Discernment, grace and ripeness
Original Marathi from the Tukaram Gatha · About Sant Tukaram
मराठी मूळ
अंगीं ज्वर तया नावडे साकर । जन तो इतर गोडी जाणे ॥१॥
एकाचिये तोंडीं पडिली ते माती । अवघे ते खाती पोटभरी ॥ध्रु.॥
चारितां बळें येत असे दांतीं । मागोनियां घेती भाग्यवंत ॥२॥
तुका म्हणे नसे संचित हें बरें । तयासि दुसरें काय करी ॥३॥
Tukaram Gatha (Marathi Wikisource)
English Translation
One who has fever finds no sweetness in sugar, while others savor its taste freely. What falls as dirt in one person's mouth, others eat to their fill. The fortunate beg for what the reluctant must be forced to take. Says Tuka, when past merit is lacking, what can anyone else do for you?
We ask forgiveness for any inaccuracies in rendering Tukaram ji’s original Marathi.
In Plain Words
A man with fever finds no sweetness in sugar, while everyone else tastes how sweet it is. What falls like dirt in one man's mouth, others eat and fill their bellies with. When some are fed by force it sticks in their teeth, yet the fortunate beg to be given it. Tuka says: when a man's stored merit is not good, what can anyone else do for him?
What it means
Tukaram is explaining why the same thing, the Name and grace of God, tastes like nectar to one person and like nothing to another. The fault is not in the sugar; it is in the fever. The teaching and the company of God are offered to all alike, but a sick inner condition cannot taste their sweetness, while the ready soul begs for what the unready spits out. He calls this difference sanchita, the merit a soul carries from before. The hard close is not contempt but a sober limit: where the inner readiness is missing, no outside help can force the taste, which is itself a call to examine and ripen one's own heart.
Worldly Metaphors
Poems using images from games, occupations, and daily life as spiritual teaching.
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