Abhanga 2796
Dadhi-mājhī lōṇī jāṇatī sakaḷa — all (sakaḷa) know that lōṇī (butter) is in dadhi (curd); tē kāḍhī nirāḷe jāṇe mathana — (but) the mathana (churning) (alone) knows how to bring it out separately.
The verse
दधिमाझी लोणी जाणती सकळ । तें काढी निराळें जाणे मथन ॥१॥
अिग्न काष्ठामाजी ऐसें जाणे जन । मथिलियाविण कैसा जाळी ॥ध्रु.॥ तुका म्हणे मुख मळीण दर्पणीं । उजळिल्यावांचूनि कैसें भासे ॥२॥
Literal translation
Dadhi-mājhī lōṇī jāṇatī sakaḷa — all (sakaḷa) know that lōṇī (butter) is in dadhi (curd); tē kāḍhī nirāḷe jāṇe mathana — (but) the mathana (churning) (alone) knows how to bring it out separately. Agni kāṣṭha-mājī aisē jāṇe jana — people know fire is in the kāṣṭha (wood-piece); mathiliyāvīṇa kaise jāḷī — without churning (the wood-by-friction), how does it burn? Tukā says: mukha maḷīṇa darpaṇī — the (own) face-stain — in the darpaṇa (mirror); ujaḷiliyāvāmchūnī kaise bhāse — without ujaḷaṇē (cleansing-rubbing), how does it appear?
What it means
A canonical 3-fold image-verse. Dadhi-mājhī lōṇī jāṇatī sakaḷa — tē kāḍhī nirāḷe jāṇe mathana — all know butter is in curd — but only churning brings it out separately. The first image: curd-and-butter. The butter (lōṇī) is in-the-curd always — but separating it requires mathana (churning, agitation). Mere knowledge of the presence doesn't extract.
The dhrūpada-image: agni kāṣṭha-mājī aisē jāṇe jana — mathiliyāvīṇa kaise jāḷī — people know fire is in the wood-piece — but without churning, how does it burn? The second image: fire-and-wood. The fire is in-the-wood (latent-as-friction-potential) — but without churning (the araṇi fire-making sticks rubbed-by-friction), the fire doesn't jāḷī (burn). Mere knowledge doesn't ignite.
The close: mukha maḷīṇa darpaṇī — ujaḷiliyāvāmchūnī kaise bhāse — the face-stain in the mirror — without rubbing-and-cleansing, how does it appear? The third image: face-and-mirror. The face-stain exists; but to see it clearly in the mirror, the mirror itself must be ujaḷaṇē (cleansed, rubbed-clean). Without polishing-the-mirror, the stain doesn't bhāse (appear, become-visible).
The three images deliver the same teaching: the substance is already-there; effort-of-extraction-or-cleansing makes it manifest. Mathana (churning) is the operational-discipline.
This is one of Tukārām's most-quoted substance-requires-extraction-effort canonical-claims. Compare with 2761's substance-not-form — but 2761 critiques form-without-substance; 2796 reminds that substance-without-effort-of-extraction also remains-inert.
For someone today
A canonical 3-fold image-verse. Butter is in curd — only churning extracts it. Fire is in wood — only friction ignites it. Face-stain is in the mirror — only cleansing-rubbing shows it. The teaching: the substance is already-there; the work is in the extraction-or-cleansing. The diagnostic-question: am I doing the mathana (churning, the active-discipline) or just knowing that the substance exists? The bhakti-mathana — the active-name-and-bhāva-discipline — is what extracts the latent-bhakti-substance.
Where this applies
- The canonical substance-requires-effort-of-extraction claim
- Recognizing that bhakti-substance needs mathana (active-effort)
- The three classic-images: butter-curd, fire-wood, mirror-stain
- Knowing-the-substance-is-there ≠ extracting it