Exhortation, do not waste the human birth
Original Marathi from the Tukaram Gatha · About Sant Tukaram
मराठी मूळ
मागुता हा चि जन्म पावसी । भोगिलें सुखदुःख जाणसी। हें तों न घडे रे सायासीं । कां रे अंध होसी जाणोनियां ॥1॥
लक्ष चौयाशी न चुके फेरा । गर्भवासीं यातना थोरा । येउनि पडसी संदेहपुरा। वोळसा थोरा मायाजाळीं ॥2॥
पशु काय पापपुण्य जाणती । उत्तम मध्यम भोग भोगिती । कांहीं एक उपजतां मरती । बहिरीं अंध होती पांगुळ मुकीं ॥3॥
नरदेह निधान लागलें हातीं । उत्तम सार उत्तम गती । होइन देव चि ह्मणती ते होती । तरि कां चित्तीं न धरावें ॥4॥
क्षण एक मन िस्थर करूनी । साव होई डोळे उघडोनी । पाहें वेद बोलिले पुराणीं । तुका विनवणी करीतसे ॥5॥
Tukaram Gatha (Marathi Wikisource)
English Translation
You will take this very same birth again and know the pleasure and pain you have already tasted. This cannot be gained through any effort; why then do you willingly become blind? The cycle of eighty-four lakh births cannot be escaped. The torments in the womb are immense. You fall again into the city of doubt, entangled deeply in the snare of illusion. Do animals know sin or virtue? They experience enjoyments of high, middle, and low degree. Some die the moment they are born. Some are deaf, some blind, some lame, some mute. This human body is a treasure that has come into your hands, the supreme essence, the highest path. Those who say they will become God themselves do become so. Why then not take it to heart? Make the mind steady for even a moment, become alert, and open your eyes. Look at what the Vedas and Puranas have declared. Says Tuka, this is my humble plea.
We ask forgiveness for any inaccuracies in rendering Tukaram ji’s original Marathi.
In Plain Words
You will be born into this very life again and taste the same pleasure and pain you already know. This birth cannot be won back by any effort, so why do you go blind on purpose? The round of eighty-four lakh births is not escaped. The torment in the womb is great. You fall again into the city of doubt, tangled deep in the net of illusion. Do animals know sin from virtue? They take their pleasures high, middle, and low. Some die the moment they are born. Some are deaf, some blind, some lame, some mute. This human body is a treasure that has come into your hands, the highest essence, the highest path. Those who say they will become God do become God. Why then not take it to heart? Make the mind still for one moment, wake up, open your eyes. Look at what the Vedas and Puranas have said. Tuka says: this is my humble plea.
What it means
Tukaram is shaking a sleeper awake. The human birth, he insists, is a rare treasure, the one form able to tell right from wrong and reach the highest goal, while animals only suffer their lots blindly and many forms perish at once. To squander this birth is to choose blindness with your eyes open, knowing the wheel of countless births and the agony of the womb still turns. The stakes are exact: those who set their will on God actually reach God, so the waste is not of comfort but of the single real chance. The closing plea is not a threat but an appeal: be still for even a moment, look at what scripture says, and use the body you have been given.
Appeals and Exhortations
Direct calls to action: wake up, seek God, do not waste this human birth.
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