Abhanga 4031
Tukārām: Paṇḍharī is a 'ghost' that grabs you — and those who go don't come back to (a new) birth.
The verse
पंढरीचें बा भूत मोटें । आल्या गेल्या झडपी वाटे ॥१॥
तेथें जाऊं नका कोणी । गेले नाहीं आले परतोनि ॥२॥
तुका पंढरीसी गेला । पुन्हा जन्मा नाहीं आला ॥३॥
Literal translation
Paṇḍharī-bhūta-mōṭē-pounces-on-vāṭa. Don't-go-anyone — those-went-haven't-returned. Tukā-Paṇḍharīsī-gēlā — janmā-nāhīm-ālā.
What it means
THE canonical 3-verse humorous Paṇḍharī-as-bhūta-no-return text. Paṇḍharī's ghost is a big one; it pounces on the path of those who come-and-go. So don't go there, anyone — those who went haven't come back. Tukā went to Paṇḍharī — and didn't come back to birth. The humorous-inversion: posing Paṇḍharī as a dangerous-bhūta and the warning-not-to-go — when in fact it is praise of Paṇḍharī as the place from which the bhakta doesn't return to samsāra. The closing Tukā-Paṇḍharīsī-gēlā — punhā-janmā-nāhīm-ālā is one of Tukārām's most-famous self-references. Foundational Vārkarī claim: visiting Paṇḍharī = liberation from rebirth. Pair with 3884 (Pāvalōm-Paṇḍharī).
For someone today
Tukārām: Paṇḍharī is a 'ghost' that grabs you — and those who go don't come back to (a new) birth.
Where this applies
- When you want a playful way to describe how completely a place or practice has transformed you
- When you are drawn to a spiritual home so deeply that you cannot imagine going back to old patterns
- When someone jokes about being ruined by something that actually set them free
- When you want to describe total, one-way commitment to a path