Abhanga 4124
Good things naturally seem bad to those who are unwell or unwilling to receive them, so don't ruin something good for everyone just to please one person who rejects it.
The verse
रुचे सकळा मिष्टान्न । रोग्या विखाच्या समान ॥१॥
तरि कां तया एकासाटीं । काम अवघें करणें खोटीं ॥ध्रु.॥
दर्पण नावडे एका । ठाव नाहीं ज्याच्या नाका ॥२॥
तुका म्हणे खळा । उपदेशाचा कांटाळा ॥३॥
Literal translation
Fine-food-pleases-all — to-sick-tastes-poison. Why-spoil-all-for-one? Mirror-no-good-to-noseless. Tukā: khaḷa-irritation-with-upadeśa.
What it means
A 3-verse mis-fit text. Fine food pleases all, but to the sick it tastes like poison. So for the sake of that one, should all the work be made bad? The mirror is no good for one whose nose has no place. Just so, the wicked are irritated by upadeśa. Same as 4104 logic (noseless-mirror).
For someone today
Tukaram makes a simple observation: fine food tastes wonderful to most people, but to someone who is sick it can taste like poison. He asks why anyone should ruin good work for everyone just because it doesn't suit one person. In the same way, a mirror is useless to someone whose nose is missing, through no fault of the mirror. His point is that wise guidance and good advice will always irritate small-minded or wicked people, but that says more about them than about the value of the guidance itself.
मराठी: तुकाराम एक साधे निरीक्षण मांडतात, चांगले अन्न बहुतेकांना आवडते, पण आजारी माणसाला तेच अन्न विषासारखे लागते. मग एका माणसासाठी सगळ्यांचे काम का बिघडवावे, असे ते विचारतात. त्याचप्रमाणे ज्याचे नाक नाही त्याला आरसा उपयोगी पडत नाही, यात आरशाचा दोष नसतो. त्यांचा मुद्दा असा आहे की चांगला उपदेश क्षुद्र किंवा दुष्ट माणसाला नेहमीच त्रासदायक वाटतो, पण यातून उपदेशाची किंमत कमी होत नाही, तर त्या माणसाची मर्यादा दिसते.
Where this applies
- When one person's complaint makes you want to change something that works well for everyone else
- When good advice or feedback annoys someone who was never going to accept it anyway
- When you doubt the value of your own good work just because it didn't suit one critic
- When someone reacts badly to a mirror held up to them and blames the mirror instead of themselves
- When you're tempted to water down quality or truth to please a single difficult person