Tukaram born in 1598 was a great saint poet. His parents were farmers. Their family diety was Vithala or Vithoba, an incarnation of Lord Krishna. Due death of his parents, he had to shoulder the responsibilities at an early age. Innocent of worldly ways Tukaram was cheated and humiliated in his dealings & soon lost family fortune. His wife Jeejabhai constantly nagged him for not being able to support her & children properly.
By the age of 21, he had lost all hopes in life & was at the threshold of death. At this point he had a dream in which Baba Chaitanya (Reincarnation of Sant Namdeo) initiated him into spiritual path and gave him detailed spiritual guidance in this dream. That particular moment changed his destiny and he started his journey as one of the best poets of the country. He studied works of Jnandev, Namdeo & Eknath, the famous Bhakti saints. He went into intense solitary meditation & began to compose Abhangs, devotional poetry.
As he was not born in high caste, he faced enmity, jealousy, hatred from learned pundits. Tukaram was forced to discard & throw away manuscripts of his Abhangs into Indrayani River. But Tukaram said responsibility laid with Panduranga, as the Abhangs were written as offering to him. In a miracle, Panduranga himself met Tukaram on river steps & pronounced that Abhangs will return to him and so they did.
Teachings of Tukaram:
- Serving Lord’s created world & loving them is the best way to reach Him.
- Utmost Faith is most essential for attainment of Sadhana.
- Nama Jap is most important duty of the devotee.
- Siddhis serve as impediments in attainment of Lord.
- Traditions prevent individual from loving God. One has to sidestep traditions to achieve the same.
Tukaram taught people that service to humanity, selflessness love for all is the key to reach the Panduranga.
