The pilgrim road, one word on the way
Original Marathi from the Tukaram Gatha · About Sant Tukaram
मराठी मूळ
टाळ दिडी हातीं । वैकुंठींचे सांगाती ॥1॥
जाल तरी कोणा जा गा । करा सिदोरी ते वेगा ॥ध्रु.॥
जाती सादावीत । तेथें असों द्यावें चित्त ॥2॥
तुका ह्मणे बोल । जाती बोलत विठ्ठल ॥3॥
Tukaram Gatha (Marathi Wikisource)
English Translation
With cymbals and hand-drum in hand, they become companions on the road to Vaikuntha. If you would go, go with them. Prepare your provisions quickly. They call out as they walk. Keep your mind fixed upon their words. Says Tuka, as they walk, they speak only one word: Vitthal.
We ask forgiveness for any inaccuracies in rendering Tukaram ji’s original Marathi.
In Plain Words
They carry cymbals and a hand-drum, and they become your companions on the road to Vaikuntha. If you want to go, then go with them; pack your provisions quickly. They call out as they walk; keep your mind fixed on what they say. Tuka says: as they walk, the one word they speak is Vitthal.
What it means
Tukaram is pointing at the company of singing pilgrims and telling you how to join them. They walk to Vaikuntha with cymbals and drum, and the road is open to anyone willing to ready their provisions and set out now. The instruction is simple: keep your attention on their words while they walk. And the words are not many; the whole song reduces to one Name, Vitthal, repeated on the road.
Devotion to Vitthal
Poems of praise, invocation, and intimate address to Lord Vitthal at Pandharpur.
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