Tukaram, Poem 3001

Twenty lakhs of rebirths you must pass in plants; nine lakhs in creatures of the water; eleven lakhs in insects; ten lakhs in birds; thirty lakhs in beasts; four lakhs in human form; a crore of times you return to each womb, then the wind of manhood will blow upon you. Only then, says Tuka, does man attain a man’s body; he is a fool if he wastes it.