Ecstasy, arriving at Pandhari
Original Marathi from the Tukaram Gatha · About Sant Tukaram
मराठी मूळ
पावलों पंढरी वैकुंठभवन । धन्य आजि दिन सोनियाचा॥1॥
पावलों पंढरी आनंदगजरें । वाजतील तुरें शंख भेरी ॥ध्रु.॥
पावलों पंढरी क्षेमआलिंगनीं । संत या सज्जनीं निवविलें॥2॥
पावलों पंढरी पार नाहीं सुखा । भेटला हा सखा मायबाप ॥3॥
पावलों पंढरी येरझार खुंटली । माउली वोळली प्रेमपान्हा ॥4॥
पावलों पंढरी आपुलें माहेर । नाहीं संवसार तुका ह्मणे ॥5॥
Tukaram Gatha (Marathi Wikisource)
English Translation
I have reached Pandhari, the abode of Vaikuntha. Blessed is this golden day. I have arrived in Pandhari amid sounds of joy, with trumpets, conches, and drums resounding. I have reached Pandhari and been embraced by saints and holy ones who have soothed my soul. I have reached Pandhari, and there is no end to the bliss, for my beloved friend and parent has been found. I have reached Pandhari, and all wandering has ceased, for the mother has showered her milk of love. Says Tuka, I have reached Pandhari, my true home. There is no more worldly life.
We ask forgiveness for any inaccuracies in rendering Tukaram ji’s original Marathi.
In Plain Words
I have reached Pandhari, the dwelling of Vaikuntha. Blessed is this day, this golden day. I have reached Pandhari amid an uproar of joy, with trumpets, conches, and drums sounding. I have reached Pandhari into a glad embrace; the saints and holy ones have cooled my soul. I have reached Pandhari, and there is no end to the bliss, for my friend, my mother and father, has met me. I have reached Pandhari, and my coming and going is over; the mother has let down her milk of love. I have reached Pandhari, my own mother's home. Tuka says: there is no more worldly life.
What it means
This is the homecoming poem, every line beginning again with the arrival because the arrival is the whole event. Pandhari is not a town here but Vaikuntha itself, reached on a day Tukaram calls golden, met with trumpets and conches and the embrace of the saints. The deepest claims come at the end: the wandering, the endless coming and going of birth and death, has stopped, and the mother has let down her milk, the image for love freely given. To reach Pandhari is to reach one's true maternal home, and there, he says, worldly life simply is no more.
Ecstasy and Joy
Triumphant happiness: poems written from the far side of the struggle.
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