Gitanjali A Manifestation of Tagore's Devotion to God and Sense of Humanity

Chapter One

Introduction

1.1 Background of the Study

Rabindranath Tagore is an Indian poet from the erstwhile Bengal who won the Noble Prize for Literature for his anthology of poems, Gitanjali. The work has been praised by the likes of W. B. Yeats and Ezra Pound and gave a strong message of love, freedom and spirituality to its readers, thereby garnering universal appeal. Gitanjali is a pilgrimage in the search of the one Divine being. Tagore’s religion is not compartmentalized; rather it is deep rooted in the love for humanity. For him, love for his brethren is a pre-requisite in order to attain heavenly graces. Therefore, the thread of spiritual humanism runs through Gitanjali. This paper starts on an elucidation of the fundamental strand of spiritual humanism: the presence of the Infinite in the Finite. It then proceeds to depict how Tagore criticized blind worship of deities and sacred spaces, whereby they should have loved their brethren, instead. It also underscores the hollowness of rituals, material possessions and evil vices which act as an impediment between the Divine and the human being. It rounds up by highlighting the transcendentalism in Tagore’s spiritual humanism and the need for charity.

Mysticism is the spirit of communion between the individual soul and the eternal soul. A mystic tries to identify the soul with the supreme maker. He believes that all things in the visible world are but forms and manifestations of the one Divine life and that these phenomena are changing and temporary. While the soul that informs them is eternal. Mysticism represents the spiritual side of the human mind and the human personality. Man certainly partakes of the nature of a beast, but he also partakes of the nature of god, Man surely has something of satan in him, but man has at the same time something truly angelic and divine in him. Both these sides of man show themselves in man’s thoughts, his desires and in his actions and deeds. In most human beings it is the beastly or the devilish or the satanic side which dominates but there is a small minority of persons in whom the divine element is predominant. There have been persons in whom the spiritual elements dominate to the total exclusion of the other element or elements. Such persons may be called Mystics.

Rabindranath the mystic is fundamentally different from the other mystic poets who usually ignore this earth its people and look for salvation in the other world. Tagore’s mysticism is combined wiyh realism and humanism. It is not a philosophy that ask us to renounce the world and its activities, it is a philosophy based on the acceptance of the world as real and this life as earnest and sincere. Tagore goes even farther than this. He maintains that the Divine cannot be realized by renouncing the world. He has to be realized in this very life in the hearts of ordinary men and women of the world. Mystic’s have preserved the spiritual heritage of mankind through the ages and among them Rabindranath Tagore occupies an honourable position. Tagore Mysticism is to be found pre-eminently in his gitanjali. It was because of his Gitanjali that the Nobel Prize for literature was conferred upon him in 1913. The west began to regard Tagore as a Mystic on the basis of Gitanjali.

1.2 Statement of the Problem

It goes without saying that Rabindranath Tagore is perhaps the most outstanding and the most widely-known among Indian poets. As a poet Tagore seems to have been influenced by the ancient Indian texts such as the Vedas, the Upanishads, the Puranas as also by the Ramayana and the Mahabharata. It is natural that he imbibed a good deal from these sacred and venerated writings, and the kind of cosmic vision, spiritual profundity and a sincere search for truth that we get in them may very well be associated with Tagore’s poetry. It is rightly pointed out to us that Tagore was influenced to a great extent by such philosophical poets as Chandidas, Nanak, Kabir and Meera, and there are positive traces of their influence in his poetry. Significant poets like Jaidev, Chandidas, Kabir, Tukaram and Surdas made lots of contribution to the growth and development of Bhakti or devotional poetry and Gitanjali is written in this tradition. Tagore is a humanist and his Gitanjali is steeped in humanism. No doubt, Gitanjali is a religious poem, but the greatness of this religious poem lies in its humanistic appeal.

As a poet Tagore seems to have been influenced by the ancient Indian texts such as the Vedas, the Upanishads, the Puranas as also by the Ramayana and the Mahabharata. It is natural that he imbibed a good deal from these sacred and venerated writings, and the kind of cosmic vision, spiritual profundity and a sincere search for truth that we get in them may very well be associated with Tagore’s poetry. It is rightly pointed out to us that Tagore was influenced to a great extent by such philosophical poets as Chandidas, Nanak, Kabir and Meera, and there are positive traces of their influence in his poetry. Significant poets like Jaidev, Chandidas, Kabir, Tukaram and Surdas made lots of contribution to the growth and development of Bhakti or devotional poetry and Gitanjali is written in this tradition. Tagore is a humanistand his Gitanjali is steeped in humanism.

1.3 Objectives

The current study has aimed some objectives to complete this proposed research as well. These objectives are -

1.      To identify Tagore's devotion to God in Gitanjali.

2.      To evaluate sense humanism and

3.      To conduct a comparative study on Rabindranath between Rousseau.

1.4 Justification of the Study

Devotion to the God and sense of humanity are the noble virtue of mankind. The two virtues were imaging in Gitanjali by literarily. Tagore wrote Gitanjali originally in Bengali and  trans-created  it  into  English  himself  and,  thus, contributed  a  lot  to  the  twentieth  century  English literature.   The   introduction   to   this   collection   of poems was  written  by  W.  B.  Yeats who  was  deeply influenced  and  affected  by  the  devotional  tenor  of the poems. It goes to the credit of the famous English poet  W. B. Yeats  to  have  made  Rabindranath  Tagore widely  known  through  the  world  as  a poet.  This  does not,  however,  mean  or  signify  that  Tagore’s eminence  or  reputation  as  a  poet depends  only  on  what   W. B. Yeats   wrote   about   him.   W. B. Yeats   got fascinated  towards  his  poetry  because  in  it  he  saw the full and perhaps the  finest flowering of Indian or Oriental  genius. There  are  certain  striking  qualities  in Tagore’s poetry which have their own peculiar appeal or   charm   to   the   readers   even   today.   It   is   really surprising that  this  Nobel  Laureate  did  not  write  any epic poem as  Milton did in his own time. It is absurd to say that Tagore  was  not  capable  of  writing  epic poetry,  and  the  explanation  that  he  offers  in  this connection   is   both   informative   and   enlightening. Instead   of   writing   a   massive   and   composite   epic poem  he  wrote  hundreds  and  hundreds  of  beautiful

lyrics  which  cast  their  own  spell  and  magic  on  the readers.

1.5 Research Methodology

The current study has followed qualitative method. For complete this research work basically secondary data has been used. These secondary data collected from relevant books, journals, articles, previous research work and different websites. To conduct the research objectives the collected data has analysed by several chapters.

1.6 Literature Review

W. B. Yeats, ‘Introduction’ to Gitanjali (Madras: Macmillan, 1981), p.ix.

Tagore is a Mystic largely and chiefly in Gitanjali here is a book in which Mysticism is to be found in its purest and most unalloyed form. Tagore expresses his firm convictions about God, about the human soul and about the ultimate goal of the human soul.  Here is a book free from all kinds of material considerations and worldly desires or ambitions.

The entire Gitanjali is pervaded by the feeling of communion between the soul of the poet and the eternal soul whom he calls by different names as  the friend, the comrade , the lover, the lord and the master. All the songs in this book are offerings of the poet at the feet of God, the Divine master. These poems reveal the different moods and thoughts, desires and feelings, hopes and disappointments of the tunes plaintive melody. At other times he feels the approach of God and describes his feelings in the words. “He comes, he comes, he ever comes.”

The poet feels that the God comes to him through rain and shower through sunshine and spring and also through his joys and sorrows. The all pervading presence of God in the world is described by the poet in different poems. The same stream of the life that flows through his veins also flows through the entire universe and it is one with the eternal stream that flows everywhere. There is unity in diversity. The numerous forms are only the manifeststions of the Divine who is also formless.

In several poems of Gitanjali he clearly tell us that the God resides in the hearts of the people and not inside the temple and asks us to leave  the chanting and counting of beads. There is no deliverance in renunciation. God rests his feet among the poorest  the lowliest and lost. If we want to realize God we must be ready to worship the lowliest and the humblest. We cannot establish contact with Divine Without giving up our pride and vanity . Tagore  asks us to come down on the dusty soil and find presence of the Divine among the tiller who tills the land and the path maker who  breaks the stones . It is  Tagore’s convictions that God is to be realized not only in the heart of the devotee but also in the outside world, for the Divine resides everywhere.

As S. Radhakrishnan points out, Tagore uses “the visible world as a means of shadowing forth the invisible and he touches the temporal with the light of the eternal.”⁴In many songs of Gitanjali Tagore explore the relationship of God, man and nature. Nature is the manifestation of the divine. Perfect joy reigns supreme in the realm of nature. The poet expresses his mystical vision of the union of God, man and nature through highly suggestive and picturesque symbols and images. Birds, flowers, sky, stars, sun, moon, sea, river, stream, light, darkness, Indian seasons, clouds, rain, and several others occur again and again in the Gitanjali and are suggestive of spirituality and mysticism. All his metaphors, imagery, diction and association of ideas are coloured by his spiritual attitude. He culls metaphor of uncharted ever speeding voyage, a sailing boat, a pilot who strikes a high bargain beyond his means for ferrying the river he would cross to reach the shore of his beloved, just in the Vrindaban tradition of bewitching price to pay; the nature imagery too thoroughly Indian yet universal, of sunshine and darkness, lights and shade, night and day, earth and sky, flowers and leaves, plants and foliage, friends and dales, hills and heaths, and of all kinds of everyday emanations of this life and world, all made use of to form the frail delicate link between his solitary soul and that awaited supreme source of solace. The message that constantly comes either awakes him to a soft music or keeps him in eternal alertness of eager impatience. So, the original diction of his own language lends a supreme grace to his ever melting mood. Tagore is, indeed, a great poet first because of his philosophical and spiritual quest, secondly because of his meaningful love for God, man and nature, thirdly for his artistic skill and poetic craftsmanship, fourthly for his scrupulous and happy choice of idioms, images and symbols, fifthly for the evocation of music in his poetry, and lastly for the kind of transcendental atmosphere that he seeks to create in his poetical writings.

1.7 Conclusion

All the elements of mysticism are to be found in the poems of Gitanjali. Indeed Gitanjali is steeped in with mysticism , though in order really  to appreciate his mysticism we must set aside our worldly concerns and materialistic preoccupations and also forget for the time being that the author of Gitanjali was himself a man  very much involved and even entangled in political and social activities and was ,besides a great traveller who undertook many foreign tours and delivered numerous lectures on secular subjects. The very opening poem shows Tagore as a mystic. Here Tagore asserts the immortality of the human soul even though the human body is mortal.

 “Thou hast made me endless,

   Such is thy pleasure.

   This frial vessel thou emptiest again and again and 

   Fillest it everwith fresh life.” ( Gitanjali)

Tagore adds that god music has made a captive of his heart . in the next  poem Tagore as a mystic acknowledges the need of purity in life and in ones conduct and it is this realization which  makes his promise to God that he would always try to keep his body pure, to keep all untruths out of his thought and to drive away all the evils from his heart. As the poem follows Tagore expresses a strong desire for Gods company he says to God  

“Now it is time to sit quite 

  Face to face with thee.” (Gitanjali)

In Giatnjali Tagore’s longing for communion with God proves mysticism in the poem.

Poem after poem Tagore looks forward to meet God to stand before God or to have a spiritual communion with God. There are many poems in which  he expresses this longing this hope and even this conviction for  instance in one poem Tagore asks if the time has come when he may see God love and offer to him his silent saluation. In the next poem Tagore says 

“I am on the waiting for love 

 To give myself up at last into his hands”

In the next poem Tagore says to God

“If you showest me not thy face 

  I know not how I am to pass 

 These long rainy houses.”  (Gitanjali)

 In the poem which follows Tagore says in the moving words to god 

“If thou speakest not I will feel

  my heart with my silence and endure it”(Gitanjali) 

Thus we can see from all the given thoughts  mysticism over filled in Gitanjali. It is a great feature in Gitanjali which makes it unique in Indo Angelican literature. Sunidhi kumar chatterjee in the Centenary volume on Tagore says  all the above and  much else reveal Rabindranath as a unique creative spirit in the domain of art and aesthetics. As a mystic and devotional poet he takes his place with the greatest sages and devotees of India and the world. Tagore was born in a country of mysticism and  spiritual values. There were the intellectual circumstances and situations under which Tagore work.

1.8 Reference 

Tagore Rabindranath  Gitanjali with an introduction by W.B yeats 1912. Macmillian  India press Madras 

Tagore Rabindranath Collected Poems and Plays,1936 London Macmillian. 

Dr Iyenger Srinivasa K. R , Indian Writing in English, 1985 New Delhi.

Dr Iyenger Srinivasa K. R Rabindranath Tagore ,1965

Chapter Two

Life and Works of Rabindranath Tagore

Life and Death of Rabindranath Tagore

Rabindranath Tagore was one of the most famous Indian writers of all time. He is the only person who has written the National Anthems of two countries, which are India and Bangladesh. He was born in 1861 to a rich Bengali family belonging to the newly created Brahmo Samaj. At the age of seventeen he was sent to England for his formal education in Law but he returned without a degree to pursue writing poetry, Novels, Dramas etc. in India.

Tagore had written his first poem at the tender age of 8. After his arrival in India from England, he published many poems and short stories, but this was  primarily written in Bengali, so these works did not have a wide appeal beyond the confines of Bengal.

His full-fledged writing Career had begun when he went to look after his family estates in modern day Bangladesh. The works of Rabindranath Tagore gained a wider audience after his famous Collection of Poems, "Gitanjali" was translated by him into English and then published in the year 1912.

He was the author of many famous Novels, such as Gora, which is considered to be one of his best works and is the  largest one, concentrating on the life of people in the Bengali society of British India, which was divided into Hindus and the Bramho Samaj. Gora is also considered by many to be an Epic. Other famous works of his like Ghaire Baire and Chokher Bali have been made into movies.

Famous short stories by him include "Cabuliballah" or "The Fruitseller from Kabul" and "We crown thee King". Popular Dramas by him inculde "Raja", "Visarjan", "Valmiki Pratibha" etc. For his Excellent work, the British Crown knighted him in 1915. But due to his political views, which were critical of the British Rule in India, especially after the Jallianwala Bagh massacare, he later returned his Knighthood.

After handling his estates, Tagore set up the famous Santiniketan Ashram where he then continued to live. From there, he set up "Sriniketan" or The Institute for Rural Reconstruction and he was also responsible the creation of "Vishwa Bharti", a college that has now become a University.

Many of Tagore's poems have been turned into songs with music composed for them. He also wrote Non-fiction and he also wrote an essay,titled, "Nationalism in India". He died in the city of his birth, Kolkata(Calcutta) on 7th August, 1941.

Childhood & Early Life

• Rabindranath Thakur (Tagore) was the youngest of the thirteen children born to Debendranath Tagore and Sarada Devi. His father was a great Hindu philosopher and one of the founders of the religious movement, ‘Brahmo Samaj’.
• Nicknamed ‘Rabi’, Tagore was very young when his mother died and since his father was away most of the time, he was raised by the domestic help.
• The Tagores were ardent art-lovers who were known throughout the Bengal for their dominant influence over Bengali culture and literature. Having been born in such a family, he was introduced to the world of theatre, music (both regional folk and Western) and literature from an early age.
• When he was eleven, he accompanied his father on a tour across India. While on this journey, he read the works of famous writers, including Kalidasa, a celebrated Classical Sanskrit poet. Upon his return, he composed a long poem in the Maithili style, in 1877.
• In 1878, he moved to Brighton, East Sussex, England, to study law. He attended the University College London for some time, following which he started studying the works of Shakespeare. He returned to Bengal in 1880 without a degree, with the aspiration of fusing the elements of Bengali and European traditions in his literary works.
• In 1882, he wrote one of his most acclaimed poems, ‘Nirjharer Swapnabhanga’.
• Kadambari, one of his sisters-in-law, was his close friend and confidante, who committed suicide in 1884. Devastated by this incident, he skipped classes at school and spent most of his time swimming in the Ganges and trekking through the hills.

Fame & International Recognition

• In 1890, while on a visit to his ancestral estate in Shelaidaha, his collection of poems, ‘Manasi’, was released. The period between 1891 and 1895 proved to be fruitful during which, he authored a massive three volume collection of short stories, ‘Galpaguchchha’.
• In 1901, he moved to Shantiniketan, where he composed ‘Naivedya’, published in 1901 and ‘Kheya’, published in 1906. By then, several of his works were published and he had gained immensely popularity among Bengali readers.
• In 1912, he went to England and took a sheaf of his translated works with him. There he introduced his works to some of the prominent writers of that era, including William Butler Yeats, Ezra Pound, Robert Bridges, Ernest Rhys, and Thomas Sturge Moore.
• His popularity in English speaking nations grew manifold after the publication of ‘Gitanjali: Song Offerings’ and later in 1913, he was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature.
• In 1915, he was also granted knighthood by the British Crown, which he renounced after the 1919 Jalianwala Bagh massacre.
• From May 1916 to April 1917, he stayed in Japan and the U.S. where he delivered lectures on ‘Nationalism’ and on Personality’.
• In 1920s and 1930s, he travelled extensively around the world; visiting Latin America, Europe and South-east Asia. During his extensive tours, he earned a cult following and endless admirers.

Political Opinion

• Tagore’s political outlook was a little ambiguous. Though he censured imperialism, he supported the continuation of British administration in India.
• He criticized ‘Swadeshi Movement’ by Mahatma Gandhi in his essay "The Cult of the Charka", published in September 1925. He believed in the co-existence of the British and the Indians and stated that British rule in India was "political symptom of our social disease".
• He never supported nationalism and considered it to be one of the greatest challenges faced by humanity. In this context he once said “A nation is that aspect which a whole population assumes when organized for a mechanical purpose”. Nevertheless, he occasionally supported the Indian Independence Movement and following the Jallianwala Bagh massacre, he even renounced his knighthood on 30 May 1919.
• On the whole, his vision of a free India was based not on its independence from the foreign rule, but on the liberty of thought, action and conscience of its citizens.

Themes of His Works

• Though he is more famous as a poet, Tagore was an equally good short-story writer, lyricist, novelist, playwright, essayist, and painter.
• His poems, stories, songs and novels provided an insight into the society which was rife with religious and social tenets and was infested with ill-practices such as child marriage. He condemned the idea of a male-dominated society by articulating the subtle, soft yet spirited aspect of womanhood, which was subdued by the insensitivity of man.
• While reading any of his works, one will certainly come across at least one common theme, i.e. nature. As a child, this great author grew in the lap of nature which left a deep-seated impression on him. It inculcated a sense of freedom, which emancipated his mind, body and soul from the typical societal customs prevalent those days.
• No matter how much he was enchanted by nature, he never distanced himself from the harsh realities of life. He observed life and society around him, weighed down by rigid customs and norms and plagued by orthodoxy. His criticism of societal dogmas is the underlying theme of most of his works.

Major Works

• ‘Gitanjali’, a collection of poems, is considered his best poetic accomplishment. It is written in traditional Bengali dialect and consists of 157 poems based on themes pertaining to nature, spirituality and intricacy of (human) emotions and pathos.
• A proficient songwriter, Tagore composed 2,230 songs, which are often referred to as ‘Rabindra Sangeeth’. He also wrote the national anthem for India - ‘Jana Gana Mana’- and for Bangladesh - ‘Aamaar Sonaar Banglaa’ for which, both nations will forever be indebted to him.
• ‘Galpagucchaccha’ a collection of eighty stories is his most famous short story collection which revolves around the lives of rural folks of Bengal. The stories mostly deal with the subjects of poverty, illiteracy, marriage, femininity, etc. and enjoy immense popularity even today.

Awards & Achievements

• For his momentous and revolutionary literary works, Tagore was honored with the Nobel Prize in Literature on 14 November 1913.
• He was also conferred knighthood in 1915, which he renounced in 1919 after the Jallianwallah Bagh carnage.
• In 1940, Oxford University awarded him with a Doctorate of Literature in a special ceremony arranged at Shantiniketan.

Personal Life & Legacy

• Tagore married Mrinalini Devi in 1883 and fathered five children. Sadly, his wife passed away in 1902 and to add to his grief two of his daughters, Renuka (in 1903) and Samindranath (in 1907) also died.
• He became physically weak during the last few years of his life. He left for the heavenly abode on 7 August 1941, at age of 80.
• Tagore has influenced a whole generation of writers across the globe. His impact is far beyond the boundaries of Bengal or India and his works have been translated to many languages including English, Dutch, German, Spanish etc.

Trivia

• This venerated poet and author was the first non-European to win a Nobel Prize in Literature.
• This great Bengali poet was an admirer of Gandhi and was the one who gave him the name “Mahatma”.
• He is the only poet to have composed national anthems for two nations – India and Bangladesh.

Top 10 Facts You Did Not Know About Rabindranath Tagore

• Rabindranath Tagore wrote his first poem at the tender age of eight!
• He hated the structured education system and dropped out of college in frustration.
• Tagore was granted a knighthood by the British Crown in 1915 which he renounced after the 1919 Jallianwala Bagh massacre.
• He revolutionized Indian literature and art, and is credited to have started the Bengal Renaissance Movement.
• He maintained correspondence with the eminent German scientist Albert Einstein and the two Nobel laureates greatly admired each other.
• Film-maker Satyajit Ray was deeply influenced by Tagore’s works and the iconic train scene in Ray's ‘Pather Panchali’ was inspired from an incident in Tagore's ‘Chokher Bali’.
• He was a prolific composer with over 2,000 songs to his credit.
• While it is common knowledge that Tagore wrote the national anthems of India and Bangladesh, few know that Sri Lanka's national anthem is based on a Bengali song originally written by Tagore in 1938.
• Tagore took up drawing and painting at the age of sixty, and went on to hold several successful exhibitions throughout Europe!
• He was a widely traveled man and had visited more than thirty countries on five continents.

Chapter Three

Evaluation of the Major Works

Major Works

Tagore's literary reputation is disproportionately influenced by regard for his poetry; however, he also wrote novels, essays, short stories, travelogues, dramas, and thousands of songs. Of Tagore's prose, his short stories are perhaps most highly regarded; indeed, he is credited with originating the Bangla-language version of the genre. His works are frequently noted for their rhythmic, optimistic, and lyrical nature. However, such stories mostly borrow from deceptively simple subject matter—the lives of ordinary people.

 

Novels and non-fiction

Tagore wrote eight novels and four novellas, including Chaturanga, Shesher Kobita, Char Odhay, and Noukadubi. Ghare Baire (“The Home and the World”)— through the lens of the idealistic zamindar protagonist Nikhil—excoriates rising Indian nationalism, terrorism, and religious zeal in the Swadeshi movement. A frank expression of Tagore's conflicted sentiments, it emerged out of a 1914 bout of depression. Indeed, the novel bleakly ends with Hindu-Muslim sectarian violence and Nikhil's being (probably mortally) wounded (192-194). In some sense, Gora shares the same theme, raising controversial questions regarding the Indian identity. As with Ghare Baire, matters of self-identity (jāti), personal freedom, and religion are developed in the context of a family story and love triangle (154-155).

Another powerful story is Yogayog (Nexus), where the heroine Kumudini—bound by the ideals of Shiva-Sati, exemplified by Dākshāyani, is torn between her pity for the sinking fortunes of her progressive and compassionate elder brother and her exploitative, rakish, and patriarchical husband. In it, Tagore demonstrates his feminist leanings, using pathos to depict the plight and ultimate demise of Bengali women trapped by pregnancy, duty, and family honor; simultaneously, he treats the decline of Bengal's landed oligarchy (Mukherjee 2004).

Other novels were more uplifting:

Shesher Kobita (translated as “Last Poem” or “Farewell Song”) is his most lyrical novel, with poems and rhythmic passages written by the main character (a poet). It also contains elements of satire and post-modernism, whereby stock characters gleefully attack the reputation of an old, outmoded, oppressively renowned poet who, incidentally, goes by the name of Rabindranath Tagore.

Though his novels remain among the least-appreciated of his works, they have been given renewed attention via film adaptations by such directors as Satyajit Ray; these include Chokher Bali and Ghare Baire; many have soundtracks featuring selections from Tagore's own rabindrasangit. Tagore also wrote many non-fiction books on topics ranging from Indian history to linguistics. In addition to autobiographical works, his travelogues, essays, and lectures were compiled into several volumes, including Iurop Jatrir Patro (“Letters from Europe”) and Manusher Dhormo (“The Religion of Man”).

 

Music and artwork

Tagore was an accomplished musician and painter, writing around 2,230 songs. They comprise rabindrasangit (“Tagore Song"), now an integral part of Bengali culture in both India and Bangladesh. Tagore's music is inseparable from his literature, most of which became lyrics for his songs. Primarily influenced by the thumri style of Hindustani classical music, they ran the entire gamut of human emotion, ranging from his early dirge-like Brahmo devotional hymns to quasi-erotic compositions (Dutta and Robinson, 94). They emulated the tonal color of classical ragas to varying extents, while at times his songs mimicked a given raga's melody and rhythm faithfully, he also blended elements of different ragas to create innovative works (Dasgupta 2001). For Bengalis, their appeal—stemming from the combination of emotive strength and beauty described as surpassing even Tagore's poetry—was such that the Modern Review observed that "[t]here is in Bengal no cultured home where Rabindranath's songs are not sung or at least attempted to be sung ... Even illiterate villagers sing his songs." Music critic Arther Strangeways of The Observer first introduced non-Bengalis to rabindrasangit with his book The Music of Hindustani, which described it as a "vehicle of a personality ... [that] go behind this or that system of music to that beauty of sound which all systems put out their hands to seize (Dutta and Robinson, 359).

When Yeats visited India, he was impressed to hear women tea-pickers singing Tagore's songs in a very poor part of the country. Two of Tagore's songs are national anthems—Bangladesh's Amar Sonaar Bengali and India's Jana Gana Mana. Tagore thus became the only person ever to have written the national anthems of two nations. In turn, rabindrasangit influenced the styles of such musicians as sitar maestro Vilayat Khan, the sarodiya Buddhadev Dasgupta, and composer Amjad Ali Khan (Dasgupta 2001).

At age 60, Tagore took up drawing and painting; successful exhibitions of his many works—which made a debut appearance in Paris upon encouragement by artists he met—were held throughout Europe. Tagore—who likely exhibited protanopia ("color blindness"), or partial lack of (red-green, in Tagore's case) color discernment—painted in a style characterized by peculiarities in aesthetics and coloring schemes. Nevertheless, Tagore took to emulating numerous styles, including that of craftwork by the Malanggan people of northern New Ireland, Haida carvings from the Pacific Northwest region of North America, and woodcuts by Max Pechstein (Dyson 2001). Tagore also had an artist's eye for his own handwriting, embellishing the scribbles, cross-outs, and word layouts in his manuscripts with simple artistic leitmotifs, including simple rhythmic designs. His nephews, Gaganendranath and Abanindranath, were acclaimed painters.

 

Theatrical pieces

Tagore's experience in theater began at age 16, when he played the lead role in his brother Jyotirindranath's adaptation of Molière's Le Bourgeois Gentilhomme. At age twenty, he wrote his first drama-opera—Valmiki Pratibha (“The Genius of Valmiki”)—which describes how the bandit Valmiki reforms his ethos, is blessed by Saraswati (goddess of learning), and composes the Rāmāyana (Chakravarti, 123). Through it, Tagore vigorously explores a wide range of dramatic styles and emotions, including usage of revamped kirtans (Hindu devotional songs) and adaptation of traditional English and Irish folk melodies as drinking songs (Dutta and Robinson, 79-81). Another notable play, Dak Ghar (“The Post Office”), describes how a child—striving to escape his stuffy confines—ultimately "fall[s] asleep" (which suggests his physical death). A story with worldwide appeal (it received rave reviews in Europe), Dak Ghar dealt with death as, in Tagore's words, "spiritual freedom [from] the world of hoarded wealth and certified creeds" (21-23; Chakravarty, 123-124).

His other works—emphasizing fusion of lyrical flow and emotional rhythm tightly focused on a core idea—were unlike previous Bengali dramas. His works sought to articulate, in Tagore's words, "the play of feeling and not of action." In 1890 he wrote Visarjan (“Sacrifice”), regarded as his finest drama (Chakravarty, 123). The Bangla-language originals included intricate subplots and extended monologues. Later, his dramas probed more philosophical and allegorical themes; these included Dak Ghar. Another is Tagore's Chandalika (“Untouchable Girl”), which was modeled on an ancient Buddhist legend describing how Ananda—the Gautama Buddha's disciple—asks water of an Adivasi ("untouchable") girl (Chakravarty, 124). Lastly, among his most famous dramas is Raktakaravi (“Red Oleanders”), which tells of a kleptocratic king who enriches himself by forcing his subjects to mine. The heroine, Nandini, eventually rallies the common people to destroy these symbols of subjugation. Tagore's other plays include Chitrangada, Raja, and Mayar Khela.

 

Short stories

A drawing by Nandalall Bose illustrating Tagore's short story "The Hero," an English-language translation of which appeared in the 1913 Macmillan publication of Tagore's The Crescent Moon.

The four years from 1891 to 1895 are known as Tagore’s Sadhana period (named for one of Tagore’s magazines). This period was among Tagore's most fecund, yielding more than half the stories contained in the three-volume Galpaguchchha, which itself is a collection of eighty-four stories (Chakravarty, 45). Such stories usually showcase Tagore’s reflections upon his surroundings, on modern and fashionable ideas, and on interesting mind puzzles (which Tagore was fond of testing his intellect with).

Tagore typically associated his earliest stories (such as those of the Sadhana period) with an exuberance of vitality and spontaneity; these characteristics were intimately connected with Tagore’s life in the common villages of, among others, Patisar, Shajadpur, and Shilaida, while managing the Tagore family’s vast landholdings. There, he beheld the lives of India’s poor and common people. Tagore thereby took to examining their lives with a penetrative depth and feeling that was singular in Indian literature up to that point (Chakravarty 1961, 45-46). In "The Fruitseller from Kabul," Tagore speaks in first person as town-dweller and novelist who chances upon the Afghani seller. He attempts to distill the sense of longing felt by those long trapped in the mundane and hardscrabble confines of Indian urban life, giving play to dreams of a different existence in the distant and wild mountains:

There were autumn mornings, the time of year when kings of old went forth to conquest; and I, never stirring from my little corner in Calcutta, would let my mind wander over the whole world. At the very name of another country, my heart would go out to it ... I would fall to weaving a network of dreams: the mountains, the glens, the forest... (Chakravarty 48-49)

Many of the other Galpaguchchha stories were written in Tagore’s Sabuj Patra period (1914–1917; also named for one of Tagore's magazines) (45).

A 1913 illustration by Asit Kumar Haldar accompanying "The Beginning," a prose-poem appearing in Tagore's The Crescent Moon.

Tagore's Golpoguchchho (“Bunch of Stories”) remains among Bangla literature's most popular fictional works, providing subject matter for many successful films and theatrical plays. Satyajit Ray's film Charulata was based upon Tagore's controversial novella, Nastanirh (“The Broken Nest”). In Atithi (also made into a film), the young Brahmin boy Tarapada shares a boat ride with a village zamindar (landlord). The boy reveals that he has run away from home, only to wander around ever since. Taking pity, the zamindar adopts him and ultimately arranges his marriage to the zamindar's own daughter. However, the night before the wedding, Tarapada runs off—again.

Strir Patra (“The Letter from the Wife”) is among Bangla literature's earliest depictions of the bold emancipation of women. The heroine Mrinal, the wife of a typical patriarchical Bengali middle class man, writes a letter while she is traveling (which constitutes the whole story). It details the pettiness of her life and struggles; she finally declares that she will not return to her husband's home with the statement Amio bachbo. Ei bachlum ("And I shall live. Here, I live").

In Haimanti, Tagore takes on the institution of Hindu marriage, describing the dismal lifelessness of married Bengali women, hypocrisies plaguing the Indian middle classes, and how Haimanti, a sensitive young woman, must—due to her sensitiveness and free spirit—sacrifice her life. In the last passage, Tagore directly attacks the Hindu custom of glorifying Sita's attempted self-immolation as a means of appeasing her husband Rama's doubts.

Tagore also examines Hindu-Muslim tensions in Musalmani Didi, which in many ways embodies the essence of Tagore's humanism. On the other hand, Darpaharan exhibits Tagore's self-consciousness, describing a young man harboring literary ambitions. Though he loves his wife, he wishes to stifle her own literary career, deeming it unfeminine. Tagore himself, in his youth, seems to have harbored similar ideas about women. Darpaharan depicts the final humbling of the man via his acceptance of his wife's talents. As many other Tagore stories, Jibito o Mrito (life or death) provides the Bengalis with one of their more widely used epigrams: Kadombini moriya proman korilo she more nai ("Kadombini died, thereby proved that she hadn't").

 

Poetry

Tagore's poetry—which varied in style from classical formalism to the comic, visionary, and ecstatic—proceeds out a lineage established by fifteenth- and sixteenth-century Vaishnavite poets. Tagore was also influenced by the mysticism of the rishi-authors who—including Vyasa—wrote the Upanishads, the Bhakta-Sufi mystic Kabir, and Ramprasad (Roy 1977, 201). Yet Tagore's poetry became most innovative and mature after his exposure to rural Bengal's folk music, which included ballads sung by Bāul folk singers—especially the bard Lālan Śāh (Stewart and Twichell, 94; Urban 2001, 18). These—which were rediscovered and popularised by Tagore—resemble nineteenth-century Kartābhajā hymns that emphasize inward divinity and rebellion against religious and social orthodoxy (6-7, 16).

During his Shelidah years, his poems took on a lyrical quality, speaking via the manner manus (the Bāuls' "man within the heart") or meditating upon the jivan devata ("living God within"). This figure thus sought connection with divinity through appeal to nature and the emotional interplay of human drama. Tagore used such techniques in his Bhānusiṃha poems (which chronicle the romanticism between Radha and Krishna), which he repeatedly revised over the course of seventy years (Stewart and Twichell, 7).

Later, Tagore responded to the (mostly) crude emergence of modernism and realism in Bengali literature by writing experimental works in the 1930s (Dutta and Robinson, 281). Examples works include Africa and Camalia, which are among the better known of his latter poems. He also occasionally wrote poems using Shadhu Bhasha (the high form of Bangla); later, he began using Cholti Bhasha (the low form). Other notable works include Manasi, Sonar Tori (“Golden Boat”), Balaka (“Wild Geese,” the title being a metaphor for migrating souls) and Purobi.

Sonar Tori's most famous poem—dealing with the ephemeral nature of life and achievement—goes by the same name; it ends with the haunting phrase "Shunno nodir tire rohinu poŗi / Jaha chhilo loe gêlo shonar tori"—"all I had achieved was carried off on the golden boat—only I was left behind"). Internationally, Gitanjali is Tagore's best-known collection, winning him his Nobel Prize (Stewart and Twichell, 95-96).

Chapter Four

A Comparative Study Between Rabindranath and Rousseau

Rousseau's natural education is going to cultivate a natural person, and the natural instinct of children to adapt to the development of a set of educational theory. The paper comparatively studies the dissimilarities and connections of Jean-Jacques Rousseau and Gurudev Ravindranath Tagore, two representative naturalistic educators, in the aspects of connotations, targets, contents and teacher-student relationship of naturalistic education. Naturalism as a philosophy of education was developed in the 18th century. It is based on the assumption that nature represents the wholeness of reality. Nature, itself, is a total system that contains and explains all existence including human beings and human nature.

Chapter Five

Analytical Discussion On Gitanjali

 

5.1 Analytical Discussion

Rabindranath Tagore (1861-1941) is distinguished for being a man with numerous dimensional personalities and is the most eminent Bengali renaissance poet, philosopher, essayist, critic, composer and educator who dreamt of a harmony of universal humanity among the people of different origin through freedom of mind and spiritual sovereignty. Rabindranath Tagore occupies a fore position in the galaxy of the prophets of Humanism. He became the first-ever Asian writer to be awarded a Nobel Prize in 1913 for translated version of his cycle of song-poems entitled Gitanjali. 

Rabindranath Tagore creations and activities has a common feeling that is his love for Man in other words his love for humanity by enforcing the values of humanity such as peace and harmony in the nation at large. He was a passionate Indian, but his nationalism transcendent into universalism, where one may find out a unique unification of the best of the East and that of the West. Tagore played a very important and a noteworthy part in India’s freedom struggle and his efforts were appreciated by both Gandhi and Nehru and after independence, India chose a song of Tagore "Jana Gana Mana Adhionayaka" as its National Anthem. The citizens of Bangladesh also choose one of Tagore's songs ("Amar Sonar Bangla" which can be translated as "My Golden Bengal") as its National Anthem.

Tagore's most innovative and mature poetry embodies his exposure to Bengali rural folk music, which included mystic Baul ballads such as those of the bard Lalon.^[1] These, rediscovered and repopularised by Tagore, resemble 19th-century Kartābhajā hymns that emphasise inward divinity and rebellion against bourgeois bhadralok religious and social orthodoxy. Tagore reacted to the half hearted uptake of modernist and realist techniques in Bengali literature by writing matching experimental works in the 1930s.^[4] These include Africa and Camalia, among the better known of his latter poems. He occasionally wrote poems using Shadhu Bhasha, a Sanskritised dialect of Bengali; he later adopted a more popular dialect known as Cholti Bhasha. Other works include Manasi, Sonar Tori (Golden Boat), Balaka (Wild Geese, a name redolent of migrating souls),^[5] and Purobi. Sonar Tori's most famous poem, dealing with the fleeting endurance of life and achievement, goes by the same name; hauntingly it ends: Shunno nodir tire rohinu poŗi / Jaha chhilo loe gêlo shonar tori—"all I had achieved was carried off on the golden boat—only I was left behind." Gitanjali is Tagore's best-known collection internationally, earning him his Nobel.^[6]

Gitanjali is Tagore’s Poetry which had earned him remarkable success. It is evident that Tagore started writing at a very young age of thirteen and the next sixty seven years were marked by continual and torrential flow of creativity in various forms of literary works. In Gitanjali Tagore writes about many things that makes him happy and also the things that make him loose his cool. At the beginning of his literary career Tagore is a romantic and to some extent a spiritualist poet as he is the worshipper of beauty and this is also reflected in his poetry Gitanjali. For Tagore anything that is beautiful in nature, the poet feels shuddering of his own self in it and then we see him trying to write down his feeling with the help of the nature. His happiness in the midst of the nature’s beauty is obvious when he writes:

Pluck this little flower and take it, delay not! I fear lest it droop and drop into the dust.

I may not find a place in thy garland, but honour it with a touch of pain from thy hand and pluck it. I fear lest the day end before I am aware, and the time of offering go by.

Though its colour be not deep and its smell be faint, use this flower in thy service and pluck it while there is time

(Gitanjali- VI, p.20) 

The poet seems to be very religious and God fearing person. He is the true follower of his Lord. His Lord has asked him to sing and he is so much touched by the Lord’s command that his heart broke with pride and tears starts flowing. The poet feels very much delighted to sing praises unto the Lord almighty and he feels relived when he sing out his heart to the Lord. He believes that all the harshness which he has in himself is melted into one sweet harmony as soon as he gazes at the Lord’s sweet face. We also sees the poet so much drunk and moved in singing praises to the Lord for his grace on him, that he forgets that he is not singing for his friend but to his almighty Lord.

When thou commands me to sing it seems that my heart would break with pride; and I look to thy face, and tears come to my eyes.

All that is harsh and dissonant in my life melts into one sweet harmony - and my adoration spreads wings like a glad bird on its flight across the sea.

I know thou takes pleasure in my singing. I know that only as a singer I come before thy presence.

I touch by the edge of the far-spreading wing of my song thy Feet which I could never aspire to reach.

Drunk with the joy of singing I forget myself and call thee Friend who art my lord.

(Gitanjali- II, p.17)

We often see the poet encouraging and motivating the masses who are the downtrodden in the society and poor. The poet informs us that the Lord is so great that the Heaven is his Thorne and the Earth is his Footstool. He says that the Lord walks in the midst of the poorest the lowest and the lost people who have no hopes and the Lord is there with them to love and take care of them. He himself feels that he has pride and he can never find his way towards the ways of the Lord. He feels he has to become good and try to overcome the pride and only then he can follow the Lord, as his self pride is seen as a hindrance in his love for the Lord. In one way he tries to address to those people who have pride of wealth and standard to correct them to share the love and be humane to the needy people and let every one leave in peace and harmony. So the poet writes:

Here is thy footstool and there rest thy feet where live the Poorest, and lowliest, and lost.

When I try to bow to thee, my obeisance cannot reach down to the depth where thy feet rest among the poorest, and lowliest, and lost.

Pride can never approach to where thou walkest in the clothes of the humble among the poorest, and lowliest, and lost.

My heart can never find its way to where thou keepest

company with the companionless among the poorest, the lowliest, and the lost.

 (Gitanjali- X, p.21)

Now we see the poet prepares the masses to attain eternal peace and contentment in life. He further says to experience such harmony one has to cross all the wildernesses that exist in the world. The poet says when one come across such difficulties and tuff times in life, and when one feels alienated and cries out to the Lord “Where are you Lord?” Then the poet wants the Lord to flood the world with the assurance that “I am” i.e. I am with you. For He is the Lord who will never forsake us, so the poet writes:

The time that my journey takes is long and the way of it long. I came out on the chariot of the first gleam of light, and pursued my voyage through the wildernesses of worlds leaving my track on many a star and planet.

It is the most distant course that comes nearest to thyself, and that training is the most intricate which leads to the utter simplicity of a tune.

The traveller has to knock at every alien door to come to his

own, and one has to wander through all the outer worlds to reach the innermost shrine at the end.

My eyes strayed far and wide before I shut them and said

`Here art thou!'

The question and the cry `Oh, where?' melt into tears of a thousand streams and deluge the world with the flood of the assurance `I am!'

                                                                                                       (Gitanjali- XII, p.23)

The poet says that he will be silent till the Lord speaks out. He encourages everyone that after darkness a new day will surely come and the darkness will flee forever, which is clearly evident in the following lines in the poem:

If thou speakest not I will fill my heart with thy silence and endure it. I will keep still and wait like the night with starry vigil and its head bent low with patience.

The morning will surely come, the darkness will vanish, and thy voice pour down in golden streams breaking through the sky. Then thy words will take wing in songs from every one of my birds' nests, and thy melodies will break forth in flowers in all

(Gitanjali- XIX, p.27)

According to the Tagore, freedom from all the oppressions of the world would enable everyone to live a life full of contentment. This freedom leads to a total whole that is Infinite, which is the consolidation of the best in the finites. This perfect freedom is the key that leads Man from the state of finiteness to identify with the Infinite. The poet says: Obstinate are the trammels, but my heart aches when I try to break them.

Freedom is all I want, but to hope for it I feel ashamed.

I am certain that priceless wealth is in thee, and that thou art my best friend, but I have not the heart to sweep away the tinsel that fills my room

The shroud that covers me is a shroud of dust and death; I hate it, yet hug it in love.

My debts are large, my failures great, my shame secret and heavy; yet when I come to ask for my good, I quake in fear lest my prayer be granted.

                                                                                                (Gitanjali- XXVIII, p.32)

The poet wants to see India and the whole world to be full of strength to uproot the slavery and bondages from life and attain complete heavenly freedom in life, which is resembled in the following lines:

Where the mind is without fear and the head is held high;

Where knowledge is free;

Where the world has not been broken up into fragments by narrow domestic walls;

Where words come out from the depth of truth;

Where tireless striving stretches its arms towards perfection; Where the clear stream of reason has not lost its way into the dreary desert sand of dead habit;

Where the mind is led forward by thee into ever-widening thought and action -

Into that heaven of freedom, my Father, let my country awake.

(Gitanjali- XXXV, p.36)

This eternal searching for this perfect freedom is an essential component of humanity. This dimension adds a special aroma to Tagore’s philosophy of harmony and humanism. At this stage there is a significant and qualitative change in his poetic exuberance. Now the poet identifies himself as one among his fellows and prays to the Lord to give him strength to make a fruitful service towards the needy people. So he writes:

This is my prayer to thee, my lord - strike, strike at the root of penury in my heart.

Give me the strength lightly to bear my joys and sorrows.

Give me the strength to make my love fruitful in service. Give me the strength never to disown the poor or bend my knees before insolent might.

Give me the strength to raise my mind high above daily trifles. And give me the strength to surrender my strength to thy will with love.

(Gitanjali- XXXVI, p.36-37)

The poet so renowned but still has consideration for the masses, who are being targeted by the social systems. He is also affected by the grief of the masses and can’t stand the injustice done to the downtrodden people of India. He thought his voyage has come to an end but he says that the Lord’s will for him have not come still, so he has to go on and on till the country is made new by vanishing all the corruptions and evil deeds of the people. So he says:

I thought that my voyage had come to its end at the last limit of my power, - that the path before me was closed, that provisions were exhausted and the time come to take shelter in a silent obscurity.

But I find that thy will knows no end in me. And when old words die out on the tongue, new melodies break forth from the heart; and where the old tracks are lost, new country is revealed with its wonders.

(Gitanjali- XXXVII, p.37)

The  poets needs the Lord as the storm needs its peace and as the night waits for the light. He finds all his desires that distracts him are false and empty to the core as well.  He want the Lord to be with him and strenghten him  by his presence to make this world a better place for everyone irrespective of class, creed and colour to live in. So he writes:

That I want thee, only thee - let my heart repeat without end.

All desires that distract me, day and night, are false and empty

to the core.

As the night keeps hidden in its gloom the petition for light, even thus in the depth of my unconsciousness rings the cry - `I want thee, only thee'.

As the storm still seeks its end in peace when it strikes against peace with all its might, even thus my rebellion strikes against thy love and still its cry is - `I want thee, only thee'.

(Gitanjali- XXXVIII, p.37-38)

The poet further writes that when the grace from the world and life iof the human is lost, he urges the Lord of Peace to fill himself and the world with his eternal peace which will make everyones liufe a harmonious one indeed. So the poet says:

When the heart is hard and parched up, come upon me with a shower of mercy.

When grace is lost from life, come with a burst of song.

When tumultuous work raises its din on all sides shutting me out from beyond, come to me, my lord of silence, with thy peace and rest.

When my beggarly heart sits crouched, shut up in a corner, break open the door, my king, and come with the ceremony of a king.

When desire blinds the mind with delusion and dust, O thou holy one, thou wakeful, come with thy light and thy thunder.

(Gitanjali- XXXIX, p.38)

Tagore gave all through his life, through his paradisiacal imagination that envisioned a world of love, equality, honesty bravery, and spiritual unity of all the mankind. He sees the present humanity is infactuated with the greed, wealth and power and further leaves it to those who do evil to turn away from their evil doings and their horrific moral slumber. Tagore prayers for India and in turn he prays for the whole Humanity to experience the true peace and harmony in life by giving up evil and taking up good deeds. The Poet longs for deliverance from the evil deeds and wants to enjoy freeedom in reality, so the poet says: Deliverance is not for me in renunciation. I feel the embrace of freedom in a thousand bonds of delight.

Thou ever pourest for me the fresh draught of thy wine of various colours and fragrance, filling this earthen vessel to the brim.

My world will light its hundred different lamps with thy flame and place them before the altar of thy temple.

No, I will never shut the doors of my senses. The delights of sight and hearing and touch will bear thy delight.

Yes, all my illusions will burn into illumination of joy, and all my desires ripen into fruits of love.

(Gitanjali- LXXIII, p.64-65)

5.2 Spiritual Humanism in Rabindranath Tagore’s Gitanjali

“The poor, the illiterate, the ignorant, the afflicted - let these be your God. Know that service to these alone is the highest religion.”

These are the words from the spiritual leader – Swami Vivekananda, which clearly underscores the presence of the divine in our fellow brethren. The same strand of thought is shared by another great Indian poet – Rabindranath Tagore, as reverberated in his collection of poems – Gitanjali.

Tagore’s poems are a sojourn to the Supreme Being, who is ever-elusive, mystical and mysterious and the poet burns in longing to behold its sight, touch and aura. A way of coming close to the Divine is loving our fellow human being. This is the main thrust of spiritual humanism that Tagore embodies and propagates to his readers. Whether co-incidental or not, Gitanjali certainly has biblical connotations, echoing Jesus’ commandment in the New Testament to “love thy neighbour…”

The first step is to see the infinite in the finite. In poem 48, in his journey of spiritual attainment, the poet confesses how he was mistaken and disillusioned that the path to the divine was a “long and wearisome” one, and the struggle to reach it was hard. He also speaks of how his companions “crossed many meadows and hills, and passed through strange, far-away countries” in order to search for the Divine. But the ultimate truth is: the Divine being resides in our true selves. In poem 71, the poet says writes: “Thou settest a barrier in thine own being and then callest thy severed self in myriad notes. This thy self-separation has taken body in me.”

This thought process can trace its roots to the Isha Upanishad, which gives a message to realize the One in the Multiplicity of human beings in the universal motion. God severed himself to create man. This viewpoint also challenges the notion that the presence of the Divine is solely confined to the parameters of a temple or place of worship. Tagore is against this. In poem 10, Tagore says that the Divine Being is not to be found enshrined in some temple or religious site, but it stays between the “poorest, and lowliest, and lost.”

Therefore, he castigates the overtly religious people and urges them to forsake their unending “chanting and singing and telling of beads!” in X poem 11. He says that the Divine is not present in this “dark corner of a temple” but he is present in the hardwork and sweat of a person, where the tiller is tilling the ground and where the path-maker is breaking stones. Tagore sees the sacred in hardwork and not in ascetism that is renouncing everything in order to reach the Divine. The poet urges to put off all the religious clothing and embrace the toil, instead of praying for “deliverance.” The poet is of the opinion that the Divine being himself “has joyfully taken upon him the bonds of creation”; therefore the finite should not resort to escapism or ascetism in some lonely corner of the earth but embrace all activity. Tagore even gives an image of bees “plying their minstrelsy at the court of the flowering grove” in poem 5. Bees are known for their meticulous hardwork of hunting down countless blossoms to give a single ounce of sweet honey.

Secondly, the Divine being “walkest in the clothes of the humble among the poorest, and lowliest, and lost.” Hence, the rich, who carry pride on their sleeves, can “never approach” to the Divine being unless he sheds all his materialistic possessions and yearning. Tagore is of the opinion that adornments, ornaments and finery are impediments between the Divine and the human. Materialistic wealth will only distance one from God. In poem 7, Tagore says that “ornaments would mar our union;” and “their jingling would drown thy whispers.” In poem 8, he cites the instance of a child who is decked in royal robes and jewellery. The child hesitates to take pleasure in his play and mingle with other “common human life” in fear that his dress “may be frayed, or stained with dust.” It thus robs him from the opportunity to interact with and love his fellow brethren.

A place of worship is just a symbol for us to remind us of the Divine presence and should not necessarily enshrine the same. The decrepit temple in poem 88, which was once bustling with hums of prayers and chants, is a reminder of this. Here, the poet extols to the “deity of the ruined temple”, where no more tunes are sung in its praise, nor any bells toll, or any flowers are offered to it. Once in a while a “worshipper of old” wanders for “favor still refused”, with “hunger in his heart.” Here, Tagore is clear of the worshipper’s blind devotion in idolatry, which has kept him unfulfilled, as the true religion the poet propagates, is love for living human beings. Again, in poem 64, Tagore depicts the hollowness of some religious practices. Here, a maiden is offering her lamps to the world by floating them on the slope of a desolate river. The poet asks the maiden to lend him the lamps instead as his house is “all dark and lonesome.” The maiden goes on with her offering, giving reasons such as lighting up the other end of the world, lighting up the sky and joining the “carnival of lamps”. Here, the shallowness is in the fact that the maiden is more concerned with issues that are metaphysical and far-fetched rather than the need of her immediate neighbour.

The next step for spiritual humanism, according to Tagore, is to erase all pride, ego and desire in ourselves in order to reach the Divine among the humans. In poem 30, the poet describes how pride and ego, when accepted into our finite beings, becomes as inseparable as a form and its shadow. In poem 33, he describes how evil vices come unsuspected and disguised as good. They occupy only “a corner” of our being but one fine day, outside our knowledge, they break into one’s “sacred shrine, strong and turbulent, and snatch with unholy greed the offerings from God's altar.” These evil vices create demarcations that exist in this world: political boundaries, class distinctions, racial prejudice and the lot. Tagore wishes to vanquish these divisions and hence, his spiritual humanism is universal as well as transcendental.

Tagore employs symbols such as walls and fetters to highlight the divisions between humans. In poem 29, he describes how a person keeps on building a wall around himself, in which he takes prides and plasters it dutifully, but in the process, he loses sight of his “true being.” In poem 31, the poet describes the situation of a prisoner, who tried to amass all wealth and power in his “treasure-house” but ultimately became a prisoner of his own treasure-house. The chain that bound him was forged carefully, so that he could have the “invincible power” to “hold the world captive”, but in the end when “the links were complete and unbreakable”, he found that the chain held the prisoner instead in its grip. Therefore, Tagore exhorts his brethren to break all shackles of prejudice and distinctions that hold them. He envisages a world which has “not been broken up into fragments by narrow domestic walls” and where there is no fear. He yearns for this “heaven of freedom” for his country from fear, narrow mindedness and evil desires.

Finally, one mode of achieving spiritual humanism is through unbiased charity. In poem 50, Tagore cites a parable, where a beggar chanced upon a “golden chariot”, in which rode the “King of all kings.” The beggar was jubilant, thinking that his days of toil were over. However, the king extended his hands and asked the beggar as to what the latter had to give him. Flabbergasted at the “kingly jest”, the beggar gave “the least little grain of corn” to the king. At the day’s end, the beggar stumbled to find “a least little grain of gold among the poor heap” in his bag. Had the beggar had given his all, his returns would have been bounteous.

A hard-hitting truth of everyone’s existence is that we leave this world with “empty hands and expectant heart.” In poem 93, when the poet is departing away from this material life, he wants to renounce all his worldly possessions and only asks for kind words from his brethren. Therefore, the need for spiritual humanism is at its pinnacle for Tagore.

On a concluding note, Tagore wrote to a friend in 1914 saying: “the rose of humanity is perfect only when the diverse races and the nations have evolved their perfect distinct characteristics but all attached to the stem of humanity by the bond of love.”

Chapter Six

Summary of the All Chapters

The proposed study entitled on the topic "Gitanjali A Manifestation of Tagore's Devotion to God and Sense of Humanity" is a thoughtful and analytical research. This research segmented with eight chapters.

Chapter One- contains the background of the study, statement of the problem, research objectives, justification of the study, methodology, literature review and references.

Chapter Two- focuses the life and works of Rabindranath Tagore.

Chapter Three- evaluated the major works of Rabindranath Tagore.

Chapter Four has contained a comparative study between Rabindranath Tagore and Rousseau.

Chapter Five has conducted an analytical review on Gitanjali

Chapter Six- In this chapter the study inclueded description of all chapters of this study

Chapter Seven- this chapter is the final chapter of the study discussion. In this chapter the conclusion has been included

Chapter Eight- References are included in this chapter.

Chapter Seven

Conclusion

As and when we go through the poems collected in Gitanjali, we come to realize that  here is a collection of poems which may be looked upon as an expression of an illuminated human soul, of a continuous and sincere quest 0f the truth, and of adeep awareness of the fundamental values of life. It is no wonder, therefore, that Tagore is regarded primarily as a philosophical poet whose real and main domain of exploration is human soul. The poet’s soul is full of prayer and he receives whispers from the almighty, the prayer evoking the response, or the whisper provoking the prayer and always prayer and whisper rhyming into song. Gitanjali is full of such poetry. Let us listen to the opening song- Thou hast made me endless, such is thy pleasure. This frail vessel thou emptiest again and again, and fillest it ever with fresh life.

This little flute of a reed thou haste carried over hills and dales, and haste breathed through it melodies internally new.

At the moment touch of thy hands my little heart loses its limits in joy and gives birth to utterance ineffable.

Thy infinite gifts come to me only on these very small hands of mine. Ages pass, and still thou pourest, and still there is room to fill.  

                                                                  (Stanza I )

Gitanjali is a new song of the soul of the universe, the song of regeneration as well as of thanks giving. God is at the very center of the poem as the creator of creators. It is to Him that the spontaneous songs of the God-intoxicated poet are offered and to whom he surrenders himself completely. The poet says:

My poet’s vanity dies in shame before thy sight. O master poet, I have sat down at thy feet. Only let me make my life simple and straight, like a flute of reed for thee to fill with music. (Stanza VII)

The same sentiment of self-surrender is expressed more explicitly a little latter when the poet sings with full-throated ease:

This is my prayer to thee, my lord-strike, strike at the root of penury in my heart. Give me the strength lightly to bear my joys and sorrows.

Give me the strength to make my love fruitful in service.

Give me the strength never to disown the poor or bend my knees before insolent might.

Give me the strength to raise my mind high above daily trifles.

And give me the strength to surrender my strength to thy will with love.  

                                                 (Stanza XXXVI)

In poem after poem Tagore keeps on telling us in a highly formal manner that there exists an essential kind of link between man and god, the visible and the invisible, humanity and divinity. In the modern world of tension and turmoil, logical derivations and scientific rationalism the poet tries to transport us to the serene world of supreme peace and joy. His first major achievement as an IndoAnglian poet is to make his contemporaries painfully aware of the cramping limitations that surround them and at the same time to impress upon them the absolute necessity of discovering and realizing the transcendental glory of over soul.

The songs of Gitanjali are songs mainly of the closest personal relationship between the poet and the Eternal. They present the ups and downs in the drama of the human soul in its progress from the finite to the infinite. And, as SrinivasaIyengar observes “the progress is necessarily conceived as a battle, as a journey and a continuing sacrifice, culminating in a total offering of all self-surrender, so that by losing all one may gain all.”²

Gitanjali is not a Waste Land or a Sailing to Byzantium; it is not the Bible, nor exactly its Gospel; it is a true picture of India only through the poet’s single-minded evocation. The Bible presents the allseeing Lord and God the Son;there is the Father and also the Son. The scheme is that of a spiritual government, which Milton has sensed in Book III of Paradise Lost.To implement the scheme of the Revelation, the Father sends His Son with a Sealed Book to reclaim the lost world. Rabindranath does not plan it in Gitanjali, nor does he sense it like Milton. What he does is the excellence of Gitanjali and his contribution to world literature. The Bible does not present God as an everyday playmate, but Gitanjali presents God as an everyday playmate with the barrier demolished at once between man and his God, all the curtains withdrawn, God brought down not only to this earth but to every creek and corner of human existence, in loving contact and awful suspense of separation, as a friend as well as an enemy, in the sweetest songs as well as in the saddest sobs. The communion of a man with God and a new understanding of man’s relation to the world are conveyed to us in masterly efforts which are intensely mystic. As D. V. K. Raghavacharyulu puts it, “Gitanjali dramatizes the trials of the self and the ordeal of consciousness in the intricate web of love and pain, joy and loss, union and separation, set against the landscape of nature, the inscape of the psyche and the circumambient mystery of cosmic reality.”³ Thus, Tagore appeals to our inmost feelings of love and longing for the supreme creator as our beloved who transcends this world of man and nature and yet remains immanent in it.

The songs in Gitanjali form a mighty piece of prayer and pleading and exultation. Integral with the main musical theme, other notes too are occasionally heard. Idolatry and blind worship are castigated and the poet indignantly tells the devotee:

“Leave this chanting and singing and telling of beads! Whom dost thou worship in this lonely dark corner of a temple with doors all shut? Open thine eyes and see thy God is not before thee!” (Stanza XI)

The poet is a sincere humanist and in tune with his humanistic creed he does not wish to bid farewell to the world.He does not want to seek salvation or deliverance through renunciation. He makes this very clear when he says;

“Deliverance is not for me in renunciation. I feel the embrace of freedom in a thousand bonds of delight.

Thou ever pourest for me the fresh draught of thy wine of various colors and fragrance, filling this earthen vessel to the brim.”(Stanza LXXIII)

He firmly believes that he can establish relationship with God by union through love with humanity itself. He sincerely realizes that God is there where the tiller is tilling the hard ground and where the path-maker is breaking stones (Stanza XI). He is of the opinion that it is by being mingled with such laborers that we can truly mingle with God. He is also fully aware that God’s “feet rest among the poorest, the lowliest and the lost” (Stanza X). Above all, he strongly feels that no one should be cautious of being a part of “the great fair of common human life” (Stanza VIII).

As a humanist Tagore appeals to us that faith from humanity and benedictionfrom divinity are needed to end the waywardness of man and human wretchedness of his country, praying to God to let his country awake into that heaven of humanism and freedom:

Where the mind is without fear and head is held high;

Where knowledge is free; Where the world has not been broken up into fragments by narrow domestic walls; ….    …..      ……………….      …………………  ……………..

Into that heaven of freedom, my Father, let my country awake. (Stanza XXXV) It is equally remarkable that in his poems Tagore presents to us beautiful pictures of Nature that are available to us in India. In this respect he invites comparison with Sarojini Naidu for the simple reason that she too describes the charms and splendor of the Indian scenery in her poems.The difference between the two, however, is deep and wide ranging. In spite of all her descriptive brilliance Sarojini Naidu seems to be confined only to the visible; all that is seen constitutes the beginning and the end of her rapture. Tagore, in his own turn, makes this amply clear to us that the glory of the Indian scene is only a garment, a manifestation of the supreme beauty that informs every particle of the universe. There is necessarily a journey from the outer to the inner, from the circumference to the center in Tagore’s poetry with the result that even his descriptive poems acquire well-defined philosophical and spiritual overtones. As S. Radhakrishnan points out, Tagore uses “the visible world as a means of shadowing forth the invisible and he touches the temporal with the light of the eternal.”⁴In many songs of Gitanjali Tagore explores the relationship of God, man and nature. Nature is the manifestation of the divine. Perfect joy reigns supreme in the realm of nature. The poet expresses his mystical vision of the union of God, man and nature through highly suggestive and picturesque symbols and images. Birds, flowers, sky, stars, sun, moon, sea, river, stream, light, darkness, Indian seasons, clouds, rain, and several others occur again and again in the Gitanjali and are suggestive of spirituality and mysticism. All his metaphors, imagery, diction and association of ideas are colored by his spiritual attitude. He culls metaphor of uncharted evers peeding voyage, a sailing boat, a pilot who strikes a high bargain beyond his means for ferrying the river he would cross to reach the shore of his beloved, just in the Vrindaban tradition of bewitching price to pay; the nature imagery too thoroughly Indian yet universal, of sunshine and darkness, lights and shade, night and day, earth and sky, flowers and leaves, plants and foliage, friends and dales, hills and heaths, and of all kinds of everyday emanations of this life and world, all made use of to form the frail delicate link between his solitary soul and that awaited supreme source of solace. The message that constantly comes either awakes him to a soft music or keeps him in eternal alertness of eager impatience. So, the original diction of his own language lends a supreme grace to his ever melting mood. Tagore is, indeed, a great poet first because of his philosophical and spiritual quest, secondly because of his meaningful love for God, man and nature, thirdly for his artistic skill and poetic craftsmanship, fourthly for his scrupulous and happy choice of idioms, images and symbols, fifthly for the evocation of music in his poetry, and lastly for the kind of transcendental atmosphere that he seeks to create in his poetical writings.
REFERENCES

·         W. B. Yeats, ‘Introduction’ to Gitanjali (Madras: Macmillan, 1981), p.ix.

·         K. R. Srinivas Iyengar, Indian Writing in English (Bombay: Asia, 1963), p.14.

·         D. V. K. Raghavacharyulu, “Tagore and Sri Aurobindo: Prophets of the Awakened Consciousness,” Essays in Criticism of Indian Literature in English, ed. M. S. Nagarajanet. Al. (Madras: S. Chand, 1991), p.24.

·         Narsingh Srivastava, “The Poetry of Rabindranath

·         Tagore”, Indian Poetry in English, p.56.

·         Tagore, Rabindranath. Gitanjali. New Delhi: Niyogi, 2012. Print.

·         Vattakalam, Joseph. "Humanistic Mysticism." Mysticism in Tagore's Gitanjali: A study based on Eastern and Western mystical concepts. Kerala: Carmel, 1999. Shodganga. Web. 15 Oct. 2014. .

·         Lal, Babu. "Spiritual Humanism in Tagore's Gitanjali." International Journal of Research 1.9 (2014): n. pag. Web. 15 Oct. 2014. .

·         Thomas, Joseph. "Humanism in the Selected Poems of Rabindranath Tagore and G. Sankara Kurup – A Critical Comparison." Language in India. N.p., 5 May 2013. Web. 21 Oct. 2014. .