Exhortation, the squandered birth
Original Marathi from the Tukaram Gatha · About Sant Tukaram
मराठी मूळ
जन्मा येउनि काय केलें । तुवां मुदल गमाविलें॥1॥
कां रे न फिरसी माघारा । अझुनि तरी फजितखोरा ॥ध्रु.॥
केली गांठोळीची नासी । पुढें भीके चि मागसी ॥2॥
Tukaram Gatha (Marathi Wikisource)
English Translation
Having been born as a human, what have you accomplished? You have squandered your very capital. Why do you not turn back even now, O shameless one? You have destroyed what was tied in your bundle, and now you shall beg from door to door.
We ask forgiveness for any inaccuracies in rendering Tukaram ji’s original Marathi.
In Plain Words
You were born a human. What have you done with it? You have lost your very capital. Why do you not turn back even now, you shameless one? You have wasted what was tied in your bundle, and now you will beg from door to door.
What it means
Tukaram speaks straight to the listener about a life being thrown away. The human birth is the capital, the rare chance to win God, and it is being squandered. He calls the listener shameless not in contempt but to break the sleep of someone who keeps spending and never turns around. The warning is concrete: waste what you were given and you end up a beggar, with nothing saved for the road ahead. The point is to turn back while there is still time.
Appeals and Exhortations
Direct calls to action: wake up, seek God, do not waste this human birth.
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