Social criticism, ignore the slanderers
Original Marathi from the Tukaram Gatha · About Sant Tukaram
मराठी मूळ
भुंकती तीं द्यावीं भुंकों । आपण त्यांचें नये शिकों ॥१॥
भाविकांनीं दुर्जनाचें । मानूं नये कांहीं साचें ॥ध्रु.॥
होइल तैसें बळ । फजीत करावे ते खळ ॥२॥
तुका म्हणे त्यांचें । पाप नाहीं ताडणाचें ॥३॥
Tukaram Gatha (Marathi Wikisource)
English Translation
Let those who bark keep barking; one should never learn their ways. The faithful must never take the words of the wicked as truth. With whatever strength you possess, expose and humiliate those scoundrels. Says Tuka, there is no sin in punishing such people.
We ask forgiveness for any inaccuracies in rendering Tukaram ji’s original Marathi.
In Plain Words
Let those who bark keep barking. Do not learn their ways. The faithful must never take the words of the wicked as true. With whatever strength you have, expose and shame the scoundrels. Tuka says: there is no sin in punishing such people.
What it means
Tukaram is steeling the devotee against slander. He compares hostile detractors to barking dogs: let them bark, but do not pick up their habits, and never accept the wicked man's word as truth. Then he sharpens it into a charge to act, to expose and shame those who corrupt others, with whatever strength you have. His blunt closing line, that there is no sin in punishing such people, is aimed at the harm itself and at the duty to protect the faithful from it, not at hatred of any soul. The fight is against the pattern of deceit, not against the person as a person.
Social Criticism
Rebuke of hypocrisy, caste pride, false teachers, greed, and religious pretence.
More in this theme →