Finding Tagore's treasure trove

All of my leisure over the last few years were spent in savoring Tagore's poems and songs, yet there is more to unearth from the exquisite treasure trove of Rabindra Sangeet.

What a blessing that such a sensitive, creative and noble human being lived and walked on this earth leaving behind these immortal songs! Every poem is a gift that contains the distilled essence of life, nature, love, joy, beauty, humanity, friendship and more.

How insipid my life would have been without these songs that enliven every aspect of living. Having found this wealth, I am rich!

Loving snow

The depths of a frigid winter intensifies in me the nostalgia for the tropical heat of home in India. But for my children born in Canada, the winter brings forth wondrous excitement. The powdery white stuff is a play field for any game the mind can conceive.

The things we love and long for are indeed subjective. 

Tagore : Welcome life in its entirety

Each day we meet life in all its variety.  From fragrances to sights, sounds, touches, feelings and perceptions, our daily destinies, actions and interactions. Life also comes to us in the form of tranquility, rest, peace, sleep and ultimately death. Tagore, the poet wholeheartedly welcomes life in its entirety.

Come into my life in new and varied forms 
Come as fragrances, colors and songs
Come to me as the thrill of touch on my body
Come to my consciousness as joy eternal 
Come to my closed eyes as fascination
Come as pure and radiant light
Come as beauty, tenderness and serenity
Come, come in the variety of destinies
Come to my being as sorrow and joy
Come day after day as all my actions
Come also as the end to all my activities 

Tumi nabo nabo rupe eso praane.
Eso gondhoborone, eso gaane.
Eso onge pulakomoy poroshe.
Eso chitte amritomoy horoshe,
Eso mugdho mudito du-noyaane.
Eso nirmol ujjwala kaanto,
Eso sundoro snigdho proshanto,
Eso eso hey bichitro bidhane.
Eso duhkhe sukhe eso morme,
Eso nityo nityo sob korme;
Eso sokolo-kormo-obosaane.

Tagore: Eternally New

A new dawn

The birth of a child brings an extraordinary feeling of joy and amazement. In these rare moments in our lives we give ourselves up completely to the wonder of seeing a new creation.

If we observe closely, new birth is happening around us all the time. We must tune ourselves to see everything afresh, the new dawn, the new hues in the evening sky, the new buds, the fresh snowflakes each with a new design. Attuned to the eternal renewal around us, we can drink deeply from the wellspring of joy to refresh ourselves.

Hey nutan ..
Dekha dik aar baar janmer pratham shubhakhan  |
Tomar prokash hok kuhelika kori udghaton 
Surjer moton ||
Riktataar bakkha bhedi aapanare karo unmochan  |
Byakta hok jeebaner joy,
Byakta hok tomaamaajhe asimera chirobismay  |
Udayadigante shankha baaje,mor chittamaajhe
Chiranutanere dilo daak
Pnochishe boishakh ||

Oh the new ..
Reveal yourself yet again this auspicious moment of birth,
May your light shine, unveiled from mist,
As does the glowing sun,
From the emptiness of the soul, reveal yourself,
May the joys of life be revealed again,
May your creation be a never ending wonder in me,
As you ascend up the horizon, conch shells resound in celebration within my soul,
Calling out for eternal renewal of the heart,
This twenty fifth day of Spring

Tagore: The heart is made for love ..

Love for all things

The world is intricately woven with exquisite beauty. Life is filled with little glad tidings. From the garland of stars in the night sky to the soft breeze over new leaves. From the melody of bird songs at dawn to the flowers strewn on the ground. We must see, feel and be touched by them. Then a deep love for all things will blossom in our heart.

Jodi prem dile na prane
Keno bhorer akash bhore dile amon gane gane? 
Keno tarar mala gatha,
Keno phuler sayon pata,
Keno dokhin howya gopon katha janaay kane kane?

Jodi prem dile na prene
Keno akash tabe amon choya chaay a mukher pane?
Tabe khane khane keno
Amar hridoy pagol heno
Tari sei sagore bhasaay jahar kul se nahi jane?

If the heart is not meant to love,
Why does the morning break its heart in songs?
Why are the stars strung into a garland?
Why this bed of flowers on my path?
Why does the south wind whisper its sweet little secrets?

If the heart is not meant to love
Why does the sky gaze at my face so ardently?
Why does the heart yearn so madly for someone? 
Why does this foolish heart recklessly launch its hope on the sea whose shore it does not know?

Tagore: Waves play on my heart ..

The weather outside plays intimately on my moods. Be it sunny, windy, cloudy, rainy, snowy or bitterly cold, every single day in nature brings forth new emotions. Only the genius of Tagore can capture these feelings into exquisite poetry and set them to song. "Bipulo tarongo re", is a song of the waves and the ripples they make on the heart.

Bipulo tarongo re, bipulo tarongo re  
Sab gagan udbelia magan kari ateet anagata
Aaloke ujyal jeebane chanchal eki ananda taranga   
Tai, dulichhe dinkara chandra tara,
Chamki kampichhe chetanadhara,
Aakul chanchal naache sansar, kuhare hridoybihanga

Oh these mighty waves, oh these mighty waves,
Sets the sky in delight, drowning the past and future.
Brightening the world, quickening life with every wave of joy
The sun, the moon, the stars all sway with the waves,
Sparkling and thrilling the stream of my perception,
The world dances in waves of excitement, my heart within coos

Some unseen fingers, like idle breeze, are playing upon my heart the music of the ripples.
- Tagore (Stray Birds)

Emerson on the Bhagavat Geeta

From the book "Emerson in His Journals"

Oct 1? 1848
My friend and I - owed a magnificent day to the Bhagavat Geeta. It was the first of books; it was as if an empire spake to us, nothing small or unworthy but large, serene, consistent, the voice of an old intelligence which in another age & climate had pondered & thus disposed of the same questions that exercise us.  

Oct-Nov, 1845
The Indian teaching through its cloud of legends has yet a simple & grand religion like a queenly countenance seen through a rich veil. It teaches to speak he truth, love others as yourself, & to despise trifles. The East is grand--& makes Europe appear the land of trifles. Identity, identity! friend & foe are of one stuff, and the stuff is such & so much that the variations of surface are unimportant. All is for the soul, & the soul is Vishnu (God); & animals & stars are transient paintings; & light is whitewash; & durations are deceptive; and form is imprisonment and heaven itself is a decoy. That which the soul seeks is resolution into Being above form;..liberation from existence is its name. Cheerful & noble is the genius of this cosmogony. Hari is always gentle & serene-- ; all his games are benevolent

Spring? 1859
When India was explored, & the wonderful riches of Indian theologic literature found, that dispelled once for all the dream about Christianity being the sole revelation--for, here in India---there in China, were the same principles, the same grandeurs, the like depths moral & intellectual.