The Poet146;s words

We all know that Deepavali is a great festival of fulfillment, which has a powerful message driving it under the crackers and candy: the rea...

We all know that Deepavali is a great festival of fulfillment, which has a powerful message driving it under the crackers and candy: the realisation of life. The Holy Gita urges 8216;8216;karmasu kaushalam8217;8217; doing one8217;s job well as the ultimate yoga or yoking of life8217;s best energies to action and thus attaining the Lotus Feet of the Lord. The 8216;8216;activator8217;8217; as upheld by the saint-poets is nothing but love.

In the run-up to this Deepavali, some wonderful thoughts from Rabindranath Tagore floated past me and I want to present them as a festival bouquet to you. On the benefit of winning hearts over with affection rather than anger, the Poet says in Stray Birds: 8216;8216;Power said to the world, You are mine./The world kept it prisoner on her throne/ Love said to the world, I am thine./ The world gave it the freedom of her house.8217;8217;

For those bereft of their children, Deepavali can be peculiarly empty because its true 8216;8216;raunaq8217;8217; or glory is in the eyes of children, who may be lost to one because they are settled across the seven seas, or 8216;8216;gone away8217;8217; for good. On behalf of that love that life forces to let go, Tagore says, 8216;8216;I want to give you something, my child, for we are drifting in the stream of the world. Our lives will be carried apart and our love forgotten. But I am not so foolish to hope that I can buy you with my gifts. Young is your life, your path long, and you drink the love we brought you at one draught and turn and run away from us. You have your play and your playmates. What harm is there if you have no time or thought for us!8217;8217; We, indeed, have leisure enough in old age to count the days that are past, to cherish in our hearts what our hands have lost for ever. The river runs swift with a song, breaking through all barriers. But the mountain stays and remembers, and follows her with his love.8217;8217;

That is all very well, one may say sharply, after the mist of the moment of reading passes. But what8217;s in it for the future? In the fine tradition of our scripture, Tagore does not let us down! Back again in Stray Birds, he says: 8216;8216;Let me not pray to be sheltered from dangers but to be fearless in facing them. Let me not beg for the stilling of my pain but for the heart to conquer it8230; Let me not crave in anxious fear to be saved but hope for the patience to win my freedom.8217;8217; If that8217;s not an inspiring contemporary call to get on with realising the gift of life, what is? And isn8217;t it nice to rediscover why the Poet gets his capital?