The human birth, a refuge found
Original Marathi from the Tukaram Gatha · About Sant Tukaram
मराठी मूळ
बहुतां जन्मां अंतीं । जोडी लागली हे हातीं ॥1॥
मनुष्यदेहा ऐसा ठाव । धरीं पांडुरंगीं भाव ॥ध्रु.॥
बहु केला फेरा । येथें सांपडला थारा ॥2॥
तुका ह्मणे जाणे । ऐसे भले ते शाहाणे॥3॥
Tukaram Gatha (Marathi Wikisource)
English Translation
After countless births, this great fortune has at last come into our hands. There is no place like the human body; fix your devotion on Panduranga. After so much wandering, a refuge has at last been found here. Says Tuka, those who recognize this are good. They are the truly wise.
We ask forgiveness for any inaccuracies in rendering Tukaram ji’s original Marathi.
In Plain Words
After countless births, this great fortune has at last come into our hands. There is no place like the human body; fix your devotion on Panduranga. After so much wandering, a refuge has at last been found here. Tuka says: those who recognize this are good. They are the truly wise.
What it means
Tukaram names the human birth as a rare prize won only after long wandering through many lives. He treats the body not as a burden but as the one place from which devotion to Panduranga becomes possible, a refuge reached at last. The whole poem turns on not squandering this chance. To recognize what the human birth is for, and to act on it, is what he calls true wisdom.
Appeals and Exhortations
Direct calls to action: wake up, seek God, do not waste this human birth.
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