Metaphor, the wicked harm themselves
Original Marathi from the Tukaram Gatha · About Sant Tukaram
मराठी मूळ
भुंकुनियां सुनें लागे हस्तीपाठी । होऊनि हिंपुटी दुःख पावे ॥1॥
काय त्या मशकें तयाचें करावें । आपुल्या स्वभावें पीडतसे ॥ध्रु.॥
मातलें बोकड विटवी पंचानना । घेतलें मरणा धरणें तें ॥2॥
तुका ह्मणे संतां पीडितील खळ । घेती तोंड काळें करूनियां ॥3॥
Tukaram Gatha (Marathi Wikisource)
English Translation
A dog barks and chases an elephant, only to become exhausted and suffer for it. What can a mosquito do to the elephant? It only torments itself by its own nature. A wild goat provokes a lion, seizing its own death in the bargain. Says Tuka, the wicked who trouble the saints only blacken their own faces.
We ask forgiveness for any inaccuracies in rendering Tukaram ji’s original Marathi.
In Plain Words
A dog barks and runs after an elephant, then collapses worn out and suffers for it. What can a mosquito do to such a beast? By its own nature it only torments itself. A swollen goat provokes the lion; it has taken hold of its own death. Tuka says: the wicked who trouble the saints only blacken their own faces.
What it means
Tukaram answers the malice of the wicked with three images of self-defeat. The dog chasing the elephant, the mosquito against the great beast, the goat that picks a fight with the lion: each attacker harms no one but itself, exhausted, stung by its own nature, seizing its own death. The lesson is aimed at the impulse, not at scorn for the person. Those who torment the saints think they are striking a target, but the harm and the blackened face come back upon the one who attacks.
Worldly Metaphors
Poems using images from games, occupations, and daily life as spiritual teaching.
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