ਪੰਡਿਤ ਪੜਹਿ ਪੜਿ ਵਾਦੁ ਵਖਾਣਹਿ ਤਿੰਨਾ ਬੂਝ ਨ ਪਾਈ ॥੧੮॥
pandit parheh parh vaad vakaaneh tinnaa boojh na paa-ee. ||18||
The Pandits, the religious scholars, read, study and discuss the arguments; they do not understand. ||18||
Translation by Dr. Sant Singh Khalsa
The Pandits, the scholars, read and study, and then argue over what they have read.
But they do not understand.
Reading about it is not the same as living it.
Pandit parheh parh vaad vakaaneh — the learned read, study and debate, yet boojh na paa-ee, understanding does not arrive. A classic critique of formalism: scholarship without inner change is empty. The lesson applies to book-learning in every tradition, not one.
A Question to Sit With
What's something you understand far better by doing than by reading?
Translation by Dr. Sant Singh Khalsa·How we use AI
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