Tagore’s Mysticism

Tagore was basically a poet and not a philosopher or a mystic. However he was also a profound thinker and had firm views on a number of subjects. His views do not make up a coherent and systematic philosophy but a knowledge of his poetic thought is essential for an understanding of his poetry.

Tagore never looked upon nature as something hostile to man. Like all mystics he was a firm believer in the essential unity of man and the external universe. Nature and man are, in the Vedantic terminology, Prakriti and Purusha, the two aspects of the Absolute. Meditation on Nature or an aspect of Nature leads to realization of God. Nature, according to Tagore is the melody of God. It ennobles man. Man is ultimately bound up with nature. That is why his metaphysical body doesn’t become a tomb from which the soul has to be liberated. The body is the sign and utterance of soul.

Though Tagore is a firm believer in the union of man and God, he has no faith in absolute identity. Tagore is a dualist who believes in a mysterious identity in difference. That is why in his poetry, there is a constant synthesis of opposites. Thus freedom means freedom from bondage, but it can be realised only through bondage. Just as the string is bound to the harp and it produces music so also life realizes its freedom in the midst of bonds, just as the string and the harp realise it in being bound to each other. See, how nicely the very idea is expressed in the following sweet lyric from Gitanjali.

            “DELIVERANCE is not for me in renunciation. I feel the embrace of freedom in a thousand bonds of delight.
            Thou ever pourest for me the fresh draught of thy wine of various colours and fragrance, filling this earthen vessel to the brim.
            My world will light its hundred different lamps with thy flame and place them before the alter of thy temple.
            No, I will never shut the doors of my senses. The delights of sight and hearing and touch will bear thy delight.
            Yes, all my illusions will burn into illumination of joy, and all my desires ripen into fruits of love”.

The poet feels and enjoys the delightful presence of God, in the material objects of life which can be seen and heard and touched. So all his illusions turn into illumination of joy which is the final truth of life.

Similarly Tagore harmonises the opposition between illusion and truth, rather it is in truth that illusion merges itself. The world may be Maya but it is laso essential, for without appearance, reality cannot exist and without illusion truth itself will be empty. We find Tagore giving a beautiful shape to this idea in his lyrical drama “Chitra” where he describes the evolution of human love from the physical to the spiritual. Arjuna says to Chitra, in a confused state, trying to catch the truth about her:

            “Illusion is the first appearance of truth.
            She advances towards her lover in disguise.
            But a time comes when she throws off her ornaments
            and veils and stands clothed in naked dignity”.

That is why even after knowing that the physical beauty of Chitra is only an illusion, Arjuna loves her, but this time his love is not towards her body but towards her soul. So he says in the end.

            “Beloved, my life is full.”

Likewise, Tagore harmonises Death and Life. Death is not a negation of life, but it is the gateway through which life constantly renews itself. Tagore realised that death is the fulfilment and completion of life that in death nothing is lost, and that it is the channel through which life ceaselessly flows and renews itself. Just as in the rhythm of life, death has its place, so also evil and imperfection and ugliness have their own necessity and significance. Creation is a ceaseless process which is constantly perfecting itself. Thus, Tagore’s view of life is tremendously optimistic.

Tagore is of the conviction that deliverance has to be “sought and won” notin the otherworld, but in this world, not after death but in this very life.

            “If I leave my home I shall not reach thy
            home; If I cease my work I can never join thee in thy work” .....

Therefore in the midst of our home and our work the prayer rises,

“Lead me across; For here rolls the sea, and even here lies the other shore waiting to be reached - yes, here is this everlasting present, not distant, not anywhere else”.

This is what Tagore says in “Sadhana”. That’s why according to Tagore the joys of earth are not to be rejected in the process of deliverance.

Tagore is a mystic but he differs from the other mystics in as much as he never advocates a renunciation of life. Rather he accepts life and enjoys the manifold beauties of life and nature enthusiastically. His view of life is not that of an ascetic. His advice to the priest is to leave his singing and chanting and seek God where the tillers are tilling the soil or pathmakers are breaking the stones. So he asks the devotee of God to come out of his temple and meet God in the presence of tillers and path­makers in this way:

            “LEAVE this chanting and singing and telling of
            beads! Whom dost thou worship in this lonely
            dark corner of a 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 path maker 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 down in 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
            flowers and incense! What harm is there if thy
            clothes become tattered and stained? Meet him
            and stand by him in toil and in sweat of thy brow.”

What we find in it is stern realism but no trace of asceticism. But it is not that realism which regards material enjoyment as the be all and end all of life. God is not to be found in the temple or through the secluded life of an ascetic but through love and service of our fellowmen. Partici­pation in the humble activities of daily life is essential for God realisation. The whole mankind should offer a salutation to this philosophy of Tagore and this is the perennial charm of his mysticism.

Tagore is a spiritual realist. He has humanised spiritualism. He seeks union with God through union with his fellowmen. This is the unique feature of his mysticism. In this respect he stands alone among mystics.