Abhanga 4420
A human birth is extraordinarily rare after countless cycles through other forms of life, so wasting it without devotion is a genuine tragedy.
The verse
भक्तीवीण जिणें जळो लाजिरवाणें । संसार भोगणें दुःखमूळ ॥१॥
वीसलक्ष योनि वृक्षामाजी घ्याव्या । जलचरीं भोगाव्या नवलक्ष ॥ध्रु.॥
अकरालक्ष योनि किड्यामाजी घ्याव्या । दशलक्ष भोगाव्या पर्यांमध्ये ॥२॥
तीसलक्ष योनि पशूंचीये घरीं । मानवाभीतरीं चारलक्ष ॥३॥
एकएक योनि कोटिकोटि फेरा । मनुष्यदेहाचा वारा मग लागे ॥४॥
तुका म्हणे तेव्हां नरदेह नरा । तयाचा मातेरा केला मूढें ॥५॥
Literal translation
Bhakti-vīṇa-jiṇē-jaḷō — samsāra-bhōga-duḥkha-mūḷa. 20-lakh-vrkṣa — 9-lakh-jala-charī. 11-lakh-kīḍē — 10-lakh-pari. 30-lakh-paśu — 4-lakh-mānava. Each-yōni-kōṭi-kōṭi-phēra — then-manuṣya-deha-vārā. Tukā: when-nara-deha — mūḍha-makes-mātērā-of-it.
What it means
THE canonical 5-verse 84-lakh-yōni cosmology text. Burn the bhakti-less life, it's shameful; bearing samsāra is the root-of-sorrow. Twenty-lakh wombs to be taken among trees; nine-lakh to be experienced among water-creatures. Eleven-lakh wombs among insects; ten-lakh among (other) varieties. Thirty-lakh wombs in the animals' houses; four-lakh inside man. Each one yōni has a ten-billion cycle; only then the turn of the human-body comes. Tukā says: when at-that-time the human-body comes to a man — the fool makes debris (mātērā) of it. The 84-lakh-yōni count (20+9+11+10+30+4 = 84-lakh) is a standard Indian-cosmological-doctrine of 84-lakh-species through which the soul cycles before reaching the human-body. The closing: even after this immense-cycle, the mūḍha wastes the human-body. Pair with 4225 (life-budget-accounting), 4090 (Pandhari-jīvanmukta-regardless-of-prior-character).
For someone today
Tukaram lays out the traditional teaching that a soul must pass through eighty four lakh kinds of birth before ever reaching a human body: twenty lakh births among trees, nine lakh among water creatures, eleven lakh among insects, ten lakh among other varieties, thirty lakh among animals, and only four lakh as a human being, each stage cycling through countless repetitions. He calls a life without devotion shameful and says that simply enduring ordinary worldly existence is the root of all sorrow. His warning lands hard at the end: after all those unimaginable cycles finally bring you a human body, only a fool would waste it and throw it away like garbage.
मराठी: तुकाराम पारंपरिक शिकवण मांडतात की मानवी देह मिळण्याआधी जीवाला चौऱ्याऐंशी लाख योनींमधून जावे लागते - वीस लाख वृक्षांमध्ये, नऊ लाख जलचरांमध्ये, अकरा लाख किड्यांमध्ये, दहा लाख इतर प्रकारांमध्ये, तीस लाख पशूंमध्ये आणि फक्त चार लाख मानवामध्ये, आणि प्रत्येक योनीमध्ये अगणित फेऱ्या घ्याव्या लागतात. भक्तीविना जगणे लाजिरवाणे आहे असे ते म्हणतात, आणि निव्वळ संसार भोगणे हेच दुःखाचे मूळ आहे असे सांगतात. शेवटी त्यांचा इशारा जोरदार आहे - इतक्या अगणित फेऱ्यांनंतर अखेर मानवी देह मिळतो, आणि तरीही मूढ माणूस त्याचा नुसता मातेरा करून टाकतो.
Where this applies
- Tukārām's THE 84-lakh-yōni cosmology pre-nara-deha canonical