Abhanga 333
Neither pure ignorance nor a false sense of knowing saves you; both are traps like a well and a ditch on either side of a narrow path, and your karma decides what wisdom is revealed to you.
The verse
एक नेणतां नाडली । एकां जाणिवेची भुली ॥१॥ बोलों नेणें मुकें । वेडें वाचाळ काय निकें ॥ध्रु.॥ दोहीं सवा नाड । विहीर एकीकडे आड ॥२॥ तुका म्हणे कर्म । तुझें कळों नेदी वर्म ॥३॥
Literal translation
One nāḍalī by neṇatā; one by jāṇīvē-ī bhulī. Knows-not-to-speak — silent; vēḍē-vācāḷa — what nikēm? Both-sides — nāḍa — one side a vihīra, the other an āḍa. Tuka says: karma — does not let the varma be known.
मराठी: एक नेणतां नाडली — एकां जाणिवेची भुली. बोलों नेणें मुकें — वेडें वाचाळ काय निकें. दोहीं सवा नाड — विहीर एकीकडे आड. तुकाराम म्हणतां — कर्म — तुझें कळों नेदी वर्म.
Word-by-word gloss
| Marathi | Meaning |
|---|---|
| एक नेणतां नाडली | "onenāḍalī(ruined) byneṇatā(not-knowing)" |
| एकां जाणिवेची भुली | "one — byjāṇīvē-ī bhulī(knowing's delusion)" |
| बोलों नेणें मुकें | "knows-not-to-speak — silent (mute)" |
| वेडें वाचाळ काय निकें | "vēḍē-vācāḷa (mad-chatterer) — what nikēm (good)" |
| दोहीं सवा नाड | "both-sides —nāḍa(failure)" |
| विहीर एकीकडे आड | "one side avihīra(well), the other anāḍa(ditch / pond)" |
| कर्म तुझें कळों नेदी वर्म | "karma — does not let thevarma(secret) be known" |
What it means
A short both-sides-trap abhang. Three claims:
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एक नेणतां नाडली — एकां जाणिवेची भुली — one ruined by not-knowing; one by knowing-delusion. The two failure-modes. Not-knowing (= ignorance) — ruins (compare 305 bad-sañcita prevents reception). Jāṇīvē-ī bhulī — the delusion-that-comes-with-knowing — also ruins. Both poles fail. (Compare 243 jāṇa-paṇa creates antarāya.)
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बोलों नेणें मुकें — वेडें वाचाळ काय निकें — knows-not-to-speak — silent; mad-chatterer — what good? The speech-side parallel. The silent who doesn't-know-to-speak — is mute. The mad-chatterer (vēḍē-vācāḷa) — what good is that? (Compare 289 bahu-tomḍē-vācāḷa-mūla-laṭikēm.) Both speech-modes fail too.
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दोहीं सवा नाड — विहीर एकीकडे आड — both-sides nāḍa — well one side, ditch other. The image. Both sides have failure. One side is avihīra(deep-well — falling-in is fatal);other side is an āḍa (a pond / ditch — another type of falling-in).Both falls happen;the path is between, not on either side.
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तुका म्हणे कर्म — तुझें कळों नेदी वर्म — Tuka says: karma — does not let the varma be known. The closing-claim. (Your) karma does not let the varma (secret-key) be known. Karma-conditions block the varma-revelation. (Reading: the karma-state determines whether the varma is accessible; in the both-sides-trap state, the varma is hidden by karma.)
[T]
For someone today
There are two ways to be undone: one is plain ignorance, the other is the delusion that comes from thinking you already know. In speech too, both extremes fail — staying silent because you have nothing to say helps no one, but mindless chatter is no better. The safe way lies between these two traps, like walking a narrow path with a deep well on one side and a ditch on the other — falling into either one is still a fall. And in the end, it is your own accumulated karma that decides whether this deeper wisdom becomes clear to you or stays hidden.
मराठी: दोन प्रकारे माणूस फसतो — एक म्हणजे साधे अज्ञान, आणि दुसरे म्हणजे आपल्याला सगळे कळते असा भ्रम. बोलण्यातही दोन्ही टोके फसवी असतात — काहीच न बोलणे उपयोगाचे नाही, पण बडबड करत राहणेही तितकेच निरुपयोगी. खरी वाट या दोन्ही सापळ्यांच्या मध्ये असते — जणू एका बाजूला खोल विहीर आणि दुसऱ्या बाजूला खड्डा असलेल्या अरुंद वाटेवरून चालण्यासारखे; कोणत्याही बाजूला पडले तरी पडणे तेच. आणि शेवटी, हे रहस्य तुम्हाला उलगडेल की लपून राहील, हे तुमच्याच संचित कर्मावर अवलंबून असते.
Where this applies
- Two failure-modes: not-knowing and knowing-delusion.
- Two speech-modes: silent-ignorant and mad-chatterer.
- Walk the middle: well one side, ditch other.
- Karma blocks varma-revelation.