Prominent Learnings during 1750-1950 CE--V

"Every person is worthy of an infinite wealth of love;

 the beauty of his soul knows no limit."

                                                            ( Rabindranath Tagore; Glimpses of Bengal)

Rabindranath Tagore ( May 1861-Aug 1941) was a doyen of Literature & Music, who left an indelible impression all over the world by his literary as well as artistic abilities during late 19th & early 20th centuries.  A Humanist, Universalist and Internationalist, he wrote hundreds of texts, songs and poems besides contributing through the artworks, paintings,sketches, novels, dramas and stage plays. For his immense contribution, he was the first non European to be awarded Noble Prize in Literature in the year 1913 and was popularly known as Gurudev.

He was deeply moved by the perennial poverty of Calcutta & its impact was clearly visible in his literary works, prose-songs and dance dramas. During his international visits to more than 30 countries, he freely interacted with some of topmost authors, scientists, politicians and Humanists, sharing his views, philosophy & Literary talents. 

Two of his compositions namely, " Jana Gana Mana Adhinayak", the Indian national anthem   and " Amaar Shonar Bangla"--- the national anthem of Bangladesh, occupy a place of pride in these two Asian democracies. Yet another symbol of pride is " Sri Lanka Matha", national anthem of Sri Lanka, which is a Sinhalese translation of the Bengali version of Tagore's works, carried out by one of his student.

 Social inequities, beauty & preservation of nature, universal love, peace, justice, freedom, poverty, untouchability, abnormal caste consciousness and other prominent concerns  impacted his literary works. He shared his views on some of these evils and penned Dalit heroes for his poems and dramas. One such example has been his successful campaign for opening of famous Guruvayoor temple to Dalits. Considering my topic of research, let me pick up a couple of inspiring messages full of wisdom from the literary works of Tagore on Ethical living or Human Dharma in general. These are;

• LIFE of my life, I shall ever try to keep my body PURE, knowing that Thy living touch is upon all my limbs; I shall ever try to keep all untruths out from my thoughts knowing that Thou art that truth which has kindled the light of reason in my mind; I shall ever try to drive all evils away from my heart & keep my love in flower, knowing that Thou has thy seat in the innermost shrine of my heart.-- ( Song Poem 4  Gitanjali ).

• Tagore had his own opinion on Independence movement and nationalism, which is visible in song poem 35 of  Gitanjali.

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

and 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.

 Elaborating on Dharma,in chapter " The Problem of Self " of his famous book on Spirituality," Sadhna",  Gurudev Tagore writes,"  Dharma is the innermost nature, the essence, the implicit truth, of all things. Dharma is the ultimate purpose that is working in our self. When any wrong is done, we say that Dharma is violated, meaning that the lie has been given to our true nature. Dharma is truth within us, it is inherent."

 In the same chapter, focusing on the misery out of ignorance of one's true self, he added," Set yourselves free from the Avid-ya; know your true soul and be saved from the grasp of the self which imprisons you. We gain our freedom when we attain our truest nature.

Stressing upon the importance of Ethical living among people, he stated that Love is the perfection of consciousness. Love is the ultimate meaning of everything around us. It is truth.It is the joy that is at the root of all creations. It is the white light of pure consciousness that emanates from Brahma. ( Realization in Love; Ch V, Sadhna).

He further added that Brahma is Brahma, the infinite ideal of perfection. But we are not what we truly are; we are ever to become true, ever to become Brahma. Once our soul reaches her ultimate object of repose in Brahma, all her movements acquire a purpose. It is this ocean of infinite rest which gives significance to our endless activities, ( The Realization of Infinite; Ch VIII, Sadhna ).

All our egoistic impulses, our selfish desires, obscure our true vision of the soul. He added that according to Upanishads, the key to cosmic consciousness, to God consciousness, is the consciousness of the soul. ( Soul consciousness, Ch II, Sadhna ).

Gurudev Tagore had a deep touch of Internationalism and Universal-ism. In Ch I," The Relationship of the Individual to the Universe" of his famous literary writing Sadhna, he conveys that man must realize the wholeness of his existence, his place in the infinite. " Bhuteshu bhuteshu vichintva"--- Let us work towards realizing him in each and all; not only in nature, but in the family, in society, in the state; the more we realize the world consciousness in all, the better it is for us. Again quoting song poem 69 from his noble Prize winning creation Gitanjali;

" The same stream of life that runs through my veins night and day runs through the world and dances in rhythmic measures." Another line in the same poem conveys," It is the same life that is rocked in the ocean---- cradles of birth and of death, in ebb and in flow." Another example is  song poem 103 of Gitanjali, which presents Universal-ism in Spiritualism in a beautiful literary flow;

" In one salutation to Thee, my God, let all my senses spread out and touch this world at Thy feet." Another line in the same poem conveys;

" Let all my songs gather together their diverse strains into a single current and flow into a sea of silence in one salutation to Thee."

Tagore promoted spiritual as well as ethical values in life and worked for creation of a new world culture of diversity and tolerance. He was a great Humanist and this was visible in several of his literary works as well as dance dramas, novels, stage plays art and paintings. He drew inspiration and ideas for writing from his surroundings as well as inner feelings.His songs and music cover many aspects of Human emotions, devotional hymns and songs of love. With a view to free Indian villages from helplessness and ignorance, he established an International Institute for Rural reconstruction on a novel pattern of learning at SURUL, near Shantiniketan,, involving scholars & Officials of several nations.

Tagore was a towering figure, being a deeply relevant and many sided contemporary thinker. He desired to make his Ashram  of Shantiniketan into a connecting thread between India and the world;  a world center for the study of Humanity, beyond the boundaries of nation and Geography. Many of his stories and novels focused on interpersonal relationships, colored and impacted by human shortcomings as well as idiosyncrasies. His literary works, however, were progressive and worked towards bringing a positive shift in the mindset of traditional Indian values.

It is difficult to pick up and present the innumerable value driven messages given by a literary giant like Gurudev Tagore to the nation and the world in a small blog. I have tried to limit the learnings picked up on my theme of reading research ie Dharma, ethical living and to some extent spiritual wisdom. Let me end the blog by another powerful message on " Service to Humanity"from one of his literary works;

" I slept and dreamt that life was joy. I woke up and saw that life was service. I acted and behold, service was joy".