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CHAPTER V
INTER RELATIONSHIP AMONG TRIPARTITE
In Tagore's concept, the universe is a book with God's
signature on every page; and the thing to do for him as man
was to decipher that signature. Man, Nature, and God
interpenetrate in his devotional attitude and faith. The three
make a closely related theme in his poems and enter into a
personal and poignant relationship. Tagore's vision is intuitive.
He is well-grounded in his conviction that we all can have this
vision through contemplation and meditation. Communion
with the soul of Nature is possible, for it is basically the same
as the soul of Man. Tagore's view of life, Nature and God is
Platonic. All the three are eternal. In his view, the principle of
unity, rhythm and harmony works in their relationships. Even
scientists today believe that one of the most distinguishing
features of existence and universe is the complex inter-
relationship of atoms which make up matter. All matter
consists of atoms, but in living matter there is a whole world of
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innumerable living cells and complex relationship and unity in
them.
Tagore, the great poet of God and the great poet of
Nature, is also a great poet of Man. He so often harps on his
motto of writing poetry: "I am here to sing thee songs"(Song XV
l-1). Undoubtedly the main inspiration of his poetry is God,
but God in isolation would be nothing better than a golden
zero, a nullity, a non-existent hypothesis. As such, Tagore
makes Nature and Man, His natural supporters. A wise saying
tells us that as Bhakta is incomplete without Bhagwan, and
stands in constant need of Bhagwan, so is Bhagwan
incomplete without Bhakta; He stands in need of Bhakta. One
may say that the two exist in Tagore's poems, as two halves of
one whole. They are complementary and supplementary to
each other and as Nature works as a cementing force between
the two, she is an indispensable corollary - an intermediary
between them. Thus the tripartite stand and fall together.
The mystic-romantic poet in Tagore felt irresistibly drawn
to Nature, which for him was a manifestation of God. With
radical views, approach and ideology, he could discover a pre-
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ordained harmony between Man and Nature. It will be quite
correct to include his name among the all-time great Nature
poets, enrolled in the Return to Nature movement initiated by
Rousseau. In his own words, “Tagore had developed love for
nature from his early childhood.”1 His passionate feelings
craved expression. To Tagore, poetry was like dreaming,
visionary creation. Most beautiful and sweetest of his dreams
are dreams of Nature and her creator: a kind of reverie, vivid
and picturesque scenes. Only a transcendental person sees in
waking state (Turiyavastha). As, Tagore himself explains the
stuff of such day-dreams: "They are no dreams, as are the
harmony of birds-songs, rain-washed leaves glistening in the
sun and pale clouds floating in the blue."2 For him, every
object of Nature is an embodiment and a symbol of beauty,
and has a special meaning and message. Again, to use his own
autobiographical words:
"I believe in an ideal life. I believe that in a
little flower, there is a living power hidden in
beauty which is more potent than a Marxian
1 See Supra, quotation from Lectures and Addresses, p. 25. 2 Rabindranath Tagore, Creative Unity, op.cit p. 12.
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guru. I believe that in the bird's notes. Nature
expresses herself with a force which is greater
than that revealed in the deafening roar of
cannonade. I believe that there is an ideal
towering the earth –– an ideal of that paradise
which is not the mere outcome of imagination,
but the ultimate reality towards which all
things are moving. I believe that the vision of
paradise is to be seen in the sun light and the
green of the earth, in the flowing stream, in the
beauty of spring time and the repose of a
winter morning. Everywhere in this earth the
spirit of paradise is awake and sending forth
its, voice."1
Now the sights of Nature pre-suppose the creator and the
seer: God has created them and Man is there to look at them,
meditate on them and to derive divine pleasure out of them.
We shall do better to illustrate the point made here: in a
gorgeous poem on Nature: the poet's imagination is ignited
1 V. Ramamurthy: Tagore's Gitanjali: A Commentary, p. 79.
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seeing the moving sunrise on the bosom of the sea at
daybreak:
"The morning sea of silence broke into ripples
of bird songs and the flowers were all merry by
the roadside: and the wealth of gold was
scattered through the rift of the clouds while
we busily went on our way and paid no heed.”
(Song XLVII, ll 1-5.).
In these mystical experiences, the wall between the lover
and the beloved disappears, only love remains, the knower and
the knowledgeable stand united passing through the veil of
Maya, the distinction between the Bhakta (Jnani) and the
Bhagwan (the Absolute) evaporates and only Bhakhti (Jnan)
remains.
Equally relevant to our purpose is the analogy of man's
life as boat, man as boatman and God as destination and the
world (Nature) as river. This boatman, that is Man as Tagore
has often presented started his travel long ago and has ever
been sailing his life-boat, again and again, beginning his travel
at birth and stopping at death. Scepters and crowns tumble
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down, worldly empires pass into nothingness, but man's life
and his occupations are everlasting. As Keats speaks of the
immortality of his nightingale: "Thou wast not born for death.
Immortal bird!/No hungry generations tread thee down”1, the
interrelationship of God, Nature, and Man is permanent
despite the impermanence of world and beings; the quest-
journey of becoming from the Finite Being to the Infinite Being
is repeated again and again.
In Tagore's analogy of boat, river, and boatman, Jivan-
Devata Himself becomes a symbol. God, the lord of man's life
attracts man from one shore to the other far away, –– as He
alone knows the secret of the other shore. Man as tireless
traveller of Tagore travels hopefully having firm faith. Another
illustrative comparison is that of taking an open road to an
unknown destination going through unknown and strange
countries. The wayfarer hears the distant call of the unknown
and unseen, is wistful and at once starts on the journey. A
close parallelism is seen between the sea and ocean and the
rivers and waterfalls. The water tributaries continue their
1 John Keats, Ode to Nightingale, Grin Purblishers, USA, (ll-61-62)
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forward march, not knowing the place where they are to stop.
At last, they find rest losing their identities in seas and
oceans. The seas and oceans become tumultuous when their
waters are tossed by tempests and mighty winds. The waves in
them rise high as if to reach their destination not known to
them. In all these cases, it is seen that to travel hopefully, is
better than to arrive. That seems to be the faith of Tagore
representing Man. The High waves of the seas appear like
extended arms trying to embrace the unattainable. Thus one
common feature of all these phenomena of nature is a keen
desire, a craving of one entity to unite with another giving
these and similar mystical illustrations. Tagore seems to
answer the hither to unanswered riddle of life. Why, after all,
human beings are born and why they know no rest till their
death. God is the steersman; He is at the helm of affairs. He
ever eludes human beings. Men do not see the boatman, but
they have a thrilling experience when they strive to arrive at
the unknown shore; the winds seem to sing in the darkness
the whispers of some Absolute Power. Thus Prakriti and
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Purush and Parmeshwar stage an unending drama (Lila) from
the beginning of creation to the day of its dissolution one day.
In pyramidal dome of Nature's poetry, Man, and God find
their due place. Nature has her own creative vitality. A good
example of this power, Tagore sees in the flower which grows,
blooms and then renews itself in the dust. The poet is full of
awe, reverence and wonder. He asks himself why the flower
grows for it serves no fruitful purpose. And then he answers
his query and curiosity by saying that it is symbolical of the
mystery of creation. Seeing no useful purpose served by it,
Tagore supposes that it is an embodiment of the dreams of
grass. The flower finds its fulfilment in the fruit, and this
symbolises the longing of the individual soul for union with
the infinite, which will be the soul's fulfilment. The flower-bud
grows and blossoms amidst thorns. It is symbolical of the
victory of beauty and joy over pain and ugliness. It also
symbolises love and the power of love; and that seems to be
the reason why the bridegroom is welcomed with a garland of
flowers, and why man worships God with a garland of flowers.
Its numerous petals stand for life's many-sidedness and
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expansiveness. It is born and it dies, which symbolises the
rhythmical movement of life, the cycle of birth, death and re-
birth. And it symbolises the perpetual renewal of life, in even
new forms of beauty. The flower, apparently, is very simple but
its significance and its sensuous appeal is very complex. It is
soft, lovely and fragrant; and although it is tuneless, it carries
in it silence and God's own melodies. Its beauty is most
probably God's answer to the theory that phenomenal life is
Maya; because earth's flowers illusion are kept ever-lastingly
fresh by death. The fragrance coming out of the flower
symbolises love, joy and freedom.
The stars in the sky are earthen lamps, but they are
different from earthly lamps. They are like flowers blossoming
in the sky, lit in honour of God much as we welcome people
with lit lamps. The stars in the sky are fixed and are eternal
whereas our earthly lamps are transitory; the blaze of our
lamps is shaken when they face wind. Yet in one respect, the
earthly lamps get the better of the stars. The stars are invisible
when the sky is clouded and have dim yellowish light when
the sun shines but man's frail lamps continue to give light,
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whether it is cloudy or night. The stars are known to be ever
moving towards each other: their attraction symbolises the
attraction of love among human beings. They stand for the
human yearning to re-unite with the infinite and have love for
each other, too.
In The Religion of Man; Tagore says, "I was born in a
family which at that time was earnestly developing a
monotheistic religion based upon the philosophy of
Upanishads”.1 Many of Tagore's poems contain themes from
the Upanishads. The cardinal concept of Upanishads is that of
an all pervasive Brahma - 'Ishvasayamidam Sarvam Yatkinca
Jagatyam Jagat', it means whatever exists and wherever it
exists is permeated by the same divine power. This is an
important realization, because many philosophers have
postulated dichotomies between God and World, between
matter and spirit, between good and evil, between the divine
and the evil. But the Upanishads’ view is that in the ultimate
analysis, all manifestations are the manifestations of the
divine. Tagore, too, accepted this concept and believed that the
1 Rabindranath Tagore, Lectures and Addresses, op.cit p-114.
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knowledge of the Supreme is real knowledge, and God
manifests Himself in all his creatures and thus supreme God
is all pervasive. In one of his poems, he clarifies his views:
"Eternal unbroken unity of one God in herbs
and forest bushes in water and fire in all the
universe, with all its creation1"
In the Bhagwat Geeta Man is considered as the
'incarnation of the supreme soul' that is only one. He has
distributed himself in all living beings of this universe but it is
one in itself. As, "Aiko Hum Dwitiyo Nasti'2
According to this concept God is one who has manifested
world in himself and seems to be many but the doer, who gives
the result or fruit of work, one who punishes, one who creates
the universe and destroys are one.
A serious study of Tagore's poetry on the theme of love
reveals so many unseen layers of his heart and shows how
God, Nature, and Man are kith and kin. It will not be incorrect
to say that the subject-matter and over-all theme of Tagore's
poetry can be summed up in one small word comprising four
1 Rabindranath Tagore, The Gardener, Macmillan India Ltd- p -27 2 Mahabhatrat, Bhagwatgeeta, Geetapress Gorakhpur, 1987 p-46
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letters - "LOVE". The various types and shades of love find
their full portrayal in it: we have there love for humanity (both
man and woman), love for divinity (God and His Universe), and
love for Nature (both fauna and flora). Love flows from his
heart, mind and soul in continuous stream. Love assumes all
kinds and forms in its flow and overflow from the physical to
the spiritual, from the seen to the unseen, from the finite to
the infinite. Even physical love and mating for Tagore, called
for and rejoiced in their aesthetic aspects. Human love in
married couples and unmarried Romeos and Juliets must be
aesthetic and spiritual, a matter of conscience, good taste
prospering in social codes and laws. Like fire, true love burns
all impurities and purifies everything. His feeling of love inter-
relates Man, Nature, and God. Tagore has interlaced these
loves. His feelings of love for the mortal beloved are expressed
in The Gardener, Fruit Gathering and The Lover's Gift
whereas Gitanjali expresses his love for the immortal.
Mostly mystical, Tagore plays the role of beloved: but
there are lines interspersed in many poems which present him
as a masculine lover,
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"I have clasped both hands in mine, my
hungry gaze is fixed.
On that pair of eyes, and I am seeking ––where
are you, where are you?"1
A lover finds himself in a heaven of rapture and
passionate love only, when he has his woman-beloved by him.
In this role, he wants to hold the little fists of his beloved
without flower chains on them. He solicits her to hasten her
steps over the green. She must not bother herself about her
dress and unkempt hair. Her hair may not be braided, the
ribbons on her bodice may not be fastened. She will be all
welcome covered and hidden in blue water, her blue mantle
lying on the shore. The waves will rise and stand tip-toe to kiss
her neck and make whispers in her ears. She is surrounded in
the erotic full-moon night of April. The sky overhead is bright;
it has no strip of any cloud. Their love is simple and sweet as a
song. His eyes are drunk with the blinding face peeping
through her saffron-coloured veil. He makes it a point to hide
himself behind the trees whenever she with her sister comes to
1 Rabindranath Tagore, The Hungry Stone and Other Stories, ARC, Manor, Maryland
p-5
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fetch water. The two sisters whisper and smile, looking around
when they reach the spot where he is hiding. He seeks her
permission to allow him to sit beside her and bid his lips be in
action, doing all what could be done silently in the dim light of
stars. He is spell-bound by her charms - youthful slim toned
body, playful smile reaching far and wide from the side-
glances of her eyes. Last night, in her rain-cloud coloured
robe, in the garden, he had offered her his youth's wine with
beaded bubbles blinking at the cup's edge. She did take the
cup, lift it to her lips, closed her eyes and smiled while he had
uncovered her veil, unbounded her black tresses drawing
upon his breast her face with silence. Time and place, the
lover and his beloved, God and Nature all prepare the stage for
the lovers' love-drama. There is a smooth and easy passage
from Nature to Man and from Man and Nature to God.
Song after song in the Gitanjali sounds this note repeatedly.
As an illustration, we reproduce song XVIII:
"Clouds heap upon clouds and it darkness. Ah,
love why dost thou let me wait outside at the
door all alone?
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In the busy moments of the noontide work I
am with the crowd, but on this dark lovely day
it is only for thee that I hope.
If thou showest me not thy face, if thou leavest
me wholly aside, I know not how I am to pass
these long, rainy hours.
I keep gazing on the far-away gloom of the sky,
and my heart wanders wailing with the restless
wind."(Song XVIII, ll 1-10).
The man in Tagore has the innocence, the simplicity and
the grandeur found in birds, leaves and children. All this made
the birds and the leaves seem as near to him as they are to
children and saints. The changes of the seasons were great
events to stir the poet sing automatically. When he was very
young, he wrote a lot about objects of nature. When not found
in the house, he was discovered in his garden where he would
sit all day lost in the beauties of nature, which indirectly are
salutations to God. The entire seascape and landscape with
each other, suggestive and telling images have been presented
in simple words, viz, (a) In Nouns-'hours', 'beach', 'seashore',
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'water', 'sea-beach', flood, shower, rain, waves, tempests,
pearls, thunder, lightning, boat, nets, vast deep, (b) In verbs-
swim, dive, float, sail.
Tagore on some pretext or the other brings humanity on
the scene. When he sketches sea-beach, he yokes human
beings into his service: "On the sea-shore of endless worlds
children meet. The infinite sky is motionless overhead and the
restless water is boisterous. On the seashore of endless worlds
the children meet with shouts and dances" (Song LXX ll 1-2).
Not only does natives dance and have revelry, (humanity seen
in) children make merry, shout, sing and play, as if they were
expressing their gratitude to God the Absolute. It is to be
noted that God has been referred to as "thou", "thy", "thine"
instead of 'you, your, you': the use of the second person
singular shows intimacy as between friends, companions and
playmates.
In Tagore's philosophical thoughts love is the centripetal
force that so governs all other considerations that form the
centrifugal periphery that a study of one theme calls for the
study of another theme. That is to say, if a person has to
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analyse Tagore's views of Man, he cannot exclude it from his
views on Nature and God. Not only, he has presented Man by
Nature loving to God, but also he has presented both Nature
and God in eternal love bond with Man. Since he has
perceived his God in nature and in humanity, his love for
human beings and work done for their uplift is worship to
God. Each individual is both the worshipper and the worship
when a person works for others, he also works for his ownself
because the divine essence is their common characteristic.
Such a view is quite original and noble and speaks of Tagore's
mighty mind and large heart. For him God is not an enigma:
He is a supreme being. For him religion is not a creed, It is
way of life.
Tagore all through his life had been a lover of Nature; he
set up his Shantiniketan and Sriniketan in the lap of
Nature. Nature in his plays which serves various purposes.
She is an eternal companion of man that exists and has close
affinity with human beings the lords of universe.
Tagore has introduced Nature and its objects in all of his
poems. In some cases, she makes the background and
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assumes the role of a preceptor as in the poems of Gitanjali,
The Gardener and other publications. Again and again, the
lover of Nature falls upon her for his images and comparisons.
The most repeated use of Nature is for pity and quick
explanation of things and people.
The best use of relation of Man with God and Nature that
is made by Tagore in his poetry is to make his meaning clear.
Tagore makes use of apt similes and metaphors, and his
meaning naturally and beautifully couched in the objects and
images from Nature that very often are symbolic of
metaphysical phenomena. He has interlinked all with a
common thread of love.
In the themes of his poetry, we have all basic principles
of Tagore’s philosophical thinking in a nuts shell. The poetic
personae become embodiment of basic principles of life. As a
matter of fact, the world in Tagore’s poetry is full of all those
mythological themes which lie in the heart of a Divine man.
In Tagore’s views, when one tries to find the comparative
significance of the three, which move and harmonize the whole
world, are God, Nature, and Man. In Indian English poetry,
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Tagore’s, placement of God between Man and Nature is a
unique feature, which makes him different from other figures,
of Indian poetry. He has seen Nature as an artistic act of
creation of God and Man himself as His highest creation.
But Man comes first and wants to develop into God the
object of worship. True man shines with the lustre of the
Divine in him, and yet he could think of no super-mundane
existence or heavenly gods. Man has to remove the Pardah of
ignorance, egoism and self-centeredness to enjoy the full
lustre and glory of God in him; and to see a similar glory and
lustre of God in all beings such is the world of Tagore’s
conception, which has evolved from the study of his poetry.
The religion of humanity preached in the theme is the
natural overflow of humanistic feelings it is the
communication of spirits. On one hand, he explains his
longing for eternal truth and on the other hand; he tries to
have communication of individual with 'Parmatma'. it lies in
being true to one's self and it is not just mechanical and blind
following of age-old religious practices and a perfect manhood-
is his own. This humanistic creed has sprung from Tagore's
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intuitive vision. It is the essence of his wisdom, experience,
learning scriptures. He has humanised God in the treatment
of his themes and has raised man to the status of God.
Tagore's conception of salvation is likewise noble. For
him it never means the freedom of the soul from the cycle of
death and birth. Nor does it mean permanent withdrawal from
life. He seeks salvation for the individual in living in
communication with God and its dedication to the service of
humanity life after life. However, each new birth is to bring
him nearer to the realisation of the universal man in him and
in strengthening love bond with God. He feels sure that we can
feel the presence of the Divine Being in the beauties of Nature
in the hearts of all men. Tagore's Nature is for enjoyment and
not for renunciation. He wants man to reach God through his
love and worship of Humanity and Nature. The realisation of
our Divine nature results in the freedom of spirit which is
Tagore's conception of salvation.
The theme of love in Tagore’s poetry reveals that Tagore
is a humanist, he is a realist, but he is also an idealist. He is a
practical idealist. He has viewed humanity as an eternal ever-
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widening stream felling all barriers in the form of various
institutions, association, political, social and economic
arrangements. Man is at the centre of Tagore's universe, and
the finite man represents the infinite God in him. Tagore looks
for unity amidst all sorts of all living beings. Man is a social,
political and religious being because of the common Divine
soul in him. Thus all human souls are in essence one and the
same. The good of one soul is the good of all souls. What
insults or hurts one soul, must hurt and insult all souls. Since
man's divinity makes the quintessence of Tagore's humanism,
it differs from all other humanistic creeds. Since Tagore
believes in the immortality of the soul, and since 'Paramatma'
exercises His magnetic pull on all souls, Tagore's vision of
human life is optimistic. Thus we shall have to coin a new
term for Tagore's humanism; it can be called 'spiritual
humanism'. He has tried to find out a world in which the
materialism of the west and spiritualism of his own
motherland exist in harmony together for the greater good of
mankind as a whole. He thinks of a universal society,
international politics, and religion of humanity.
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Tagore's man is born both for loving and for being loved.
As such, Tagore is not positive in his thinking, The 'Mukti',
that he advocates for man is in the negation of his lover self,
but not of his 'soul' of his personality. He has advocated
egoless love that binds a person with all beings and with all
objects of the world. The God or ideal man of Tagore's concept
is the world-- worker. One can do this world work if one is
pure, heroic and wise. He advocates love for all beings,
reminding us of the 'Maitri' principle of Gautam Buddha and
preaching of Upanishads as the true measure of human
progress. Tagore in his poetry does not ask us to give up our
worldly bonds, rather he advocates strengthening of all worldly
bonds and all human ties. Our free enjoyment of all beauty
and full development of our personality and relationship only
but selflessly is to be prompted by universal love: Selfless
services of other beings is the best and the only way for the
realisatoin of God. His heaven exists nowhere not beyond this
earth. This Earth is to be turned heaven––how we could do
this––Tagore has vociferously and appealingly show, us the
way through his poetry.
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Tagore is romantic mystic who losses himself in his
contemplation of nature and gets into direct communion with
the infinite. He realizes this oneness and loses his
consciousness of the material forms under which this one life
appears. He merges himself though in Nature. Nature is the
adobe of God. The Various aspects of Nature are symbols of
eternity:
“The Light of thy music illumines the world.
The life breath of thy music runs from sky to
sky. The holy stream of thy music breaks
through all stony obstacles and rushes on.
My heart longs to join in thy songs, but vainly
struggles for a voice. I would speak, but speech
breaks not into song, and I cry out
baffled”(Song-III, ll- 3-7).
Summing up Tagore's views on God, Nature, and Man as
we get them in his poems, songs sand verses, we can remark
that his universe is man-centered and God and Nature form
the periphery, if one tries to find out the influence of tripartite
in his poetry, we find that it moves and harmonies the whole,
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theme in his poetry which is God, Nature, and Man. He has
seen Nature and Man as the artistic act of creation of God,
and Man as the highest creation of God. Man is greater than
nature because he is blessed with reason and will. Man has to
learn discipline, feeling of doing good and harmony from
nature. He must enjoy her beauties as things created by God
for inner-communication.