Abhanga 4104
Wisdom offered to a mind that is not ready is wasted, like fine food given to the sick, but grace can still remove that unreadiness and let understanding in.
The verse
रोगिया मिष्टान्न मर्कटा चंदन । कागासी लेपन कर्पूराचें ॥१॥
निर्नासिका जैसा नावडे आरिसा । मूर्खालागीं तैसा शास्त्रबोध ॥ध्रु.॥
दास तुका म्हणे विठ्ठलउदारें । अज्ञानअंधारें दूरी केलें ॥२॥
Literal translation
Fine-food-rōgī — sandal-markaṭa — camphor-kāga. Nose-less-doesn't-like-mirror — so-mūrkha-śāstra-bōdha. Dāsa-Tukā: by-Viṭṭhal-udāra — ajñāna-andhāra-removed-far.
What it means
A 3-verse mis-fit text. Fine-food to the sick, sandal to the monkey, camphor-paste on the crow. As the nose-less doesn't like the mirror — so the fool with śāstra-knowledge. Dāsa Tukā says: by Viṭṭhal's generosity, the darkness-of-ignorance has been removed far. The nose-less-doesn't-like-mirror is a powerful image — one without the relevant organ has no use for the relevant means. Pair with 3818 (crow-pearl mis-fit), 4081 (copper-coin-doesn't-pass).
For someone today
Tukaram paints a string of images where something valuable is wasted on someone who cannot use it, fine food given to a sick person who has no appetite, sandalwood paste on a monkey, camphor perfume rubbed on a crow. He adds that a person without a nose has no interest in a mirror, and in the same way, deep scriptural wisdom means nothing to a mind not ready to receive it. Yet he ends with hope, saying that through the sheer generosity of the divine, even the darkness of ignorance can be lifted and carried far away, so no one is permanently stuck being the wrong audience for wisdom.
मराठी: तुकाराम अशा प्रतिमांची मालिका मांडतात जिथे मौल्यवान गोष्ट अशा व्यक्तीला दिली जाते जी तिचा उपयोगच करू शकत नाही, आजारी माणसाला स्वादिष्ट जेवण दिले तरी त्याला भूकच नसते, माकडाला चंदन लावले जाते, कावळ्याला कापूर लावला जातो. ते पुढे म्हणतात की नाक नसलेल्या माणसाला आरशाची गरजच वाटत नाही, त्याचप्रमाणे खोल शास्त्रज्ञान त्या मनाला काहीच अर्थाचे नसते जे ते स्वीकारायला तयार नाही. तरीही ते आशेने शेवट करतात, म्हणतात की देवाच्या निव्वळ औदार्यामुळे अज्ञानाचा अंधारही दूर केला जाऊ शकतो, त्यामुळे कोणीही कायमचे शहाणपणासाठी अयोग्य राहत नाही.
Where this applies
- When you offer good advice or a good opportunity to someone who is simply not ready to receive it
- When you feel frustrated that wisdom or effort seems wasted on the wrong person or the wrong moment
- When you realize you yourself were not ready to appreciate something valuable that was once offered to you
- When you need hope that grace or a change of heart can still open a mind that once could not receive wisdom