Social criticism, laziness dressed as freedom
Original Marathi from the Tukaram Gatha · About Sant Tukaram
मराठी मूळ
आधीं च आळशी । वरी गुरूचा उपदेशी ॥1॥
मग त्या कैंची आडकाठी । विधिनिषेधाची भेटी ॥ध्रु.॥
नाचरवे धर्म । न करवे विधिकर्म ॥2॥
तुका ह्मणे ते गाढव । घेती मनासवें धांव ॥3॥
Tukaram Gatha (Marathi Wikisource)
English Translation
He was lazy to begin with, and on top of that he received a guru's teaching about the formless. Now what barrier of right and wrong will restrain him? He will not practice any dharma or perform any prescribed ritual. Says Tuka, such donkeys simply run wherever the mind takes them.
We ask forgiveness for any inaccuracies in rendering Tukaram ji’s original Marathi.
In Plain Words
He was lazy from the start. On top of that, a guru taught him about the formless. So now what fence of right and wrong will hold him back? He will not practice any dharma; he will not do a single prescribed rite. Tuka says: such donkeys just run wherever the mind takes them.
What it means
Tukaram is attacking a particular misuse of high teaching, not the teaching itself. A man already lazy hears a guru speak of the formless absolute beyond rituals and rules, and seizes on it as permission to drop all discipline. With the fence of right and wrong knocked away, he abandons dharma and every prescribed observance, calling his idleness freedom. Tukaram bluntly names the result: not liberation but a donkey running after the mind's every whim. The warning, pointed at the pattern in oneself, is that hearing nondual truth before the heart is ready can become a cover for self-indulgence rather than a release from bondage.
Social Criticism
Rebuke of hypocrisy, caste pride, false teachers, greed, and religious pretence.
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