Devotion, the pilgrim bound for Vaikuntha
Original Marathi from the Tukaram Gatha · About Sant Tukaram
मराठी मूळ
पंढरीचा वारकरी । खेपा वैकुंठबंदरीं ॥1॥
तया नाहीं आणखी पेणें । सदा वैकुंठीं राहाणें ॥ध्रु.॥
आला गेला केल्या यात्रा । उद्धरिलें कुळा सर्वत्रा ॥2॥
तुका ह्मणे नाहीं । यासि संदेह कल्पांतीं ही ॥3॥
Tukaram Gatha (Marathi Wikisource)
English Translation
The pilgrim of Pandhari makes his journeys to the port of Vaikuntha. He needs no other destination; his dwelling is forever in Vaikuntha. By coming and going on pilgrimage, he has delivered his entire lineage. Says Tuka, there is not the slightest doubt about this, even at the end of time.
We ask forgiveness for any inaccuracies in rendering Tukaram ji’s original Marathi.
In Plain Words
The pilgrim of Pandhari makes his trips to the port of Vaikuntha. He needs no other destination; he dwells in Vaikuntha forever. By coming and going on pilgrimage, he has saved his whole lineage. Tuka says: there is not the slightest doubt about this, even at the end of time.
What it means
Tukaram makes the Pandhari pilgrim's repeated journey mean something far larger than a road trip. Each visit, he says, is really a voyage to the harbor of Vaikuntha, God's own abode, so the pilgrim has no other goal and already lives there always. The merit does not stop at the pilgrim: by his comings and goings he lifts up his entire family line. Tukaram seals it with full certainty, saying there is no doubt in this at all, not even when the ages dissolve at the end of time.
Devotion to Vitthal
Poems of praise, invocation, and intimate address to Lord Vitthal at Pandharpur.
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