The meaning of this Bandish:
Avagun Na Kijiye Guni San
The Responsibility of Proximity
This bandish speaks like a stern elder done with gentle hints. Its warning is direct: do not commit avagun — the act of unworthiness — while near the guni, the accomplished. Being close to greatness and remaining unchanged is itself the failing. Proximity carries responsibility.
Ka jaane gun ki saar ko — who truly knows the essence of wisdom? Most who sit near the wise hear the words but miss the saar, the distilled truth, because receiving it requires a prepared interior. Without readiness, wisdom passes through you like water through open fingers.
Even among those called guni — the supposedly accomplished — many are anjani, unaware of what they claim to practise. The label and the reality are not the same.
The wise person waits long, then speaks once — completely, precisely, with full weight. He does not repeat himself, not from arrogance, but because true understanding cannot be forced by repetition. Kaun kahe ye baar baar — no one will say it again and again. Behind this line lies quiet sadness: wisdom offered once and not received is simply wisdom lost.
The Bhagavad Gita echoes this in 4.34
तद्विद्धि प्रणिपातेन परिप्रश्नेन सेवया |
उपदेक्ष्यन्ति ते ज्ञानं ज्ञानिनस्तत्त्वदर्शिन: || 34||
Tad viddhi praṇipātena paripraśhnena sevayā
upadekṣhyanti te jñānaṁ jñāninas tattva-darśhinaḥ
— approach the wise with humility, sincere inquiry, and service; those who have realised truth will impart it. Pranipata, pariprashnena, sevaya are not three separate instructions — they describe the inner state that makes a student capable of hearing the teacher the first time.
How many times have we sat near genuine wisdom — a parent, teacher, elder — and not truly heard? And how many are gone now, their words unrepeatable?
The value of wisdom lies not in its presence, but in the readiness of the one who receives it.