Abhanga 3706
Learned knowledge alone is like wealth seen in a mirror, useless without lived experience, and the real inner gift can only be received as grace, not earned by effort alone.
The verse
शिकल्या शब्दाचें उत्पादितों ज्ञान । दरपणींचें धन उपर वाया ॥१॥
अनुभउ कइं होईंन भोगिता । सांकडें तें आतां हें चि आलें ॥ध्रु.॥
गायें नाचें करीं शरीराचे धर्म । बीजकळावर्म तुमचें दान ॥२॥
तुका म्हणे केला उशीर न साहे । द्याल तरी आहे सर्व सद्धि ॥३॥
Literal translation
Learned-śabda-produce-jñāna — like-darpaṇa-dhana-upara-vāyā. When-anubhava-bhōgitā — sānkaḍa-now. Sing-dance-śarīra-dharmas — bīja-kaḷā-varma-your-dāna. Tukā: no-uśīra-bearable — if-given-all-siddhi.
What it means
A 3-verse anubhava-petition with a striking image. I produce learned-knowledge from words — but it's like wealth in a mirror, surface-only, in vain; when will I be the experiencer of anubhava? — this predicament has come now. I do all the body's-dharmas of singing and dancing — but the seed-essence-secret is your gift. Don't delay any longer — if you give, all-siddhi is here. The darpaṇa-dhana (mirror-wealth) is striking — visible but inaccessible.
For someone today
Tukārām admits that the knowledge he has built up from learned words is like wealth seen in a mirror, visible but out of reach, useless in the end because it was never really his to hold. What he truly wants is to actually live the experience himself, and he confesses this longing has become an urgent predicament now. He does all the outward practices, the singing, the dancing, the rituals of the body, but says the real seed of understanding is a gift that only grace can give, not something earned by effort alone. His closing plea is direct, he cannot bear more delay, and if that gift is given, everything he needs will follow.
मराठी: तुकाराम कबूल करतात की शिकलेल्या शब्दांतून त्यांनी उभे केलेले ज्ञान आरशातल्या धनासारखे आहे, दिसते खरे पण हाती लागत नाही, शेवटी निरुपयोगी कारण ते कधीच त्यांचे स्वतःचे नव्हतेच. त्यांना खरोखर हवे आहे ते म्हणजे तो अनुभव स्वतः जगणे, आणि ते कबूल करतात की ही ओढ आता एक निकडीचा प्रश्न बनली आहे. ते सर्व बाह्य साधना करतात, गाणे, नाचणे, शरीराचे विधी, पण म्हणतात की खरे बीज-सार हे केवळ मेहनतीने मिळणारे नाही, ते कृपेचेच दान आहे. त्यांची शेवटची विनवणी थेट आहे, आता आणखी उशीर सहन होत नाही, आणि जर ते दान मिळाले तर बाकी सर्व आपोआप मिळेल.
Where this applies
- When you realize that book knowledge alone hasn't given you the real, lived understanding you were hoping for
- When you keep up all the outward practices and rituals but feel something essential is still missing inside
- When you long for a breakthrough you cannot force no matter how hard you try, and can only ask for it
- When patience runs out and you feel you cannot bear one more day of delay before real change arrives