Pilgrimage, Pandhari above all
Original Marathi from the Tukaram Gatha · About Sant Tukaram
मराठी मूळ
वाराणसी गया पाहिली द्वारका । परी नये तुका पंढरीच्या ॥1॥
पंढरीसी नाहीं कोणा अभिमान । पायां पडे जन एकमेका ॥2॥
तुका ह्मणे जाय एकवेळ पंढरी । तयाचिये घरीं यम न ये ॥3॥
Tukaram Gatha (Marathi Wikisource)
English Translation
I have visited Varanasi, Gaya, and Dwaraka, but none can compare to Pandhari. In Pandhari no one holds pride; people bow at one another's feet. Says Tuka, whoever visits Pandhari even once, the lord of death will never come to his door.
We ask forgiveness for any inaccuracies in rendering Tukaram ji’s original Marathi.
In Plain Words
I have seen Varanasi, Gaya, Dwaraka; but none comes near to Pandhari. In Pandhari no one carries pride; people fall at one another's feet. Tuka says: go to Pandhari even once, and the lord of death will not come to that one's house.
What it means
Tukaram ranks the holy places and puts Pandhari first, naming the great pilgrimage cities he has actually visited only to set them below it. What makes Pandhari highest is not its fame but its spirit: there is no pride there, and devotees bow to one another instead of competing for rank. That mutual bowing, equals lowering themselves before equals, is the mark of true pilgrimage. The closing line is the high promise of the bhakti path: one true visit, made in that spirit, frees a person from the fear of death itself.
Devotion to Vitthal
Poems of praise, invocation, and intimate address to Lord Vitthal at Pandharpur.
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