Abhanga 3793
Repeating knowledge you only heard secondhand is not the same as truth seen through real experience, and real praise belongs to those who stand on their own strength.
The verse
अंधळें तें सांगे सांगितल्या खुणा । अनुभव देखणा प्रगट त्या ॥१॥
नांदणुक सांगे वडिलाचें बळ । कैसा तो दुर्बळ सुख पावे ॥२॥
तुका म्हणे नांदों आपल्या प्रतापें । तयासी लोकांपें स्तुती सांगों ॥३॥
Literal translation
Blind-tells-told-marks — but-anubhava-dekhaṇā-makes-(real-seer)-prakaṭa. Dependent-tells-elder's-strength — how-can-weakling-find-sukha? Tukā: let-one-live-by-own-pratāpa — to-such-we-tell-stutī.
What it means
A 3-verse anti-derivative-knowledge text. The blind one repeats only the marks that were told to him — but the one who sees by experience, to him (the reality) is manifest. The dependent boasts of his elder's strength — how can such a weakling find true sukha? Tukā says: let one live by his own might — to such a one alone we tell the stutī before people. Striking demand for direct anubhava over hearsay-knowledge — Tukā refuses to praise the merely-derivative. Compare 2949 (maithuna-analogy: experience-cannot-be-conveyed-by-word).
For someone today
Tukaram draws a sharp line between a blind person who can only repeat the landmarks someone else described to them, and a person who has actually seen the truth through their own experience. Someone who leans entirely on another person's strength, boasting of an elder's power without any of their own, stays weak and never finds real happiness that way. Tukaram insists that praise should go to the one who lives and stands by their own real strength, not to someone merely repeating borrowed knowledge. In other words, secondhand information can point the way, but only lived experience actually reveals the truth.
मराठी: तुकाराम स्पष्ट फरक करतात एका आंधळ्या माणसात, जो फक्त दुसऱ्याने सांगितलेल्या खुणा पुन्हा सांगतो, आणि खऱ्या अर्थाने स्वतःच्या अनुभवातून सत्य पाहिलेल्या व्यक्तीत. जो माणूस पूर्णपणे दुसऱ्याच्या ताकदीवर अवलंबून राहतो, वडीलधाऱ्यांच्या पराक्रमाची बढाई मारतो पण स्वतः काहीच करत नाही, तो कमकुवतच राहतो आणि खरा सुख कधीच मिळवू शकत नाही. तुकाराम ठामपणे म्हणतात की खरी स्तुती त्याच व्यक्तीची व्हावी जो स्वतःच्या खऱ्या ताकदीवर उभा राहतो, नुसते उसने ज्ञान पुन्हा सांगणाऱ्याची नव्हे. थोडक्यात, ऐकीव माहिती वाट दाखवू शकते, पण खरे सत्य फक्त प्रत्यक्ष अनुभवानेच उलगडते.
Where this applies
- When you repeat something you only heard secondhand instead of something you truly understand from experience
- When you lean entirely on someone else's reputation or strength instead of building your own
- When you notice that borrowed confidence never quite gives you real peace or happiness
- When you decide to earn genuine respect through your own effort rather than riding on another person's achievements