The road made light by singing
Original Marathi from the Tukaram Gatha · About Sant Tukaram
मराठी मूळ
चालिलें न वाटे । गाऊनियां जातां वाटे ॥1॥
बरवा वैष्णवांचा संग । येतो सामोरा श्रीरंग ॥ध्रु.॥
नाहीं भय आड । कांहीं विषमांचें जड ॥2॥
तुका ह्मणे भक्ति । सुखरूप आदीं अंतीं ॥3॥
Tukaram Gatha (Marathi Wikisource)
English Translation
The road does not feel long when one walks it singing. Blessed is the company of Vaishnavas; Shrirang Himself comes forward to meet them. There is no fear or obstacle, no heaviness of hardship along the way. Says Tuka, devotion is pure bliss from beginning to end.
We ask forgiveness for any inaccuracies in rendering Tukaram ji’s original Marathi.
In Plain Words
The road does not feel long when you walk it singing. The company of Vaishnavas is good; Shrirang himself comes forward to meet them. There is no fear in the way, no obstacle, no heavy hardship. Tuka says: devotion is pure joy, from the first step to the last.
What it means
Tukaram describes what changes when devotion fills the journey of life. The road is the same hard road, but singing the Name makes it stop feeling long, and the fellowship of devotees turns the walk into joy. He makes a striking claim: in that company God himself, Shrirang, comes out to meet the travelers, so the fear and heaviness that usually weigh down the path simply fall away. The poem lands on a plain promise, that the life of devotion is happiness from beginning to end.
Devotion to Vitthal
Poems of praise, invocation, and intimate address to Lord Vitthal at Pandharpur.
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