Metaphor, good is known by its opposite
Original Marathi from the Tukaram Gatha · About Sant Tukaram
मराठी मूळ
वाइटानें भलें । हीनें दाविलें चांगलें ॥1॥
एकाविण एका । कैचें मोल होतें फुका ॥ध्रु.॥
विषें दाविलें अमृत । कडू गोड घातें हित ॥2॥
कािळमेनें ज्योती । दिवस कळों आला राती ॥3॥
उंच निंच गारा । हिरा परिस मोहरा ॥4॥
तुका ह्मणे भले । ऐसे नष्टांनीं कळले ॥5॥
Tukaram Gatha (Marathi Wikisource)
English Translation
It is through the bad that the good becomes visible; the low reveals the high. Without one, the other would have no value and would go unrecognized. Poison reveals nectar; bitter makes us know sweet; harm shows us the meaning of well-being. Darkness reveals the flame; night makes us recognize the day. Pebbles, diamonds, touchstones, and gold coins are each known by contrast. Says Tuka, in this way the wicked have made the virtuous known.
We ask forgiveness for any inaccuracies in rendering Tukaram ji’s original Marathi.
In Plain Words
It is by the bad that the good is shown; the low reveals the high. Without the one, the other would have no worth and would go for nothing. Poison shows what nectar is; bitter makes us know sweet; harm shows us what good is. Blackness shows the flame; night makes us recognize the day. Pebble and diamond, touchstone and gold coin, each is known by the other. Tuka says: in this way it is the wicked who have made the good known.
What it means
Tukaram turns the existence of evil into something almost useful. Every good thing, he says, is recognized only against its opposite: nectar against poison, sweet against bitter, flame against darkness, day against night, a diamond against a common pebble. Without the contrast, value would go unnoticed and unpriced. He applies this to people: the wicked, by their contrast, are what make the virtue of the good visible. It is a way of seeing that disarms resentment, reading even the bad as the dark backdrop that lets the good be seen.
Worldly Metaphors
Poems using images from games, occupations, and daily life as spiritual teaching.
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