Abhanga 4370
The verse
स्वप्नींच्या व्यवहारा काळांतर लेखा । जागृतीसि रुका गांठ नाहीं ॥१॥
तेवीं शब्दज्ञानें करिती चावटी । ज्ञान पोटासाटीं विकों नये ॥ध्रु.॥
बोलाची च कढी बोलाचा ची भात । जेवूनियां तृप्त कोण जाला ॥२॥
कागदीं लिहिली नांवाची साकर । चाटितां मधुर केवीं लागे ॥३॥
तुका म्हणे जळो जळो त्याचें ज्ञान। यमपुरी कोण दंड साहे ॥४॥
Literal translation
Dream-vyavahāra-different-time — no-rukā-knot-jāgrti. Śabda-jñāna-chāvaṭī — don't-sell-for-belly. Bōla-kaḍhī-bōla-bhāta — no-trpti. Sugar-on-paper — licking-not-sweet. Tukā: burn-burn-jñāna — Yama-puri-daṇḍa.
What it means
★★ THE canonical 4-verse 5-image anti-rote-jñāna polemic. Dream-transactions belong to another time's account — in waking, no penny is tied. So word-knowledge becomes gossip; don't sell knowledge for one's belly. The curry of speech, the rice of speech — who got satisfied eating (these)? Sugar named-written on paper — how can it taste sweet when licked? Tukā says: let such knowledge burn, burn — who can bear the punishment of Yama-puri? The 5 images for empty-knowledge: (1) dream-money-vs-waking-pocket: dream-transactions have no real-money-equivalent; (2) selling-jñāna-for-belly: monetized-knowledge is gossip; (3) bōla-kaḍhī-bōla-bhāta: speech-curry-and-speech-rice never-satisfy-hunger; (4) sugar-on-paper: written-name-of-sugar isn't-sweet; (5) burn-burn + Yama-puri-daṇḍa: the result-of-such-knowledge. Pair with 4191 (anti-rote-artha-vihīna-pāṭha), 4257 (5-image instructional-futility), 4309 (5-anti-display).
For someone today
Tukārām: spoken-curry-and-spoken-rice-don't-fill-the-belly — sugar-written-on-paper-doesn't-taste-sweet-when-licked; let-such-knowledge-burn.
Where this applies
- ★★ Tukārām's THE 5-image anti-rote-jñāna polemic canonical