Social criticism, the showy false teacher
Original Marathi from the Tukaram Gatha · About Sant Tukaram
मराठी मूळ
उचित न कळे इंिद्रयाचे ओढी । मुखें बडबडी शिकलें तें ॥1॥
आपण जाऊन न्यावीं नरकास । बळें बेताळीस कुळें जग ॥ध्रु.॥
अबोलणें बोले डोळे झांकुनियां । बडबडी वांयां दंभासाटीं ॥2॥
तुका ह्मणे आह्मी तेथील पारखी । नाचे देखोवेखीं जाणों खरें ॥3॥
Tukaram Gatha (Marathi Wikisource)
English Translation
He does not know what is proper, pulled along by the senses. His mouth merely repeats what it has been taught. He himself goes to hell and by sheer force drags forty-two lineages and the whole world there with him. He speaks the unutterable with closed eyes and babbles away in vain, all for the sake of show. Says Tuka, I am the appraiser of that realm. I know the genuine; we recognize it by what dances before us.
We ask forgiveness for any inaccuracies in rendering Tukaram ji’s original Marathi.
In Plain Words
He does not know what is fitting, dragged along by his senses; his mouth just rattles off what it was taught. He goes to hell himself and by sheer force drags forty-two generations and the whole world down with him. He speaks the unspeakable with his eyes shut tight and babbles on in vain, all for show. Tuka says: I am the appraiser of that realm. I know the genuine; we can tell it by what shows itself before us.
What it means
Tukaram is exposing the hollow pretender who poses as a knower while still led by appetite. Such a one only parrots learned words and, mistaking display for realization, ruins not only himself but everyone who follows him, the whole line of his house. The shut eyes and grand talk are theatre, dambha, performance done for show and not from any inner truth. Tukaram claims the right to test such claims, because true devotion shows itself in the living, not in posture. The warning is for each of us to check our own show: are the eyes shut on emptiness, or open on what is real?
Social Criticism
Rebuke of hypocrisy, caste pride, false teachers, greed, and religious pretence.
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