Geetanjali-II - Ravindranath Tagore

[Guest guest]

Some more Geetanjali by Sri Ravindranath Tagore for those who can enjoy.

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Here is a 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.

 

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( God is not in the temple - where is the bondage and the deliverance!)

 

Leave this chanting and singing and telling of beads!

 

Whom dost thou worship in the lonely dark corner of temple with

doors all shut?

 

Open thine eyes and see thy God is not before thee!

 

He is there where the tiller is tilling the hard ground

and where the pathmaker is breaking stones.

 

He is with them in sun and in shower, and his garment is covered with dust.

 

Put off thy holy mantle and even like him come done on the dusty soil!

 

Deliverance? Where is this deliverance to be found?

 

Our master himself has joyfully taken upon him the bonds of creation;

he is bound with us all for ever.

 

Come out of thy meditations and leave aside thy flower and incense!

 

What harm is there if thy clothes become tattered and stained?

 

Meet him and stand by him in toil sweat of thy brow.

 

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( I have done my part - now is the time!)

 

I have had my invitation to this world's festival,

and thus my life has been blessed.

 

My eyes have seen and my ears have heard.

 

It was my part at this feast to play upon my instrument,

and I have done all I could.

 

Now, I ask, has the time come at last when I may go in and

see thy face and offer thee my silent salutations?

 

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(How did I get bound? Who built these prison walls and shakels?)

 

He whom I enclose with my name is weeping in this dungeon.

 

I am ever busy building this wall all around;

and as this wall goes up into the sky day by day.

 

I lose sight of my true being in its dark shadow.

 

I take pride in this great wall,

and I paster it with dust and sand a lest least hole should be left in

this name;

 

and for all the care I take, I lose sight of my true being.

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"Prisoner, tell me, who has it that bound you?"

 

"It was my master", said the prisoner.

 

"I thought I could undo everybody in the world in wealth and power,

and I amassed in my own treasure-house the money due to my king.

When sleep overcame me I lay upon the bed that was for my lord,

and on waking up I found I was prisoner in my own treasure-house"

 

"Prisoner, tell me, who was it that wrought this unbreakable chain?"

 

"It was I", said the prisoner,

"who forged this chain very carefully.

I thought my invincible power would hold the world captive

leaving me in a freedom undisturbed.

 

Thus night and day I worked at the chain

with huge fires and cruel hard strokes.

 

When at last the work was done and the links were complete and unbreakable,

I found that it held me in its grip."

 

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(Here is the famous song of Tagore - type of freedom he wants for his

country! That heaven is so far away!)

 

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 came 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 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.

 

 

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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.

 

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K. Sadananda

Code 6323

Naval Research Laboratory

Washington D.C. 20375

Voice (202)767-2117

Fax:(202)767-2623