Pandhari, where liberation walks
Original Marathi from the Tukaram Gatha · About Sant Tukaram
मराठी मूळ
जंव नाहीं देखिली पंढरी । तोंवरी वणिनसी थोर वैकुंठींची ॥1॥
मोक्षसििद्ध तेथें हिंडे दारोदारीं । होऊनि कामारी दीनरूप ॥ध्रु.॥
वृंदावन सडे चौक रंग माळा । अभिन्नव सोहोळा घरोघरीं ॥2॥
नामघोष कथापुराणकीर्तनीं । ओविया कांडणीं पांडुरंग ॥3॥
सर्व सुख तेथें असे सर्वकाळ । ब्रह्म तें केवळ नांदतसे ॥4॥
तुका ह्मणे जें न साधे सायासें । तें हें प्रत्यक्ष दिसे विटेवरि ॥5॥
Tukaram Gatha (Marathi Wikisource)
English Translation
Until you have seen Pandhari, you go on praising the distant Vaikuntha. Liberation itself wanders door to door in Pandhari, appearing as a humble servant. Tulsi gardens are swept, courtyards are decorated with rangoli, garlands, and colors; a wondrous celebration fills every home. The Name of Panduranga resounds in kirtan, stories, and Puranas, even in the songs women sing while grinding grain. All joy is present there at all times; Brahman itself dwells there in full. Says Tuka, what cannot be attained through any effort is visible right there, standing upon the brick.
We ask forgiveness for any inaccuracies in rendering Tukaram ji’s original Marathi.
In Plain Words
As long as you have not seen Pandhari, you keep praising the far-off Vaikuntha. Here, liberation itself wanders door to door. It comes as a humble servant, with a poor face. The tulsi gardens are swept; the courtyards are drawn with rangoli, garlands, and color. A fresh wonder fills every house. The Name of Panduranga sounds in kirtan, in stories, in the Puranas; even the women grinding grain sing it in their songs. All joy is there at every hour. Brahman itself lives there, whole. Tuka says: what cannot be reached by any effort is seen here plainly, standing on the brick.
What it means
Tukaram is overturning the usual map of holiness. People praise Vaikuntha, the distant heaven, because they have not seen what is already present at Pandhari. There, he says, liberation does not have to be earned in some far place; it walks the streets door to door, wearing the face of a humble servant, woven into swept yards, rangoli, garlands, kirtan, the Puranas, even the grinding songs of working women. The claim is bold: the full Brahman, the thing no austerity can purchase, stands openly on the brick at Pandharpur for anyone to see. The point is that the goal is not elsewhere; it is here, ordinary and visible, in the life of the holy town.
Devotion to Vitthal
Poems of praise, invocation, and intimate address to Lord Vitthal at Pandharpur.
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