Deeply Personal

Rabindranath Tagore was a member of the Brahmo Samaj, a socio-religious reform movement founded by Raja Ram Mohan Roy in Calcutta in the 1800s. The Samaj supported monotheism and redressal of social evils like child marriage, polygamy, sati and the caste system. Rabindranath's vast work - poetry, music, prose and art - is deeply infused with spiritual sensibility. Tagore's spirituality is free of religious dogma. It reflects a broad, inclusive and deeply personal relationship with the Divine, nature and humanity.

In one of the poems in Geetanjali, the poet likens himself to a beggar, going from door to door, when suddenly the golden chariot of the King comes and stops before him. The Almighty spreads His palm before him, seeking alms. The beggar is mortified. He reaches into his bowl and, from whatever little he had, places one grain of rice on His hand. To his amazement, that night at home, he finds one grain of gold in his bowl. Oh! Why didn't I offer my all to Him? he weeps.

A central theme in Tagore's spiritual world view is the presence of the Divine in nature, not in temples or rituals but in ordinary people's fields, homes and hearts.


'This malice within me, this burden of life,' the poet sings, 'all vanish in a trice, when I can place Your presence in my soul!' His songs describe the joy of being part of the celestial rhythm, the unity between the human soul and the universe. They embody the message of Upanishads, wherein Brahmn, the universal Spirit, pervades all creation.