Gitanjali (Song offerings): 63-Rabindranath Tagore 

About the poet

Rabindranath Tagore(1861-1941) is an Indian poet, Short-story writer, playwright, novelist, social reformer, and painter. He composed national anthems of India and Bangladesh. He mainly wrote in Bengali. He won the Nobel Prize in 1913 for ‘Gitanjali’.

About the poem

• Gitanjali is a collection of 103 devotional poems. It was written by Rabindranath Tagore in 1910 in the Bengali language, and later it was translated into English in 1912.

• Rabindranath Tagore received the Nobel Prize in 1913 for Gitanjali which has a great contribution to English literature.

• It is written in a reflective tone.

• It depicts the poet’s profound reverence for the grace of the Almighty.

Summary and analysis:

In “Gitanjali: (Song Offerings):63”, Rabindranath Tagore is grateful to God for gifting life to him in the vast universe, where he can explore himself in different beautiful scenes to achieve happiness. The poet offers his gratitude to God for bringing him into the universe and making him the friend of those people whom he did not know. God has brought the distant near, and he has converted a stranger into a brother. He thanks God for everything including fame, love, place, position, and recognition, which have made him a loveable person to everyone. This way God has placed him in everyone’s home by placing him in everyone’s heart.

The poet feels uncomfortable and uneasy when he has to leave his accustomed shelter as he forgets that all the changes take place according to the will of God, and the old resides in the new also with the presence of God. Here, the poet uses the word ‘accustomed shelter’ for this world of ignorance in which human beings are habituated to stay. The poet accepts God as an omnipresent and omnipotent power that resides in every object of nature and every form of life in the vast universe. Here he highlights the habit of human beings who feel pain and fear to leave their known place. Change is an inevitable truth of existence. The entire cosmos changes with time, but our senses have limitations. So we wish to have everything changeless as we are unaware of our capacity to go beyond our experience. According to Tagore, we are capable of perceiving every unknown entity among various known entities. 

The poet believes in Indian philosophy, which talks about the cycle of human rebirth. It also says that living creatures have a soul, and they’re all part of the supreme soul. So, the poet believes that his soul is immortal, and after his death, he will leave his body, but his soul will move to another body as another being. He also believes that God will reside with him in every life. Throughout the journey of life and death, the divine is always there to support him as God knows him eternally. The poet regards him as the constant companion of his endless life.

  When the poet associates with God, He embraces freedom in a thousand bonds of delight as God leads him to the way of enlightenment. The poet realizes the truth of divine immanence by God’s grace. Then, he realizes himself and finds that God is within him and everything in the vast universe is an expression of God. The poet says that in every life he has experienced the joy which perhaps is unfamiliar to him. Here, the word “unfamiliar” has an interesting connotation as after associating with God the poet acquires enlightenment as well as true knowledge of the unknown. So he always experiences joy within himself, which he finds hard to describe and, therefore unfamiliar.

The poet has requested God to accept his prayer so that he may not lose extreme happiness after getting the divine touch of God who manifests himself in various forms and shapes in the vast universe. The whole universe is regarded by Tagore as the expression of God. God is neither an abstraction, nor an incarnation, but an ever-present force and an all-pervasive influence. He is to be seen in the various forms of nature including humans. God is presented as existing among the simple, poor, and humble people. Here, Rabindranath Tagore glorifies ‘self’ in a wider and greater context so that it loses its independent existence and merges with the universal.   

Theme

This poem emphasizes the philosophical aspects, the theme of devotion, reverence, love, spirituality, and the quest for God. He realizes the ever-present presence of God everywhere,  finds solace and satisfaction in everything, and discovers how the poet and God are connected eternally. It presents the relationship between God and the human soul. It expresses the poet’s desire to find the divine and his realization of god.

In this poem, Tagore expresses a joyful, personalized spirituality with an emphasis on devotion, faith, and an individual’s relationship with the divine in contrast with the official rules and practices that orthodox religion teaches us.

Multiple Choice Questions

(a) Tagore was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature in –

(i) 1910 (ii) 1912 (iii) 1913 (iv) 1941

(b) The phrase “endless life” refers to –

(i)life before death (ii)life after death (iii)power of life (iv)unfamiliar life

(c) Tagore was India’s _____ Nobel laureate.

(i) first (ii) second (iii) third (iv) fourth

(d) The phrase “play of many” means–

(i)intermingling of God and man (ii) intermingling of many festivals (iii)game of children (iv) intermingling of many religions

(d)In every birth Tagore is accompanied by –

(i)his friend (ii)his beloved (iii)God (iv) power of soul

(e)In “Gitanjali(Song Offering):63” the poet regards God as his –

(i)companion (ii)his identity (iii)philosopher (iv)teacher

(f) Rabindranath Tagore requests ______ not to leave him alone.

(i)his friends and family (ii)Universal power (iii) his classmates (iv)father

(g) In “Gitanjali(Song Offering):63”, the poet has accepted the power of –

(i)God (ii)humanity (iii)mind (iv)passion

(h)Gitanjali was translated into English in –

(i)1913 (ii)1912 (iii)1941(iv)1902

(i)Gitanjali consists of –

(i)103 poems (ii)108 poems (iii)102 poems (iv)99 poems

(j)In ‘Gitanjali (Song Offerings):63, ‘Thou’ stands for

a)humans b)friend c) God d)Kafir

Short Answer Type Questions

1. To whom does the poet address in “Gitanjali(Song Offering):63”?

Ans: The poet addresses God in “Gitanjali(Song Offering):63”.

2. What does Rabindranath Tagore forget?

Ans: Rabindranath Tagore forgets that the old stays in the new with the same presence of God.

3. When does the poet become uneasy at heart?

Ans: When the poet has to leave his accustomed shelter, he becomes uneasy at heart.

4. Where has God given seats to the poet?

Ans: God has given seats to the poet in homes that are not his own.

5. What prayer does the poet request God to grant?

Ans: The poet prays that he may not lose the extreme happiness that he feels after having the divine touch of god who manifests himself in various shapes and forms in the universe.

6. Who associates Rabindranath Tagore’s heart with bonds of joy to the unfamiliar?

Ans: The Almighty associates Rabindranath Tagore’s heart with bonds of joy to the unfamiliar.

7. When did Rabindranath Tagore win the Nobel Prize for Literature?

Ans: Rabindranath Tagore won the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1913.

8. When is no one an alien according to Rabindranath Tagore?

Ans: When one knows God, no one is an alien according to Rabindranath Tagore.

9. Who is uneasy at heart?

Ans: The poet, Rabindranath Tagore is uneasy at heart.

10. Who is one companion of Tagore’s endless life?

Ans: The Almighty is one companion of Tagore’s endless life.

11. What do you mean by ‘accustomed shelter’?

Ans: The word ‘accustomed shelter’ means a shelter where human beings are habituated to stay.

12. What does the word “Gitanjali” mean?

Ans: The word “Gitanjali” is composed of ‘git’ which means song, and ‘Anjali’ which means offering. So, the word ‘Gitanjali’ means an offering of song.

Long Answer Type Questions

1. What is religious mysticism? How does Tagore express the same in Song Offerings: 63?

Ans: Religious mysticism refers to a communion between man (the finite), and God (the infinite).

In ‘Gitanjali: (Song Offerings):63’, Tagore has a mystical realization of God. He sings songs of god’s greatness and glory. According to the poet God is one and indivisible. God comes to the poet through every life and every moment. So, the divine light floods his soul, the divine music ravishes his mind. He achieves supreme joy after being connected with God who takes joy in the creation of glorious and beautiful forms of life and leads him to the path of enlightenment as a constant companion. So God pervades his body, heart, and action.

According to the poet God is omnipotent and omnipresent. Every form of life, every object of nature, is an expression of the divine. Though God is infinite, God objectifies himself in the countless objects of nature as a finite being.

2. How does the poet become the constant companion of the poet?

Ans: The poet regards God as his companion and shows his gratitude to God for all of his achievements as everything happens according to the divine will of the God who does everything for the betterment of human beings. God has brought him into the universe and made him a friend of those people whom he did not know. God has placed him in everyone’s home. God has brought the distant near, and he has converted a stranger into a brother.

 ‘Gitanjali: (Song Offerings):63’ offers a kind of faith and optimism. This optimism has its roots in the belief in an all-pervading omnipotent spirit. Man can get rid of all kinds of despair and suffering, if he sacrifices himself to God. God will then carry his burden of life. This humanization of the divine is one of the significant aspects of Tagore’s poetry. The poet accepts God as an omnipresent and omnipotent power that resides in everything.  He forgets that all the changes take place according to the will of God but by the grace of God, he realizes his self and finds that God is within him and not outside. He admits that he perceives extreme happiness after getting the divine touch of God who manifests himself in various forms and shapes in the vast universe.

3.“Through birth and death, in this world or others,

Wherever thou leadest me” –Explain.

Ans: The poet believes that human beings have so many births as he believes in Indian philosophy that says about the cycle of rebirths of human beings. It also says that living creatures have a soul, and they’re all part of the supreme soul. So the poet believes that his soul is immortal and after his death, his soul will move to another body as another being. He also believes that God will reside with him in every life. Throughout the journey of life and death, the divine is always there to support him as God knows him eternally. The poet regards him as the constant companion of his endless life as God is omnipresent and his divine power guides him throughout his journey of life and the afterlife.

4.“Oh, grant me my prayers that I may never lose

the bliss of the touch of the one in the play of many .”– What do you mean by the word “bliss”?  What does the poet pray to God? What does his prayer imply?

Ans: The word “bliss” means extreme happiness.

The poet requests God to accept his prayer so that he may not lose extreme happiness after getting the divine touch of God who manifests himself in various forms and shapes in the vast universe.

His prayer implies that he may never lose the bliss that results from a realization of the eternal truth that it is God who manifests himself in myriad shapes and forms of the phenomenal universe. The poet believes in the identity of God, Nature, and human beings. He realizes that the innumerable objects in nature are nothing but the manifestations of the supreme.

5. Describe Gitanjali as a devotional poem.

Or,

Gitanjali ( Song offerings ): 63 is a personal quest for the divine. Justify.

or, 

How does the poet present the grace of God in the poem “Gitanjali(Song Offering):63”?What reality of universal God is reflected in this poem?

or,

How does the poet realize “the bliss of the touch of one in the play of the many”?

Ans: In Gitanjali ( Song offerings): 63, the poet glorifies God’s greatness for making him comfortable among human beings. He regards God as an omnipresent and omnipotent power that resides in everyone and everything. According to him, all things in the visible universe are various forms and manifestations of the Divine, and these phenomena are changing and temporary while the soul is eternal as after his death he leaves his body, but his immortal soul enters a new body as another being. So, he is free from any kind of grief as God does everything for the betterment of the people.

The poet regards God as a uniting force that makes a unity of all people instead of their differences regarding caste, creed, and nation. He realizes humanity and divinity do not belong to two different orders as humanity is divinity, and God lives in every human being.

In this poem, the poet introspects his ‘self’ and realizes that God is within him with the help of spiritual illumination. He also feels how God dwells in every object of nature, and every human soul is enriched with the spirit of God. Through this poem, he portrays his famous saying, ” God, the Great Giver, can open the whole universe to our gaze in the narrow space Of a single land. So, Song Offerings: 63 is a quest for the divine.

6. How does Tagore alleviate his pain of being ‘uneasy at heart’?

Ans: The poet feels ‘uneasy at heart’ when he has to leave his accustomed shelter as he forgets that all the changes take place according to the will of God and the old i.e. God resides in the new also. According to him, through the cycle of birth and death, God shifts his soul from one body to another body as another being as after his death he leaves his body, but his immortal soul moves to another body with the presence of God. He feels God is not only omnipotent but also omnipresent, so every soul is the temple of God.

The poet perceives himself and discovers that God is within him. God makes him able to know everything and every one by associating him ‘with bonds of joy to unfamiliar’. By knowing God who manifests himself in all shapes and forms in the universe nobody seems to be an unknown person and no place seems to be an unknown place as all doors of knowledge, religion, and nations remain open with the realization of God. Then all people can embrace one another without depending on caste, creed, and national identity by accepting the entire universe as the home of every human being. when the poet realizes the truth, he perceives the unity and harmony that is present between the soul of man and  God. So he also wants to be among human beings in the universe which is the visible expression of God and alleviates his pain of being uneasy at heart.  

7.”Every form of life, every object of nature, is an expression of divine.”-Explain the statement concerning Gitanjali(Song Offerings):63.

Ans: According to Rabindranath Tagore, God is omnipresent and every soul is the temple of God. The Almighty manifests himself in every form of life and every object of nature in the vast universe to support us. When the poet knows God who leads him to the way of enlightenment, the poet realizes the truth of divine immanence, and he also realizes himself and finds that God is within him and everything in the vast universe is an expression of God. After knowing the truth about God, nobody seems to be an unknown person, and no place seems to unknown place as all doors of knowledge, religion, and countries remain open with the realization of God, and the entire universe becomes a home of everyone.

  The poet believes that his soul is immortal and that after his death, he will leave his body, but his soul will move to another body as another being with the same presence of God through the cycle of birth and death. So, God resides in every soul in every form of life.

8. How does Tagore justify the immortality of the soul and its relationship with the Almighty?

Ans: In Gitanjali(Song Offerings):63, Rabindranath Tagore depicts his profound faith in God and the immortality of the human soul. According to Rabindranath Tagore, death is merely the end of the body, after his death he leaves his body, but his soul enters a new body with the presence of Almighty when he is reincarnated. In his opinion, human beings have many births, and in every birth, they explore something new and know many unknown things with the realization of bonds of joy, in which God is the linker. So death is also the journey of the soul from this world to the other, and every soul is undestroyable and immortal. He believes he is accompanied by the Almighty in every birth, and every soul has a never-ending relationship with the Almighty. He regards the Almighty as a constant mentor and guide.

The poet says God lives in everything and everyone around us. If one knows God, he knows everything and everyone because everything is an expression of the divine. Through the cycle of birth and death, God moves us from one body to another, but he remains with us as a constant companion in every birth. So every soul is connected with the Almighty in an unchanging way, and it has an indispensable and eternal relationship with the Almighty.

9. How has Tagore been successful in establishing a relationship between man and God?

Ans: In ‘Gitanjali(Song Offerings):63’ Rabindranath Tagore shows his gratitude to God for all of his achievements. According to him, God has brought him into the universe and made him a friend of those people whom he did not know. God has placed him in everyone’s home. God has brought the distant near, and he has converted a stranger into a brother. He forgets that all the changes take place according to the will of God, but by the grace of God, he realizes himself and finds that God is within him and not outside. He accepts God as an omnipresent and omnipotent power that resides in everything, and every soul is the temple of God. 

The poet regards God as his constant companion and perceives extreme happiness after getting the divine touch of God who manifests himself in various forms and shapes in the vast universe to support us. With the realization of God, nobody seems to be an unknown person, and no place seems to unknown place as all doors of knowledge, religion, and countries remain open then, and the entire universe becomes a home of everyone. The poet believes that his soul is immortal and that after his death, he will leave his body, but his soul will move to another body as another being with the same presence of God through the cycle of birth and death. So God resides in every soul in every form of life, and he has an indispensable and eternal relationship with man.

Textual Grammar

Do as directed:

(1) Thou hast made me known with friends whom I knew not. (Correct the errors)

Ans: Thou hast made me known to friends whom I knew not.

(2) I am uneasy at heart. I have to leave my accustomed shelter. (Join into a compound sentence)

Ans: I have to leave my accustomed shelter, so I am uneasy at heart.

(3) Thou hast given me seats in homes not my own. (Split into two simple sentences)

Ans: Thou hast given me seats in homes. They are not my own.

(4)The poet says, “I am uneasy at heart when I have to leave my accustomed shelter.”(Change the narration)

Ans: The poet says that he is uneasy at heart when he has to leave his accustomed shelter.

(5)I may never lose the bliss of the touch of the one in the play of the many. (Correct the errors)

Ans: I may never lose the bliss of the touch of the one in the play of the many.

(6)I am uneasy at heart. I have to leave my accustomed shelter. (Join into a complex sentence)

Ans: I have to leave my accustomed shelter, I am uneasy at heart.

Word -meaning:

Thou-You, the uneasy-uncomfortable, accustomed shelter-known place where human beings are habituated to stay, abides-stays, leadest-lead, endless life-limitless life, linkest-links, alien-foreigner, 

bliss-extreme happiness, touch -the divine presence of God, play of many -in many forms