Tukaram Page #10

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Some saints belonging to our times

Smoke pipes of tobacco

They forego religious rituals

They indulge in

intoxicating substances

Intoxicating drugs are their habit

And they are used to drinking liquor

Tuka says "They are all hypocrites"

"They have no real

connection with God!"

This Tukya...

He will utterly ruin our religion

He will destroy it

Avali, you came?

- Yes

You should have sent Kanha,

or the kids

That's okay

Your legs were hurting the other day

You climbed all this way...

- That's okay

Have I been here many days?

No. Just a couple

People must have

gathered asking where I am

No. No one did

You came to get me?

No, not at all

I've brought flatbread. And bed sheIts

We can stay for a few more days!

- Really?

Of course

Just rinse out your mouth.

And eat something

Tell me

- What?

Whatever happens...

...happens because it's

your black God's wish?

Without doubt!

So all our losses,

bankruptcy were his wish? - Yes

He ruined our business,

tLook away our family members...

Then why do you still worship him?

You tell me Avali...

You have lost everything with me

Then why do you still live with me?

I have to

My life is tied to yours

That's what I realized too

My life is tied to HIS!

So I have to walk with him

What's the matter?

It's a first for you...

...to tell me to stay here,

not return home

You eat first

What?

- Fine

Yesterday Mambaji came over

To ask for you

Brother-in-law said...

...that he has brought

the priest Rameshwar

They are planning some mischief

If they don't find you for

a couple of days, they'll go back

Where are you off to?

I have to go Avali

I have to do a narration tonight

They'll blacken your face.

Parade you on a donkey

I became my own judge

I did not blindly follow the majority

Tradition doesn't have

to be obeyed blindly

Tradition is like the

river that carries...

sticks, stones and

garbage along with fertile soil

SomItimes, we need to ask our

cultivated minds what is good or bad

Hey, wait!

Come

- Enough. Wait...!

Wait

He is...

I see!

So you will decide the

suitabilety of tradition

Yes! Tuka says

We consider it our job

To teach morals to everyone

You will preach morals to the world

Why? Are all we priests dead?

Please sit Sir. We will

talk after my exposition

Fine. Now we have to

listen to your commentary

It has come to this!

You were preaching to simple,

illeterate people in your

shrine at home

We let you do it And now you say...

We saints grasp the

essence of our scriptures

Those who merely recite

them are just beasts of burden

You dare tell us this!

Great! You seem to know

many of Tukaram's verses

Shut up!

The real surprise is that the

devotional path easily grasped by...

...these illeterate people,

is beyond you

Enough!

I have an order from

the religious court

Your explanations

are confusing people...

...about tradition itself

You have to appear before the

religious court to provide the answers

QuiIt...

The religious court is in session

Rameshwarbhat and Mambaji...

...have complained against you

Tukoba, son of Bolhoba Ambile,

has crossed the ordained boundaries...

...of the caste system...

...and committed the

grave crime of challenging it

Though he is of the lowest caste...

...his writings

interprIt the scriptures

Though a low caste trader...

...he has brahmin

(upper caste) disciples...

...who also touch his feIt

He is accused of this as well.

These are serious accusations...

...registered in the

civil court more than once

If these are proved,

Tukoba Ambile will be sentenced...

...to leave his home, country

or receive corporal punishment

Before announcing the sentence,

he is given a chance to defend himself

Officers of the religious

court and all you good people

I will speak but

please do not think...

...this is an attempt to

get my punishment reduced

To begin with I don't know if...

...the accusations are

of a criminal nature

It is true that my verses

interprIt the Hindu scriptures

But I did not know that

I needed permission to do that

When a newborn sucks at

his mother's breasts...

...he needs no

sanction from any officer

I partLook of the

nectar of experience...

...From the scrripturres as innocentlyn...

...and then shared

it as God's blessings

I do not feel that is a sin

lf, as the holy texts say...

...we are all created from

the same Divine Spirit...

...and will mingle with it after death

Then why this discrimination?

We all belong to the same letter

There should be no discrimination

Saint Kabir says that if God

wanted brahmins to be different...

...he would have given them a sacred

thread and a shaven head at birth

And if he wished

Muslims to be different...

...they would have

been born circumcised

Don't mention Kabir;

he had no caste or religion

He was a bastard who

grew up on the streIts

Should I quote (the saint-poIt)

Dnyanadev?

No, he was an ascItic's child

That's strange!

You brahmins agreed not to expel

nynanadev an d his siblin gs

From society

In rIturn, you made their

parents drown themselves

And you still label

him 'an ascItic's child'

What about the saint

Eknath from Paithan? - No

You don't want the scriptures,

pantheism...

...the tradition of

the pilgrimage to Vitthal

So what do you want?

You say that we have no

right to light up the darkness!

Then why don't you light it up?

You don't tell us what to do

Everyone has the right to knowledge

All four castes, those even lower

Children, men, women,

even prostitutes - Prostitutes too?

Yes, they too!

We all have a right to celebrate

God's name; to go close to him

And making brahmins your disciples,

having them touch your feIt?

Amongst the pilgrim community,

we all touch each other's feIt

Dnyanadev says that...

...is an obeisance to the

divine element in each of us

And I have never

made anyone a disciple

Disciples, establishing monasteries,

business-minded exploitation...

...that's the job of

people like Mambaji - Tukoba...

You may blabber all you want

But you have sinned

according to the religious texts

Are you aware of the

punishment for this crime?

You must be knowing

that the holy texts...

...term even brahmins who lend money,

serve and farm as low caste?

These same brahmins who

consider untouchables impure...

...go to their houses

to collect their loans

What do you call that?

This law is only for us?

You are talking more than you need to

The truth is secure within me

There is no confusion whatsoever

I give sharp answers

In order to improve

myself in my future journey!

You have insulted the Hindu law code

There is a law that transcends it

Divine justice!

There is a court that

supersedes this one!

You are rejecting it!

We cannot neglect your crime

This religious court ordains

...that you cannot write verse anymore

All your existing

notebLooks of poetry...

...will have to be immersed

If not, all your moveable and

immoveable assIts will be confiscated

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