counsel a wicked man? Nothing good appeals to him. The wretch has no clean desire; he has made a bonfire of his own life. He has no true feeling and will not hear good words; he has ruined himself, by himself. Tuka says: what cursed woman gave birth to him? He babbles on, day and night.
What it means
Tukaram describes the man who cannot be reached because he refuses to be reached. No amount of counsel takes hold, since nothing good attracts him and his desires are unclean; he is burning up his own lifespan like a bonfire. He has no genuine feeling and will not listen, so the ruin is self-inflicted, not done to him by anyone else. The harsh outburst about his birth is the cry of a teacher worn down by a heart that will not turn. The warning lands on the pattern of willful deafness and the empty noise it makes, day and night, in place of real listening.
Social Criticism
Rebuke of hypocrisy, caste pride, false teachers, greed, and religious pretence.
More in this theme →