Social criticism, prayer for distance
Original Marathi from the Tukaram Gatha · About Sant Tukaram
मराठी मूळ
अवघ्या पापें घडला एक । उपासक शक्तीचा ॥1॥
त्याचा विटाळ नको अंगा । पांडुरंगा माझिया ॥ध्रु.॥
काम क्रोध मद्य अंगीं । रंगला रंगीं अवगुणी ॥2॥
करितां पाप न धरी शंका। ह्मणे तुका कोणी ही ॥3॥
Tukaram Gatha (Marathi Wikisource)
English Translation
All sins are gathered in one: the worshiper of Shakti. O my Panduranga, let not his pollution touch my body. He is steeped in lust, anger, and intoxicants, colored through and through with faults. When committing sin, he feels no hesitation. Says Tuka, he fears no one at all.
We ask forgiveness for any inaccuracies in rendering Tukaram ji’s original Marathi.
In Plain Words
All sins are gathered into one in him: this worshiper of Shakti. O my Panduranga, do not let his defilement touch my body. Lust, anger, and drink are in him; he is dyed through and through with faults. When he commits sin he feels no hesitation at all. Tuka says: he is afraid of no one.
What it means
Tukaram prays to be kept clear of a man he sees as the sum of every vice. He gathers the charges into one figure, the worshiper who has made his religion a cover for lust, anger, and drink, and is stained through and through. What disturbs him most is the lack of any check: the man sins without hesitation and fears no one, no human and no God. So Tukaram turns to Panduranga and asks not to be touched by that defilement. The poem names a real spiritual danger, the company of someone who has lost all fear and shame, and the honest response of asking the Lord for distance from it.
Social Criticism
Rebuke of hypocrisy, caste pride, false teachers, greed, and religious pretence.
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