Moral warning, lust and greed
Original Marathi from the Tukaram Gatha · About Sant Tukaram
मराठी मूळ
कामातुर चवी सांडी । बरळ तोंडीं बरळे ॥1॥
रंगलें तें अंगीं दावी । विष देववी आसडे ॥ध्रु.॥
धनसोसें लागे वेड । ते बडबड शमेना ॥2॥
तुका ह्मणे वेसनें दोन्ही । नर्कखाणी भोगावया ॥3॥
Tukaram Gatha (Marathi Wikisource)
English Translation
One who is overcome with lust loses all taste and babbles senselessly. Whatever has taken hold of the body shows itself outwardly; it flings poison at others in its frenzy. Obsession with wealth drives one mad; that babbling will not be calmed. Says Tuka, both of these addictions are mines of hell, meant to be suffered.
We ask forgiveness for any inaccuracies in rendering Tukaram ji’s original Marathi.
In Plain Words
The man sick with lust loses all taste and babbles nonsense. Whatever has gripped his body shows itself; in his frenzy he flings poison at others. Hunger for wealth drives a man mad, and that babbling will not be stilled. Tuka says: both of these cravings are mines of hell, made to be suffered.
What it means
Tukaram sets two cravings side by side, lust and greed, and shows them as the same disease. Each one takes over the body and spills out as senseless, poisonous talk that the person cannot stop. The picture is of a mind no longer its own, ruled by what has seized it. He names the stakes flatly: both are mines that dig straight into hell, yielding only suffering. The poem points not at one named sinner but at the pattern itself, so the listener watches for these obsessions taking root in his own life.
The Moral Ideal
Purity, sincerity, truthfulness, humility, peacefulness, and service.
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