கற்பதுவும் கேட்பதுவும் சொற்பனமா மற்பமடா
நிற்பதுவும் நெறியிடைா அற்புதமாங் குறியிலடா
kaṟpaduvum kēṭpaduvum coṟpanamā maṟpam aṭā
niṟpaduvum neṟiyiṭaiyā aṟputamāṅ kuṟiyilaṭā
“What one studies and what one hears—(they are) like a dream; a mere ‘wrestling’ (or wrangle), lad.
To stand/abide in the way (நெறி)—that is the wondrous ‘mark/aim/sign’ (குறி), lad.”
Book-learning and borrowed listening are as insubstantial as a dream and easily become mere contention. The real wonder is not in accumulating words but in steady abiding in the true path—where the ‘sign’ or ‘target’ of realization becomes evident inwardly.
The verse contrasts two modes of “knowing.”
1) “Learning” (கற்பது) and “hearing” (கேட்பது) can indicate scriptural study, received doctrine, or second-hand instruction. Calling them “dream-like” (சொற்பனம்) does not necessarily deny their usefulness; it criticizes their unreliability when they remain only mental impressions—passing, reshaped by memory, and unable by themselves to dissolve embodied ignorance.
2) The phrase rendered as “wrangle/wrestling” (மற்பம்) suggests the way knowledge becomes performance: debate, rivalry, display of cleverness, or the ego’s contest over meanings. In Siddhar idiom this is often treated as a diversion from direct transformation.
3) “Standing/abiding” (நிற்பது) points to sthiti—steadiness and stabilization. In yogic terms it can imply holding one’s awareness or breath in a disciplined alignment rather than letting it disperse into thought.
4) “The way/path” (நெறி) can be read ethically (right conduct), soteriologically (the liberating way), or yogically (the ‘path’ of inner practice). Siddhar usage often allows all of these at once: conduct, method, and inner route are inseparable.
5) “குறி” (mark/aim/sign) is intentionally compact: it may mean (a) the goal/target of practice, (b) a sign or symptom that confirms attainment, and/or (c) an inner “point” of attention (a locus where awareness is fixed). The verse’s force is that the authentic ‘kuri’ appears not through talk but through abiding—through lived, stabilized realization.
Thus the teaching: second-hand knowledge is unstable and can become egoic contest; the marvel is the experiential certainty that arises when one actually stands in the path, where the confirming ‘sign/aim’ reveals itself.