Even if the fool serves the wise all his life, he will not understand the Dhamma, as the spoon does not taste the soup.

Yāvajīvampi — even for a lifetime: physical proximity with the wise, external service, devoted assistance — none guarantees understanding if inner openness is lacking. Duration of contact does not compensate for lack ofreceptivity.

Na so dhammaṃ vijānāti — he does not understand the Dhamma: vijānāti is direct knowledge, experiential understanding. Without this openness, even prolonged contact with wisdom produces no comprehension.

Dabbī sūparasaṃ yathā — as the spoon does not taste the soup. The spoon is in constant contact with the soup, stirs it, serves it — but lacks the faculty of taste. Not through malice; through nature.

So the fool beside the wise: not through malice but through absence of the appropriate faculty — the openness, the receptive humility, the genuine desire for transformation. Meeting wisdom requires an active type ofreceptivity, not mere presence.