Though an elder expert in the Dhamma, delighting in the Dhamma, with mind fixed on the Dhamma, discussing doctrines, one does not attain the Dhamma.

Severe warning: study (pariyāya) and eloquence (vādāya) are not the Dhamma itself. One can be a master of the letter and remain ignorant of the essence.

Dhammarāgū — passionate for the Dhamma. Rāga here is attachment even to what is noble. Attachment to the teaching is still attachment.

Dhammajjhāsayo — with mind (āsaya) concentrated on the Dhamma. Thinking constantly about the noble can be another form of avoidance.

Na ca dhammaṃ adhigacchati — one does not attain, does not realize the Dhamma. Adhigacchati implies direct realization, not intellectual comprehension.

This verse breaks the scholar’s illusion. Scholarship without bhāvanā (meditation) is a boat without oars. Pariyatti (study) without paṭipatti (practice) goes nowhere.