Abhanga 2613
The market is full of paper-receipts; restraint's quarrels are false. The mother knows the secret — in raising a child is dharma. To soften iron, how? Haste destroys the work. Tukā: when pebbles are given, the alphabet's letters get joined.
The verse
कौलें भरियेली पेंठ । निग्रहाचे खोटे तंट ॥१॥
ऐसें माता जाणे वर्म । बाळ वाढवितां धर्म ॥ध्रु.॥
कामवितां लोहो कसे । तांतडीनें काम नासे ॥२॥
तुका म्हणे खडे । देतां अक्षरें तें जोडे ॥३॥
Literal translation
The market is filled with paper-receipts (or pledges); the disputes of strict-restraint are false. So the mother knows the secret — raising a child is dharma. When working iron, how? Haste destroys the work. Tukā says: when pebbles are given, the alphabet's letters get joined.
What it means
A small craft-wisdom verse. The opening line is somewhat technical: kaulēm bhariyalī pēṇṭha — the market (pēṇṭha = a small periodic market or fair) is filled with paper-receipts (kaulēm = written-bond, pledge, voucher). The implication: the market is full of paper-promises, not actual goods. Nigrahāchē khōṭē taṇṭa — restraint's quarrels are false — the legalistic, forceful, restraining disputes (over what should not be done) are themselves false-currency, like paper-receipts in place of grain.
The dhrūpada turns to the better model: aiśēm mātā jāṇē varma — bāḷa vāḍhavitām dharma — the mother knows the secret — in raising the child is the dharma. Varma — the hidden technique, the trade-secret. The mother does not restrain through forceful prohibition; she vāḍhavitām (causes-to-grow) — that is the dharma. Growth, not restraint, is the technique.
The second verse takes the craft-image further: kāmavitām lōha kasē — tāntaḍīnēm kāma nāsē — to work the iron, how? Haste destroys the work. The blacksmith does not hurry the iron. Heat, time, pressure, cooling — each in its own moment. Tāntaḍīnēm (haste, hurry) is the enemy of the craft.
The close gives the pedagogical version: khaḍē dētām — akṣarē tē jōḍē — when pebbles are given, the letters get joined. The traditional Marathi teaching of akṣara (alphabet) used khaḍē (small pebbles) on the ground or in trays — the child arranges them to form letters. The image: do not lecture-the-child; put pebbles in the hand, and the letters come together. Hands-on, patient, indirect.
For someone today
Restraint by quarrel and prohibition is paper-currency — it looks like discipline but spends as nothing. The mother's varma (trade-secret) is vāḍhavaṇē — causing things to grow — not forcing someone not to do things. The blacksmith's wisdom is the same: tāntaḍīnē kāma nāsē — haste destroys the work. Even in teaching, do not lecture — put the pebbles in the hand and the letters will join themselves. Whatever you are trying to shape — a child, a student, a self — the operative skill is patient cause-to-grow, not forceful restrain-from-doing.
मराठी: जबरदस्तीने आणि भांडणातून लादलेली बंधने म्हणजे कागदी चलनासारखी असतात — ती शिस्त वाटते, पण प्रत्यक्षात काहीच किंमत नसते. आईचे रहस्य म्हणजे 'वाढवणे' — वाढ घडवून आणणे — मुलाला काही करण्यापासून जबरदस्तीने थांबवणे नव्हे. लोहाराचे शहाणपणही तेच सांगते — घाईने काम बिघडते. शिकवतानाही उपदेश देऊ नये — हातात खडे द्यावेत, आणि अक्षरे आपोआप जुळतात. मूल असो, विद्यार्थी असो किंवा स्वतःच असो, जे काही घडवायचे आहे त्यासाठी संयमाने वाढ घडवणे हेच खरे कौशल्य आहे, जबरदस्तीने रोखणे नव्हे.
Where this applies
- Parenting through years when restraint-by-prohibition is failing
- Teaching, training, mentorship — the put-pebbles-in-the-hand model
- Any craft (iron, wood, writing) where haste produces the worst result
- Self-discipline: choose growth-cause over forceful-restraint