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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.