Invitation, the short road to Vaikuntha
Original Marathi from the Tukaram Gatha · About Sant Tukaram
मराठी मूळ
स्वल्प वाट चला जाऊं । वाचे गाऊं विठ्ठल ॥1॥
तुह्मी आह्मी खेळीमेळीं । गदा रोळी आनंदें ॥ध्रु.॥
ध्वजा कुंचे गरुडटके । शृंगार निके करोनि ॥2॥
तुका ह्मणे हें चि नीट । जवळी वाट वैकुंठा ॥3॥
Tukaram Gatha (Marathi Wikisource)
English Translation
The path is short; come, let us go, singing Vitthal as we walk. Let us travel together in fellowship, rolling with joy and delight. With flags, banners, and Garuda-pillars, let us adorn ourselves beautifully. Says Tuka, this is the true way; the road to Vaikuntha is near.
We ask forgiveness for any inaccuracies in rendering Tukaram ji’s original Marathi.
In Plain Words
The path is short; come, let us go, singing Vitthal as we walk. You and I together in fellowship, swaying in joy. With flags and banners and the Garuda-poles, let us adorn it all beautifully. Tuka says: this is the straight way; the road to Vaikuntha is near.
What it means
Tukaram calls his companions onto the Varkari road, and the poem is the call itself. The walk to Pandhari, with its banners, its Garuda standards, its singing of Vitthal, is not a long preparation for heaven; he says the road to Vaikuntha is short and near. The fellowship, the play, the adornment are the way, not a postponement of it. By keeping it plain and warm, he makes the highest destination feel like a journey friends take together this very day.
Devotion to Vitthal
Poems of praise, invocation, and intimate address to Lord Vitthal at Pandharpur.
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