Kaya Hi Pandhari

 

Kaya hi Pandhari Atma ha Vitthal

The Pandharpur wari, the annual pilgrimage of the warkaris, is currently on its way to Pandharpur and will conclude on July 6th on occasion of Ashadhi Ekadashi. I was a fortunate participant in 2023. Once a warkari, always a warkari. Although I couldn’t go back in 2024 and 2025, the heart is drawn to the atmosphere of the wari again and again. Someone, or something from somewhere, somehow reaches out to you and beckons you to tune into the wari updates. You live in the wari and the wari lives within you, no matter where physically you are. 

On this occasion the abhang of Sant Eknath Maharaj comes to mind. This abhang was popularized by Pandit Bhimsen Joshi. Panditji’s powerful voice seems to reverberate as if he is singing surrounded by the stone walls of the Pandharpur Vitthal Mandir.

Kaya hi Pandhari, Aatma ha Vitthal

This entire abhanga is presented in the form of an analogy that echoes the teachings of the thirteenth chapter of the Bhagwad Gita. 

Eknath Maharaj draws an analogy here comparing the physical body with the holy town of Pandharpur and the soul within this body to Vitthala, the deity of Pandharpur. Vitthala is a form of Shri Krishna.

Indeed the 13th chapter of the Bhagwad Gita is named as Kshetra-Kshetradnya Vibhag Yoga! Shri Krishna proclaims to Arjun that every physical body is a kshetra. Kshetra means holy land. It also implies a designated area. The one who is aware of the Kshetra and its workings, the Knower within the body, is the Kshetra-dnya! He then proceeds to say that the Kshetra-dnya within every body is none other than Himself! The one and only entity who possesses the ability to know is the Divine Spirit and He resides in every body. 

The ego tends to appropriate the faculty of knowing to itself. That is the primary folly! When really…

Nandto keval Panduranga !

Nandto:  lives. Resides. Abides.Dwells.

Keval: only. Singularly. 

Panduranga: Vitthal. The Supreme Godhead.

The thirteenth chapter elaborates the constituents of the body namely the five elements ( earth, water, space, air, fire ), the five senses, five action organs ( in total 10 bodily functions), their respective objects of interaction, mind, intellect, ego, emotions. These components arise from Prakriti. Prakriti is ever changing, Knower is changeless. 

Bhaav Bhakti Bheema udak te vaahe

Eknath Maharaj continues to explain the atmosphere surrounding the divine presence. Bheema is the river on the banks of which Pandharpur is situated. The waters (udak)of this river are revered as holy by the pilgrims. In context of the Bhakti movement, Eknath Maharaj equates these waters with the love and devotion that flows incessantly from the heart of the warkaris towards their deity. 

Baravaa shobhat ahe Pandurang!

The Lord revels and glows splendidly in the love of his devotees. 

Daya Kshama Shanti, hechi valuvant

Milalase thaat vaishnavancha 

Vaishnav are the devotees of Vishnu/ Krishna/Vitthal. The glory of these devotees lies in their virtues. Compassion, forgiveness, peacefulness, these virtues adorn the entire surroundings of Pandharpur. The desert landscape of the area is figuratively linked to these qualities of the devotees.

Dnyan Dhyan Puja Vivek Anand

Haachi venu naad shobhatase 

What activities do the devotees engage in? Discourses that enhance the understanding about the true nature of God( dnyan), meditation upon the Holy Spirit ( dhyan), worship ( puja), wise discretion regarding shreyas and preyas of sat and asat (vivek) and revelry in the divine ( anand)

This is the true understanding of the melody emanating from the divine flute.

Dasha indriyaanchaa ek mela kela

Aisa Gopal kala hota ase 

Eknath Maharaj gives a new perspective to understand the philosophical implications of the legendary childhood play of Krishna in Gokul. He would gather all his friends and spend hours enjoying the local goodies from the cattle herding community, namely curds, butter, buttermilk etc. The gathering of friends is symbolically tied into the exercise of unifying all of one’s sensory and motor faculties in one place to fully experience life in its purest form as a manifestation of the divine reality.

Dekhili Pandhari dehi jani vani

Eka Janardani wari kari 

Having thus integrated the physical body with the mental apparatus and will, Eknath Maharaj concludes that he can see Pandharpur, the home of Vitthal in his own body, in all people and in all surroundings. This is his pilgrimage( wari). 

Eka Janardani wari kari 

There is a dual meaning in this statement. Eka refers to Eknath, the poet Saint and author of this abhang. Janardan Swami was the Guru of Eknath Maharaj. Thus he is paying obeisance to his preceptor in the end saying that it is the Guru’s grace by which he can see Vitthal everywhere and also that seeing Vitthal in everything is Eknath Maharaj’s way of serving his guru. This is his real pilgrimage. It can be interpreted as Eknath Maharaj considers Guru seva as wari.

Janardan also means the savior of people, Vitthal. And Eka means one and only! Thus seeing one God in everything is the true pilgrimage. 

If one reads the thirteenth chapter of the Bhagwad Gita carefully one would observe that from shlokas( verses) 7 through 11 Krishna has enumerated all the virtues of the devotees similar to the description in this abhang. Compassion, forgiveness, undivided devotion to God, Guru seva, love of spiritual study, regular meditative practices etc are all cited there. In the later part of the chapter Krishna summarizes that one who comes to recognize God in all creation merges into God consciousness, thus becoming one with God. 

On occasion of the Pandharpur wari, the spiritual significance of this 800 year old tradition, this pilgrim exercise as described by the great saint of Maharashtra Eknath in this popular Abhang and it’s parallel themes with the thirteenth chapter of the Bhagwad Gita become pertinent to get a deeper understanding.