Praise of Pandhari, sins burned away
Original Marathi from the Tukaram Gatha · About Sant Tukaram
मराठी मूळ
सुरवर येती तीथॉ नित्यकाळ । पेंठ त्या निर्मळ चंद्रभागा ॥1॥
साक्षभूत नव्हे सांगितली मात । महिमा अत्यद्भुत वर्णवेना ॥ध्रु.॥
पंचक्रोशीमाजी रीग नाहीं दोषा । जळती आपैसा अघोर ते ॥2॥
निविनषय नर चतुर्भुज नारी । अवघा घरोघरीं ब्रह्मानंदु ॥3॥
तुका ह्मणे ज्यापें नाहीं पुष्पलेश । जा रे पंढरीस घेई कोटि ॥4॥
Tukaram Gatha (Marathi Wikisource)
English Translation
The gods come daily for pilgrimage to this holy place. The pure Chandrabhaga is the marketplace. This is no hearsay; it is eyewitness testimony. The wonder is beyond all telling. Within the five-krosha boundary, no sin can enter; all impurities are burned away of their own accord. The men are free of all sense-objects; the women bear four divine arms. Every household rings with the bliss of Brahman. Says Tuka, if you do not have so much as a fragment of a flower of merit, go to Pandhari and receive a crore in return.
We ask forgiveness for any inaccuracies in rendering Tukaram ji’s original Marathi.
In Plain Words
The gods come here for pilgrimage every single day; the pure Chandrabhaga is their marketplace. This is not hearsay; it is what I have seen with my own eyes. The greatness of it is too wonderful to put into words. Within the five-krosha boundary no sin can enter; even the most dreadful sins burn up of their own accord. The men here are free of the pull of the senses; the women bear four divine arms. House after house rings with the bliss of Brahman. Tuka says: you who have not so much as a flower-petal of merit, go to Pandhari and receive ten million in return.
What it means
Tukaram praises Pandhari as a place where the ordinary order is overturned by holiness. The gods themselves come daily, and the river Chandrabhaga is the meeting ground; he insists this is firsthand witness, not rumor, and its glory defeats words. Inside the sacred precinct no sin can take hold, and even the gravest sins burn away on their own. He paints the residents as transfigured: the men untouched by the senses, the women bearing Vishnu's four arms, every home filled with the bliss of Brahman. The closing call is generous and pointed: even one with not a petal's worth of merit should go there, for the place returns a fortune for nothing, grace far out of proportion to what is brought.
Devotion to Vitthal
Poems of praise, invocation, and intimate address to Lord Vitthal at Pandharpur.
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