Social criticism, knowledge bought cheap
Original Marathi from the Tukaram Gatha · About Sant Tukaram
मराठी मूळ
कांद्यासाठी जालें ज्ञान । तेणें जन नाडिलें ॥1॥
ऐकाकाम क्रोध बुचबुची । भुंके पुची व्यालीची ॥ध्रु.॥
पूजेलागीं द्रव्य मागे।काय सांगे शिष्यातें ॥2॥
तुका ह्मणे कैंचें ब्रह्म । अवघा भ्रम विषयांचा॥3॥
Tukaram Gatha (Marathi Wikisource)
English Translation
For the sake of an onion, this so-called knowledge arose, and by it the people were misled. Listen: lust and anger seethe within, like the pup of a bitch that barks and snaps. For performing worship he demands money. What does he teach his disciples? Says Tuka, where is Brahman in all this? The whole thing is nothing but delusion about sense-pleasures.
We ask forgiveness for any inaccuracies in rendering Tukaram ji’s original Marathi.
In Plain Words
For the sake of an onion this so-called knowledge sprang up, and by it the people were cheated. Listen: lust and anger seethe and boil in him; he yelps like a bitch's pup, barking and snapping. For doing worship he demands money. What can such a man teach his disciples? Tuka says: where is Brahman in any of this? The whole thing is nothing but delusion about the pleasures of the senses.
What it means
Tukaram is dismissing a cheap, commercial sort of teaching that misleads ordinary people. He says this knowledge arose for the price of an onion, worthless and bought low, and inside the teacher lust and anger are still boiling. The man charges money for performing worship, so Tukaram asks what such a person could possibly pass on to a disciple. His blunt question is the heart of it: where is Brahman in any of this? He answers himself, calling the whole enterprise a delusion built on sense-pleasure. The test left for the reader is whether a teaching points beyond craving toward the Real, or merely dresses up appetite and sells it.
Social Criticism
Rebuke of hypocrisy, caste pride, false teachers, greed, and religious pretence.
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