In plain words
He was an out-and-out politician! He had spent crores of pounds. He had given a great deal of money to his friends. He had gone round from house to house. He had poured out a great deal of money. In the end, at the moment the noose was being tightened round his neck, he went on reflecting within himself: ‘How I have misused this money! How I have misused my sacred time! My body, my time, my karma: I have wasted everything. Had I offered this itself to God, how I would have rejoiced! What a high state I would have reached! For me who spent so much and did so much, this wretched end! Chī! However many births I take, never again will I enter this politics,’ and he made a promise. The moment he made that promise, the Government too opened its eyes. At once the sentence of hanging was cancelled. Then he turned his thoughts to God: ‘O God! What use are these hands that do not serve You? So he thought.
Every Limb of the Body Is Granted Only to Be Made Worthwhile!
Tukārām said this very thing; he prayed, ‘Rāma! I am a man without limbs.’ The disciples beside him, all of them: ‘What is this? Is he going mad? He has all his limbs, has he not! Why does he call himself a man without limbs?’ and they were astonished. Tukārām: ‘I have hands, but I cannot do You service. Is this not being without limbs! What use is it to have them? I have eyes, but I cannot see You. What are these eyes for! They are only like cotton bolls, these eyes. I have ears. I cannot hear the music of Your flute. I cannot listen to Your sweet words. These ears are like caves that dogs and jackals creep into. I have feet. But I cannot come to You and bow down. I go wandering from bazaar to bazaar,’ he lamented.
When it is the village gossip, for want of a way to pass the time, you are ready at once, and with the greatest attention; but when the sweet, lovely talk of the Lord is told, you will not stay attentive, O ears!