Social criticism, priests who drop the Name
Original Marathi from the Tukaram Gatha · About Sant Tukaram
मराठी मूळ
ऐसें कलियुगाच्या मुळें । जालें धर्माचें वाटोळें ॥1॥
सांडुनियां रामराम । ब्राह्मण ह्मणती दोमदोष ॥ध्रु.॥
शिवों नये तीं निळीं । वस्त्रें पांघरती काळीं ॥2॥
तुका ह्मणे वृित्त । सांडुनि गदा मागत जाती ॥3॥
Tukaram Gatha (Marathi Wikisource)
English Translation
In this Kali Yuga, righteousness has been utterly destroyed. Abandoning the name of Rama, the brahmins chant impure formulas. They shun those they deem beneath them, yet they themselves wear dark and black garments. Says Tuka, they have abandoned their true calling and go begging with clubs in hand.
We ask forgiveness for any inaccuracies in rendering Tukaram ji’s original Marathi.
In Plain Words
Because of this Kali Yuga, dharma has been wrecked. The brahmins have dropped Rama, Rama from their lips and chant impure formulas instead. They will not touch those they think beneath them, yet they themselves go about wrapped in dark, black cloth. Tuka says: they have abandoned their own true calling, and now they go begging with clubs in their hands.
What it means
Tukaram turns the criticism on the brahmins who have left their proper work. Instead of the Name of Rama, they recite tainted formulas; they keep up rules of untouchability against others while wearing the dark garb that marks the very practices they should shun. The bite is in the last line: having abandoned the calling that was theirs, they end up wandering as armed beggars. He blames the age, Kali Yuga, for the collapse of dharma, but the failure he points to is concrete. The thing to examine is the hollowing out of a sacred vocation: keeping the outward marks of purity while letting go of the Name that gave the calling its meaning.
Social Criticism
Rebuke of hypocrisy, caste pride, false teachers, greed, and religious pretence.
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