Adoration, liberation is the lesser thing
Original Marathi from the Tukaram Gatha · About Sant Tukaram
मराठी मूळ
तुका ह्मणे मोक्ष राहे आलीकडे । इतर बापुडें काय तेथें ॥5॥ ॥1॥
Tukaram Gatha (Marathi Wikisource)
English Translation
Says Tuka, even liberation stands on this side of the threshold; what are all other powers worth before those feet?
We ask forgiveness for any inaccuracies in rendering Tukaram ji’s original Marathi.
In Plain Words
Tuka says: even liberation stands on this side of the threshold. What are all other powers worth before those feet?
What it means
This line completes the long string of 'even ifs' before it. Tukaram places liberation itself, the goal most seekers strive toward, on the near side of the threshold, below Vithoba's feet rather than beyond them. If even mokṣa ranks lower, then the powers and attainments listed earlier count for nothing here. He measures everything against the feet, and against them, the highest spiritual prize is still the lesser thing.
Devotion to Vitthal
Poems of praise, invocation, and intimate address to Lord Vitthal at Pandharpur.
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