The verse is structured as a set of rhetorical questions meant to expose spiritual pretension and second-hand knowledge. The central symbol is “maṇi,” a word that can mean a bell, a gem, or a bead—something both tangible and resonant.

1) Literal layer (common-sense logic): You can only tie a bell after you have found/seen it; similarly, you can only speak meaningfully of it after direct encounter.

2) Yogic layer (nāda as proof of inner opening): “The sound of the bell” points toward nāda—inner sound heard in yogic absorption (often linked with anāhata/inner resonance). Siddhar traditions frequently treat nāda as an experiential sign that attention has turned inward and that prāṇa has entered subtler channels. If one has not even encountered nāda, the poet asks, how could one claim to perceive the deeper “maṇi within maṇi”—the innermost reality beyond outer signs?

3) Epistemic/gnostic layer: “Seeing the maṇi” and “hearing its nāda” represent stages of direct knowing (anubhava). The “maṇi within maṇi” implies an essence hidden within what already appears essential—Self within body, awareness within mind, the subtlest bindu/seed within the subtle experience itself. The verse therefore cautions: methods, vows, or declarations (‘I will bind/attain/control it’) are hollow unless grounded in lived perception.

4) Possible alchemical resonance (kept deliberately open): In Siddhar idiom, “kattu” can also suggest binding/fixation (bandhana) and “maṇi” can point to prized substances or perfected essences. Even then, the same logic holds: without the confirming ‘sign’ (here framed as nāda), claims of fixation/perfection are premature.