Pilgrimage, the call to Pandhari
Original Marathi from the Tukaram Gatha · About Sant Tukaram
मराठी मूळ
चला पंढरीसी जाऊं । रखुमादेवीवरा पाहूं ॥1॥
डोळे निवतील कान । मना तेथें समाधान ॥ध्रु.॥
संतां महंतां होतील भेटी । आनंदें नाचों वाळवंटीं ॥2॥
तें तीर्थांचे माहेर । सर्वसुखाचें भांडार ॥3॥
जन्म नाहीं रे आणीक । तुका ह्मणे माझी भाक ॥4॥
Tukaram Gatha (Marathi Wikisource)
English Translation
Come, let us go to Pandhari and behold the Lord of Rakhumadevi. Our eyes will be refreshed, our ears will be satisfied, and the mind will find its peace there. We will meet the saints and great souls and dance with joy on the sands of the river. That place is the home of all pilgrimage, the storehouse of every happiness. Says Tuka, I give you my word: there will be no further birth after this.
We ask forgiveness for any inaccuracies in rendering Tukaram ji’s original Marathi.
In Plain Words
Come, let us go to Pandhari. Let us look on the Lord of Rakhumadevi. The eyes will be cooled, the ears will be filled, and there the mind will find its peace. We will meet the saints and the great souls. We will dance with joy on the river sands. That place is the mother-home of all holy fords. It is the storehouse of every happiness. Tuka says: I give you my word. There is no more birth after this.
What it means
Tukaram calls his hearers on pilgrimage to Pandharpur to see Vitthal, the Lord of Rakhumai. He promises the senses their satisfaction there, eyes and ears at rest, and the mind brought to peace. The joy is communal: meeting saints and dancing on the sandy riverbank. He raises Pandhari above all other sacred sites, calling it their very source, the home where pilgrimage itself belongs, and the treasury of all happiness. The poem ends with a vow. He stakes his own word that this darshan ends the cycle of rebirth; there will be no birth after this one.
Devotion to Vitthal
Poems of praise, invocation, and intimate address to Lord Vitthal at Pandharpur.
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