Pilgrimage to Pandhari, the prayer to not return
Original Marathi from the Tukaram Gatha · About Sant Tukaram
मराठी मूळ
आलिया संसारीं देखिली पंढरी । कीतिन महाद्वारीं वानूं तुझी ॥1॥
पताकांचे भार नामाचे गजर । देखिल्या संसार सफळ जाला ॥ध्रु.॥
साधुसंतांचिया धन्य जाल्या भेटी । सांपडली लुटी मोक्षाची हे ॥2॥
तुका ह्मणे आतां हें चि पैं मागणें । पुढती नाहीं येणें संसारासी ॥3॥
Tukaram Gatha (Marathi Wikisource)
English Translation
Having come into this world, I have seen Pandhari. I sing Your glory at the great gateway. Seeing the towering flags and hearing the resounding chant of the Name, this worldly life has become fruitful. Blessed were the meetings with saints and holy ones; the treasure of liberation was found. Says Tuka, this alone is my prayer now: may I never have to return to this world again.
We ask forgiveness for any inaccuracies in rendering Tukaram ji’s original Marathi.
In Plain Words
Having come into this world, I have seen Pandhari. At the great gateway I sing your glory. The weight of the banners, the roar of the Name: seeing this, my worldly life has borne fruit. Blessed were the meetings with saints and holy ones; the treasure of liberation was found. Tuka says: now this alone is my prayer, that I never come back to this world again.
What it means
Tukaram counts his birth worthwhile only because it brought him to Pandhari. The flags over the temple and the thunder of the Name turn an ordinary life into one that has reached its purpose, and the company of saints he met along the way is itself the treasure others call liberation. Having found this, he wants one thing more, and it is not more of the world. His closing prayer is to be done with rebirth altogether: let this visit be the last arrival, so there is no further return to suffering. The pilgrimage is not a stop on the road of life; it is the whole point of having lived.
Devotion to Vitthal
Poems of praise, invocation, and intimate address to Lord Vitthal at Pandharpur.
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