Metaphor, the sick man and the medicine
Original Marathi from the Tukaram Gatha · About Sant Tukaram
मराठी मूळ
रुचे सकळा मिष्टान्न । रोग्या विखाच्या समान॥1॥
तरि कां तया एकासाटीं । काम अवघें करणें खोटीं ॥ध्रु.॥
दर्पण नावडे एका । ठाव नाहीं ज्याच्या नाका ॥2॥
तुका ह्मणे खळा । उपदेशाचा कांटाळा ॥3॥
Tukaram Gatha (Marathi Wikisource)
English Translation
Rich food is relished by all, but to a sick man it is like poison. Should all fine food be condemned for the sake of that one person? A mirror is hateful to the one who has no nose. Says Tuka, the wicked are allergic to good counsel.
We ask forgiveness for any inaccuracies in rendering Tukaram ji’s original Marathi.
In Plain Words
Everyone enjoys rich food. To a sick man it is like poison. So should all good food be condemned for that one man's sake? A mirror is hateful to the one who has no nose. Tuka says: the wicked have no taste for good counsel.
What it means
Tukaram is explaining why some people recoil from teaching, without letting the teaching take the blame. Rich food is good and most people relish it; if a sick man cannot stomach it, the fault is in his sickness, not in the food, and you would not condemn the food because of him. The mirror is sharper: a man with no nose hates the mirror because it shows him the lack, not because the mirror is wrong. So when the wicked cannot bear good counsel, the aversion exposes their own condition, and the point turned inward is to ask whether it is the medicine you are refusing or your own sickness you are protecting.
Worldly Metaphors
Poems using images from games, occupations, and daily life as spiritual teaching.
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