Devotion, Brahman stands at Pandhari
Original Marathi from the Tukaram Gatha · About Sant Tukaram
मराठी मूळ
तीर्थांचे मूळ व्रतांचें फळ । ब्रह्म तें केवळ पंढरिये ॥1॥
तें आह्मीं देखिलें आपुल्या नयनीं । फिटलीं पारणीं डोिळयांचीं ॥ध्रु.॥
जीवांचें जीवन सुखाचें सेजार । उभें कटीं कर ठेवूनियां ॥2॥
जनाचा जनिता कृपेचा सागर । दीनां लोभापार दुष्टां काळ ॥3॥
सुरवरां चिंतनीं मुनिवरां ध्यानीं । आकार निर्गुणीं तें चि असे ॥4॥
तुका ह्मणे नाहीं श्रुती आतुडलें । आह्मां सांपडलें गीती गातां ॥5॥
Tukaram Gatha (Marathi Wikisource)
English Translation
The source of all pilgrimages and the fruit of all vows: Brahman in its fullness resides at Pandhari. I have seen it with my own eyes, and the longing of my gaze has been satisfied. He is the life of all jivas, the very companion of bliss, standing with hands placed upon His waist. He is the creator of all beings, an ocean of mercy, full of love for the lowly and terrible to the wicked. He is the subject of the gods' contemplation and the object of the sages' meditation; that same nirguna one abides here in form. Says Tuka, even the Vedas could not fully grasp Him, but we have found Him simply by singing.
We ask forgiveness for any inaccuracies in rendering Tukaram ji’s original Marathi.
In Plain Words
The source of every pilgrimage, the fruit of every vow: Brahman itself, whole and entire, is here at Pandhari. I have seen it with my own eyes; the long thirst of my gaze is broken at last. He is the life of all living things, the very neighbor of bliss, standing with his hands resting on his hips. He is the maker of all people, an ocean of mercy, beyond measure of love to the lowly, death to the wicked. The gods hold him in thought, the sages in meditation; that same one beyond form stands here in form. Tuka says: the Vedas could not lay hold of him, but we found him simply by singing.
What it means
Tukaram is claiming that the whole point of pilgrimage and vows is already standing in plain sight at Pandhari, in the form of Vitthal with hands on his hips. The formless Brahman that the gods only contemplate and the sages only meditate on has, he says, taken visible form here, and he insists he has actually seen it. The closing turn is the sting and the joy: what the Vedas, with all their learning, could not grasp, ordinary devotees laid hold of just by singing his name. The poem sets the simple path of song and sight above the high road of doctrine, and roots the abstract in a particular God at a particular place.
Devotion to Vitthal
Poems of praise, invocation, and intimate address to Lord Vitthal at Pandharpur.
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