Rabindranath Tagore Excerpts from Gitanjali
Provided by Guru Bhai T.N. Basu (Tapu) of Kolkota
Thou hast made me endless, such is thy pleasure. This frail vessel thou emtiest again and again, and fillest it ever with fresh life.
At the immortal touch of thy hands my little heart loses its limits in joy and gives birth to utterance ineffable
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...Ah, thou hast made my heart captive in teh endless meshes of thy music, my master!
...let me make my life simple and straight, like a flute of reed for thee to fill with music.
O fool, to try to carry thyself upon thy own shoulders! O beggar, to come to beg at thy own door!
Leave all thy burdens on his hands who can bear all...
Thy desire at once puts out the light from the lamp it touches with its breath. It is unholy — take not thy gifts through its unclean hands. Accept only what is offered by sacred love.
Here is thy footstool and there rest thy feet where live the poorest, and lowliest, and lost.
When I try to bow to thee, my obeisance cannot reach down to the depth where thy feet rest among the poorest, and lowliest, and lost.
The traveller has to knock at every alien door to come to his own, and one has to wander through all the outer worlds to reach the innermost shrine at the end.
The question and the cry ‘Oh, where?’ melt into tears of a thousand streams and deluge the world with the flood of the assurance ‘I am!’ My desires are many and my cry is pitiful, but ever didst thou save me by hard refusals; and this strong mercy has been wrought into my life through and through.
In my life thy will is ever taking shape.
Provided by Guru Bhai T.N. Basu (Tapu) of Kolkota
Thou hast made me endless, such is thy pleasure. This frail vessel thou emtiest again and again, and fillest it ever with fresh life.
At the immortal touch of thy hands my little heart loses its limits in joy and gives birth to utterance ineffable
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...Ah, thou hast made my heart captive in teh endless meshes of thy music, my master!
...let me make my life simple and straight, like a flute of reed for thee to fill with music.
O fool, to try to carry thyself upon thy own shoulders! O beggar, to come to beg at thy own door!
Leave all thy burdens on his hands who can bear all...
Thy desire at once puts out the light from the lamp it touches with its breath. It is unholy — take not thy gifts through its unclean hands. Accept only what is offered by sacred love.
Here is thy footstool and there rest thy feet where live the poorest, and lowliest, and lost.
When I try to bow to thee, my obeisance cannot reach down to the depth where thy feet rest among the poorest, and lowliest, and lost.
The traveller has to knock at every alien door to come to his own, and one has to wander through all the outer worlds to reach the innermost shrine at the end.
The question and the cry ‘Oh, where?’ melt into tears of a thousand streams and deluge the world with the flood of the assurance ‘I am!’ My desires are many and my cry is pitiful, but ever didst thou save me by hard refusals; and this strong mercy has been wrought into my life through and through.
In my life thy will is ever taking shape.