Original Marathi from the Tukaram Gatha
मराठी मूळ
मनुष्यदेहीं तया नाट लागलें । अघोर साधिलें कुंभपाक ॥1॥
कासया जन्मा आला तो पाषाण । जंत कां होऊन पडिला नाहीं।
उपजे मरोनि वेळोवेळां भांड । परिलाज लंड न धरी कांहीं ॥ध्रु.॥
ऐसियाची माता कासया प्रसवली । वर नाहीं घातली मुखावरी।
देवधर्मांविण तो हा चांडाळ नर । न साहे भूमि भार क्षणभरी ॥2॥
राम ह्मणतां तुझें काय वेचेल । कां हित आपुलें न विचारिसी ।
जन्मोजन्मींचा होइऩल नरकीं । तुका ह्मणे चुकी जरी यासी ॥3॥
Tukaram Gatha (Marathi Wikisource)
English Translation
One born in a human body who wastes it has only earned the horrors of hell. Why was such a person born at all? Better to have been a worm. He dies and is born again, again and again like an actor on a stage, shameless and without remorse. Why did his mother give birth to him, only to leave his face uncovered in disgrace? Without devotion to God, such a man is an outcaste; the earth cannot bear his weight for even a moment. What will it cost you to say the name of Rama? Why do you not consider your own good? Says Tuka, if one misses this chance, one falls into hell birth after birth.
This translation is auto-generated and may contain errors. We ask forgiveness for any inaccuracies in rendering Tukaram’s original Marathi.
Appeals and Exhortations
Direct calls to action: wake up, seek God, do not waste this human birth.
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