Abhanga 1367

For today: don't tell the varma to the un-ready — they'll follow uselessly; they were already empty; teaching them gives sīṇa without anubhava.

The verse

Literal translation

What it means

Don't-tell-the-varma abhang. The opening: na sangāvē varma — janīm asōm dyāvā bhrama — don't tell thevarma(vital secret) — letbhrama(delusion) remain among thejana(people). The teacher's discretion: don't broadcast the central truth; let those who haven't earned it remain in their bhrama.

The reason: ugīmcī lāgatīla pāṭhīm — hōtīm ritīm chi himpuṭīm — they willuselesslyfollow you — they were alreadyemptyandhimpuṭī(= small, inferior, bare). Telling the varma to those without inner-capacity just attracts useless followers — they were already empty; they remain so.

Sikaviliyā gōṭī — śikōnī dharitīla pōṭīm — (if) you teach the matters — they willlearnandhold them in the pōṭa(= internalize as memorized-formula but no real digestion). The varma becomes book-knowledge, not anubhava.

The closing diagnosis: sīṇa — hō'īla anubhavāviṇa — sīṇa (toil-pain) — will come — without anubhava (direct experience). The result of teaching the varma to the un-ready: they get sīṇa (= the toil of memorizing) without anubhava (the real-experience). They have to do the work without the gain.

This is the gurukula-secrecy tradition stated in warkari-mode: the varma is for those who are ready to digest it through anubhava; broadcast, it produces only sīṇa. (Compare 1320 hīrā pārakhiyām mūḍhām gārā — diamond looks like hailstone to the un-skilled judge.)

[T]

For someone today

For today: don't tell the varma to the un-ready — they'll follow uselessly; they were already empty; teaching them gives sīṇa without anubhava.

Where this applies

• When you are tempted to explain a hard-won insight to someone who has not done the inner work to receive it
• When you notice people repeating wise-sounding words without any real change behind them
• When you are a teacher, mentor, or parent deciding how much to reveal and when
• When you feel exhausted from learning or teaching something that never became real, lived experience

Related verses

• Abhanga 2448 — The easiest path to God is repeating divine names with love at home, right where you are,
• Abhanga 2467 — What looks like your whole world, like a fig to the insect living inside it, is only a tin
• Abhanga 2494 — Living in devotion turns an ordinary day into a festival and removes the fear of birth and
• Abhanga 4481 — Tukaram promises that sincerely calling on the Lord's name, knowingly or unknowingly, with