राम
गाथा 4272Social Criticism

Social criticism, the worldly hypocrite

Original Marathi from the Tukaram Gatha · About Sant Tukaram

मराठी मूळ

4274. पर्वकाळीं धर्म न करी नासरी । खर्ची राजद्वारीं द्रव्यरासी ॥1॥

सोइ†याची करी पाहुणेर बरा । कांडवी ठोंबरा संतांलागीं ॥ध्रु.॥

बाइलेचीं सर्व आवडीनें पोसी । मातापितरांसी दवडोनी ॥2॥

श्राद्धीं कष्टी होय सांगतां ब्राह्मण । गोवार मागून सावडीतो ॥3॥

नेतो पानें फुलें वेश्येला उदंड । ब्राह्मणासी खांड नेदी एक ॥4॥

हातें मो†या शोधी कष्ट करी नाना । देवाच्या पूजना कांटाळतो ॥5॥

सारा वेळ धंदा करितां श्रमेना । साधूच्या दर्शना जातां कुंथे ॥6॥

हरिच्या कीर्तनीं गुंगायासि लागे । येरवीं तो जागे उगला चि ॥7॥

पुराणीं बैसतां नाहीं रिकामटी । खेळतो सोंगटी अहोरात्रीं ॥8॥

देवाच्या विभुती न पाहे सर्वथा । करी पानवथा नेत्रभिक्षा ॥9॥

गाईला देखोनी बदबदां मारी । घोडएाची चाकरी गोड लागे ॥10॥

ब्राह्मणाचें तीर्थ घेतां त्रास मोटा । प्रेमें घेतो घोंटा घटघटां ॥11॥

तुका ह्मणे ऐसे प्रपंचीं गुंतले । जन्मोनि मुकले विठोबासी ॥12॥

Tukaram Gatha (Marathi Wikisource)

English Translation

He does no charity on holy days, but spends heaps of wealth at the royal court. He feasts his friends lavishly but turns away the saints with harsh words. He lovingly maintains his wife's relatives but drives away his own parents. He grumbles when told to feed brahmins at the ancestral rites. He brings abundant flowers and gifts to the courtesan but will not give a morsel of sugar to a brahmin. He labors hard searching for pearls by hand but is disgusted by the worship of God. He toils all day in business without tiring but groans at the thought of visiting a saint. At Hari's kirtan he falls asleep, though otherwise he stays wide awake. He says he has no free time to sit for a discourse, yet plays dice day and night. He never visits holy places of God but feasts his eyes at taverns. He beats the cow on sight but delights in grooming his horse. He finds it a great burden to accept holy water from a brahmin but gulps down liquor with relish. Says Tuka, such people, entangled in worldly life, are born only to lose Vitthoba.

We ask forgiveness for any inaccuracies in rendering Tukaram ji’s original Marathi.

In Plain Words

On the holy day he gives no charity, but at the king's court he spends heaps of money. He feasts his cronies well, but serves the saints coarse gruel. He keeps his wife's relatives in comfort and drives his own parents away. At the ancestral rites he grumbles when told to feed a brahmin. He carries armfuls of flowers and gifts to the courtesan, but will not give a brahmin one lump of sugar. He digs for pearls with his hands and takes endless trouble, but the worship of God disgusts him. He works at business all day and never tires, but groans at the thought of going to see a holy man. At Hari's kirtan he grows drowsy; everywhere else he stays wide awake. He says he has no spare time to sit at a scripture reading, yet he plays dice day and night. He never looks on the holy sights of God, but feasts his eyes at the tavern. He sees a cow and beats it hard, but loves to groom his horse. Taking holy water from a brahmin is a great burden to him, but he gulps down liquor with relish. Tuka says: such people, tangled in worldly life, are born only to lose Vitthoba.

What it means

This is a portrait of the man whose appetites and his devotions are exactly reversed. Tukaram lays the contradictions side by side: lavish at court but stingy with saints, generous to the courtesan but withholding from the brahmin, tireless at business but exhausted at the threshold of worship, wide awake everywhere except at kirtan. Each pairing exposes where the heart truly leans; the man has energy and money in abundance, just never for God. The point is not to despise this man but to recognize the pattern in oneself, the way we always find time, effort, and tenderness for what we actually want. Tukaram names the cost at the end: a whole human birth spent this way is a life that lets Vitthal slip away.

समाज टीका

Social Criticism

Rebuke of hypocrisy, caste pride, false teachers, greed, and religious pretence.

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