Being Small - Tagore's Message in Gitanjali!

[Guest guest]

Namaste Yadu-Ji:

 

Honestly, the profound message is infact provided in Gitanjali (song

offerings) by Rabindranath Tagore, the great Indian Poet. He observes

the glory days of the childhood through verses 54 and 55 of

Gitanjali. A prose translation is reproduced below for all of us to

enjoy and the entire Gitanjali is available in the net and source is

shown at the bottom.

 

Through Gitanjali Tagore demonstrates his depth of wisdom like the

sages of the Upanishads through these two verses. The Vedantic

wisdoms is inscribed beautifully in the entire Gitanjali.

Warmest regards,

Ram Chandran

=======================

 

Verse 54:

On the seashore 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.

They build their houses with sand and they play with empty shells.

With withered leaves they weave their boats and smilingly float them

on the vast deep. Children have their play on the seashore of worlds.

They know not how to swim, they know not how to cast nets. Pearl

fishers dive for pearls, merchants sail in their ships, while

children gather pebbles and scatter them again. they seek not for

hidden treasures, they know not how to cast nets. The sea surges up

with laughter and pale gleams the smile of the sea beach. Death-

dealing waves sing meaningless ballads to the children, even like a

mother while rocking her baby's cradle. The sea plays with children,

and pale gleams the smile of the sea beach. On the seashore of

endless worlds children meet. Tempest roams in the pathless sky,

ships get wrecked in the trackless water, death is abroad and

children play. On the seashore of endless worlds is the great meeting

of children.

 

Verse 55

The sleep that flits on baby's eyes---does anybody know from where it

comes? Yes, there is a rumor that it has its dwelling where, in the

fairy village among shadows of the forest dimly lit with glow-worms,

there hang two timid buds of enchantment. From there it comes to kiss

baby's eyes. The smile that flickers on baby's lips when he sleeps---

does anybody know where it was born? Yes, there is a rumor that a

young pale beam of a crescent moon touched the edge of a vanishing

autumn cloud, and there the smile was first born in the dream of a

dew-washed morning---the smile that flickers on baby's lips when he

sleeps. The sweet, soft freshness that blooms on baby's limbs---does

anybody know where it was hidden so long? Yes, when the mother was a

young girl it lay pervading her heart in tender and silent mystery of

love---the sweet, soft freshness that has bloomed on baby's limbs.

The Gitanjali or `song offerings' by Rabindranath Tagore (1861--

1941), Nobel Prize for literature 1913, with an introduction by

William B. Yeats (1865--1939), Nobel Prize for literature 1923. First

published in 1913.

Source: http://www.sacred-texts.com/hin/tagore/gitnjali.htm

 

advaitin, Yadu Moharir <ymoharir> wrote:

>

> Saint Tukaram (although he worshipped viTTala he practiced and

preached advaita through ananya bhakti) expresses the same sentiments

with the recommendation to become small: