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But what is this state? It is like a morning of spring, varied in its life and beauty, yet one and entire.All the conflicts and contradictions of life are reconciled; knowledge, love and action harmonized; pleasure and pain become one in beauty, enjoyment and renunciation equal in goodness; the breach between the finite and the infinite fills with love and overflows; every moment carries its message of the eternal; the formless appears to us in the form of the flower, of the fruit; the boundless takes us up in his arms as a father and walks by our side as a friend.While yet we have not attained the internal harmony, and the wholeness of our being, our life remains a life of habits. The world still appears to us as a machine, to be mastered where it is useful, to be guarded against where it is dangerous, and never to be known in its full fellowship with us, alike in its physical nature and in its spiritual life and beauty. By Rabindranath Tagore Life Beauty State Love Knowledge

Where is heaven? you ask me, my child,-the sages tell us it isbeyond the limits of birth and death, unswayed by the rhythm of dayand night; it is not of the earth. But your poet knows that its eternal hunger is for time andspace, and it strives evermore to be born in the fruitful dust.Heaven is fulfilled in your sweet body, my child, in yourpalpitating heart. The sea is beating its drums in joy, the flowers are a-tiptoeto kiss you. For heaven is born in you, in the arms of the mother-dust. By Rabindranath Tagore Child Heaven Born Death Unswayed

Give Me Strength This is my prayer to thee, my lordstrike, strike at the root of penury in my heart. Give me the strength lightly to bear my joys and sorrows. Give me the strength to make my love fruitful in service. Give me the strength never to disown the poor or bend my knees before insolent might. Give me the strength to raise my mind high above daily trifles. And give me the strength to surrender my strength to thy will with love. By Rabindranath Tagore Strength Give Thee Lordstrike Strike

When I give up the helm I know that the time has come for thee to take it. What there is to do will be instantly done. Vain is this struggle. Then take away your hands and silently put up with your defeat, my heart, and think it your good fortune to sit perfectly still where you are placed. These my lamps are blown out at every little puff of wind, and trying to light them I forget all else again and again. But I shall be wise this time and wait in the dark, spreading my mat on the floor; and whenever it is thy pleasure, my lord, come silently and take thy seat here. By Rabindranath Tagore Give Helm Thee Time Silently

Only Thee That I want thee, only thee---let my heart repeat without end. All desires that distract me, day and night, are false and empty to the core. As the night keeps hidden in its gloom the petition for light, even thus in the depth of my unconsciousness rings the cry ---'I want thee, only thee'. As the storm still seeks its end in peace when it strikes against peace with all its might, even thus my rebellion strikes against thy love and still its cry is ---'I want thee, only thee'. By Rabindranath Tagore Thee Heart Repeat End Night

The stone will melt in tears, because I can't remain closed to you forever. I can't escape without being conquered. From the blue sky an eye will gaze down, to summon me in silence. I will receive death utterly at your feet. By Rabindranath Tagore Tears Forever Stone Melt Remain

The night is nearly spent waiting for him in vain. I fear lest in the morning he suddenly come to my door when I have fallen asleep wearied out. Oh friends, leave the way open to himforbid him not. If the sounds of his steps does not wake me, do not try to rouse me, I pray. I wish not to be called from my sleep by the clamorous choir of birds, by the riot of wind at the festival of morning light. Let me sleep undisturbed even if my lord comes of a sudden to my door. Ah, my sleep, precious sleep, which only waits for his touch to vanish. Ah, my closed eyes that would open their lids only to the light of his smile when he stands before me like a dream emerging from darkness of sleep. Let him appear before my sight as the first of all lights and all forms. The first thrill of joy to my awakened soul let it come from his glance. And let my return to myself be immediate return to him. By Rabindranath Tagore Sleep Vain Night Spent Waiting

What a strange tune is this, that comes out of the music of Spring.It seems like the tune of yellow leaves. Spring has stored up its tears in secret for us all this while.It was afraid we should not understand it, because we were so youthful.It wanted to beguile us with smiles.But we shall sleep our hearts tonight in the sadness of the other shore. By Rabindranath Tagore Tune Leaves Strange Music Springit

Ah, the dear earth! The beautiful earth! She wants all that we have--the touch of our hands, the song of our hearts.She wants to draw out from us all that is within, hidden even from ourselves.This is her sorrow, that she finds out some things only to know that she has not found all. She loses before she attains.Ah, the dear earth! We shall never deceive you.(They sing.)I shall crown you with my garland, before I take leave. You ever spoke to me in all my joys and sorrows. And now, at the end of the day, my own heart will break in speech. Words came to me, but not the tune, and the song that I never sang to you remains hidden behind my tears. By Rabindranath Tagore Earth Dear Song Hidden Sorrow

Thy sunbeam comes upon this earth of mine with arms outstretched and stands at my door the livelong day to carry back to thy feet clouds made of my tears and sighs and songs. With fond delight thou wrappest about thy starry breast that mantle of misty cloud, turning it into numberless shapes and folds and colouring it with hues everchanging. It is so light and so fleeting, tender and tearful and dark, that is why thou lovest it, O thou spotless and serene. And that is why it may cover thy awful white light with its pathetic shadows. By Rabindranath Tagore Thy Thou Songs Sunbeam Earth

The Song of the DefeatedMy master has bid me while I stand at the roadside,to sing the song of Defeat,for that is the bride whom He woos in secret.She has put on the dark veil,hiding her face from the crowd,but the jewel glows on her breast in the dark.She is forsaken of the day,and God's night is waiting for her with its lamps lighted and flowers wet with dew.She is silent with her eyes downcast;she has left her home behind her,from her home has come that wailing in the wind.But the stars are singing the love-song of the eternal to a face sweet with shame and suffering.The door has been opened in the lonely chamber,the call has sounded,and the heart of the darkness throbs with awebecause of the coming tryst. By Rabindranath Tagore Song Home Face Defeatfor God

Obstinate are the trammels, but my heart aches when I try to break them. Freedom is all I want, but to hope for it I feel ashamed. I am certain that priceless wealth is in thee, and that thou art my best friend, but I have not the heart to sweep away the tinsel that fills my room. The shroud that covers me is a shroud of dust and death; I hate it, yet hug it in love. My debts are large, my failures great, my shame secret and heavy; yet when I come to ask for my good, I quake in fear lest my prayer be granted. By Rabindranath Tagore Obstinate Trammels Aches Break Heart

Clouds heap upon clouds and it darkens. Ah, love, why dost thou let me wait outside at the door all alone? In the busy moments of the noontide work I am with the crowd, but on this dark lonely 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. By Rabindranath Tagore Clouds Thou Darkens Heap Love

I am only waiting for love to give myself up at last into his hands.That is why it is so late and why I have been guilty of such omissions.They come with their laws and their codes to bind me fast; but Ievade them ever, for I am only waiting for love to give myself up atlast into his hands.People blame me and call me heedless; I doubt not they are rightin their blame.The market day is over and work is all done for the busy. Thosewho came to call me in vain have gone back in anger. I am onlywaiting for love to give myself up at last into his hands. By Rabindranath Tagore Waiting Love Give Ievade Call

My Friend: Art thou abroad on this stormy night on thy journey of love, my friend? The sky groans like one in despair. I have no sleep tonight. Ever and again I open my door and look out on the darkness, my friend! I can see nothing before me. I wonder where lies thy path! By what dim shore of the ink-black river, by what far edge of the frowning forest, through what mazy depth of gloom art thou threading thy course to come to me, my friend? By Rabindranath Tagore Friend Love Art Thy Abroad

WHEN I GO ALONE AT NIGHTWHEN I go alone at night to my love-tryst, birds do not sing, the wind does not stir, the houses on both sides of the street stand silent.It is my own anklets that grow loud at every step and I am ashamed.When I sit on my balcony and listen for his footsteps, leaves do not rustle on the trees, and the water is still in the river like the sword on the knees of a sentry fallen asleep.It is my own heart that beats wildly I do not know how to quiet it.When my love comes and sits by my side, when my body trembles and my eyelids droop, the night darkens, the wind blows out the lamp, and the clouds draw veils over the stars.It is the jewel at my own breast that shines and gives light. I do not know how to hide it. By Rabindranath Tagore Wind Night Nightwhen Sides Sit

In pleasure and in pain I stand not by the side of men, and thus stand by thee. I shrink to give up my life, and thus do not plunge into the great waters of life. By Rabindranath Tagore Stand Men Thee Life Pleasure

When I bring to you coloured toys, my child, I understand why there is such a play of colours on clouds, on water, and why flowers are painted in tintswhen I give coloured toys to you, my child. When I sing to make you dance I truly now why there is music in leaves, and why waves send their chorus of voices to the heart of the listening earthwhen I sing to make you dance. When I bring sweet things to your greedy hands I know why there is honey in the cup of the flowers and why fruits are secretly filled with sweet juicewhen I bring sweet things to your greedy hands. When I kiss your face to make you smile, my darling, I surely understand what pleasure streams from the sky in morning light, and what delight that is that is which the summer breeze brings to my bodywhen I kiss you to make you smile. By Rabindranath Tagore Child Make Coloured Toys Bring

Thou hast made me known to friends whom I knew not. Thou hast given me seats in homes not my own. Thou hast brought the distant near and made a brother of the stranger. I am uneasy at heart when I have to leave my accustomed shelter; I forget that there abides the old in the new, and that there also thou abidest. Through birth and death, in this world or in others, wherever thou leadest me it is thou, the same, the one companion of my endless life who ever linkest my heart with bonds of joy to the unfamiliar. When one knows thee, then alien there is none, then no door is shut. Oh, grant me my prayer that I may never lose the bliss of the touch of the one in the play of many. By Rabindranath Tagore Thou Hast Made Friends Knew

Let life be beautiful like summer flowers and death like autumn leaves. By Rabindranath Tagore Leaves Life Beautiful Summer Flowers

Although Gora had tried his best to dissuade Anandamoyi from attending Binoy's marriage ceremony he was not in his heart of hearts very much pained when, taking no account of his anger or distress, she refused to listen to him, in fact he really felt delighted. Feeling so certain that however great the gulf between Binoy and himself might become, Binoy could be never deprived of that part of his mother's immeasurable love which was showered upon him like nectar, Gora's heart was satisfied and at peace. From every other standpoint he might be separated ever so far from Binoy, but by this one bond of imperishable love of a mother these two lifelong friends would be united by the closest and deepest ties for life. By Rabindranath Tagore Binoy Anandamoyi Gora Taking Distress

Yet when, one day, standing on the outskirts of Yokohama town, bristling with its display of modern miscellanies, I watched the sunset in your southern sea, and saw its peace and majesty among your pine-clad hills, - with the great Fujiyama growing faint against the golden horizon, like a god overcome with his own radiance, - the music of eternity welled up through the evening silence, and I felt that the sky and the earth and the lyrics of the dawn and the dayfall are with the poets and idealists, and not with the marketmen robustly contemptuous of all sentiment, - that, after the forgetfulness of his own divinity, man will remember again that heaven is always in touch with his world, which can never be abandoned for good to the hounding wolves of the modern era, scenting human blood and howling to the skies. By Rabindranath Tagore Modern Yokohama Fujiyama Day Standing

Ever in my life have I sought thee with my songs. It was they who led me from door to door, and with them have I felt about me, searching and touching my world. It was my songs that taught me all the lessons I ever learnt; they showed me secret paths, they brought before my sight many a star on the horizon of my heart. They guided me all the day long to the mysteries of the country of pleasure and pain, and, at last, to what palace gate have the brought me in the evening at the end of my journey? By Rabindranath Tagore Songs Life Sought Thee Door

Languor is upon your heart and the slumber is still on your eyes. Has not the word come to you that the flower is reigning in splendour among thorns? Wake, oh awaken! let not the time pass in vain! At the end of the stony path, in the country of virgin solitude, my friend is sitting all alone. Deceive him not. Wake, oh awaken! What if the sky pants and trembles with the heat of the midday sun---what if the burning sand spreads its mantle of thirst--- Is there no joy in the deep of your heart? At every footfall of yours, will not the harp of the road break out in sweet music of pain? By Rabindranath Tagore Languor Eyes Slumber Wake Awaken

I am just coming from my visit to Japan, where I exhorted this young nation to take its stand upon the higher ideals of humanity and never to follow the West in its acceptance of the organized selfishness of Nationalism as its religion, never to gloat upon the feebleness of its neighbours, never to be unscrupulous in its behaviour to the weak, where it can be gloriously mean with impunity, while turning its right cheek of brighter humanity for the kiss of admiration to those who have the power to deal it a blow. Some of the newspapers praised my utterances for their poetical qualities, while adding with a leer that it was the poetry of a defeated people. I felt they were right. Japan had been taught in a modern school the lesson how to become powerful. The schooling is done and she must enjoy the fruits of her lessons. By Rabindranath Tagore Humanity West Nationalism Religion Neighbours

Go not to the temple to put flowers upon the feet of God, first fill your own house with the fragrance of love. Go not to the temple to light candles before the altar of God, first remove the darkness of sin from your heart. Go not to the temple to bow down your head in prayer, first learn to bow in humility before your fellow men. Go not to the temple to pray on bended knees, first bend down to lift someone who is down trodden. Go not to the temple to ask for forgiveness for your sins, first forgive from your heart those who have sinned against you. By Rabindranath Tagore Temple God Love Put Flowers

Music is the purest form of art, and therefore the most direct expression of beauty, with a form and spirit which is one and simple, and least encumbered with anything extraneous. We seem to feel that the manifestation of the infinite in the finite forms of creation is music itself, silent and visible. By Rabindranath Tagore Art Beauty Simple Extraneous Form

He it is, the innermost one, who awakens my being with his deep hidden touches. He it is who puts his enchantment upon these eyes and joyfully plays on the chords of my heart in varied cadence of pleasure and pain. He it is who weaves the web of this maya in evanescent hues of gold and silver, blue and green, and lets peep out through the folds his feet, at whose touch I forget myself. Days come and ages pass, and it is ever he who moves my heart in many a name, in many a guise, in many a rapture of joy and of sorrow. By Rabindranath Tagore Touches Innermost Awakens Deep Hidden

My mind still buzzed with the cares of a busy day; I sat on without noting how twilightwas deepening into dark.Suddenly light stirred across the gloom and touched me as with a finger.I lifted my head and met the gaze of the full moon widened in wonder like a child's. It held my eyes for long, and I felt as though a love-letter had been secretly dropped in at my window.And ever since my heart is breaking to write for answer something fragrant as Night's unseen flowers - great as her declaration spelt out in nameless stars. By Rabindranath Tagore Day Child Mind Buzzed Cares

The rain has held back for days and days, my God, in my arid heart. The horizon is fiercely naked---not the thinnest cover of a soft cloud, not the vaguest hint of a distant cool shower. Send thy angry storm, dark with death, if it is thy wish, and with lashes of lightning startle the sky from end to end. But call back, my lord, call back this pervading silent heat, still and keen and cruel, burning the heart with dire despair. Let the cloud of grace bend low from above like the tearful look of the mother on the day of the father's wrath By Rabindranath Tagore God Back Rain Held Arid

In one salutation to thee, my God, let all my senses spread out and touch this world at thy feet. Like a rain-cloud of July hung low with its burden of unshed showers let all my mind bend down at thy door in one salutation to thee. Let all my songs gather together their diverse strains into a single current and flow to a sea of silence in one salutation to thee. Like a flock of homesick cranes flying night and day back to their mountain nests let all my life take its voyage to its eternal home in one salutation to thee By Rabindranath Tagore Thee Salutation God Thy Feet

Deity of the ruined temple! The broken strings of Vina sing no more your praise. The bells in the evening proclaim not your time of worship. The air is still and silent about you. In your desolate dwelling comes the vagrant spring breeze. It brings the tidings of flowersthe flowers that for your worship are offered no more. Your worshipper of old wanders ever longing for favour still refused. In the eventide, when fires and shadows mingle with the gloom of dust, he wearily comes back to the ruined temple with hunger in his heart. Many a festival day comes to you in silence, deity of the ruined temple. Many a night of worship goes away with lamp unlit. Many new images are built by masters of cunning art and carried to the holy stream of oblivion when their time is come. Only the deity of the ruined temple remains unworshipped in deathless neglect. By Rabindranath Tagore Ruined Temple Worship Deity Vina

When material is in profusion, the mind gets lazy and leaves everything to it, forgetting that for a successful feast of joy its internal equipment counts for more than the external. This is the chief lesson which his infant state has to teach to man. There his possessions are few and trivial, yet he needs no more for his happiness. The world of play is spoilt for the unfortunate youngster who is burdened with an unlimited quantity of playthings. By Rabindranath Tagore Profusion Forgetting External Material Mind

The shroud that covers me is a shroud of dust and death; I hate it, yet hug it in love. My debts are large, my failures great, my shame secret and heavy; yet when I come to ask for my good, I quake in fear lest my prayer be granted. He By Rabindranath Tagore Shroud Death Love Covers Dust

Children are living beings - more living than grown-up people who have built shells of habit around themselves. Therefore it is absolutely necessary for their mental health and development that they should not have mere schools for their lessons, but a world whose guiding spirit is personal love. By Rabindranath Tagore Children Living Grownup People Built

Death, thy servant, is at my door. He has crossed the unknown sea and brought thy call to my home. The night is dark and my heart is fearful---yet I will take up the lamp, open my gates and bow to him my welcome. It is thy messenger who stands at my door. I will worship him placing at his feet the treasure of my heart. He will go back with his errand done, leaving a dark shadow on my morning; and in my desolate home only my forlorn self will remain as my last offering to thee. By Rabindranath Tagore Thy Death Door Servant Heart

Day after day, O lord of my life, shall I stand before thee face to face. With folded hands, O lord of all worlds, shall I stand before thee face to face. Under thy great sky in solitude and silence, with humble heart shall I stand before thee face to face. In this laborious world of thine, tumultuous with toil and with struggle, among hurrying crowds shall I stand before thee face to face. And when my work shall be done in this world, O King of kings, alone and speechless shall I stand before thee face to face. By Rabindranath Tagore Face Stand Thee Day Lord

Shall I be able to understand the sense of what you have written?No, King, what a poet writes is not meant to have any sense.What then?To have the tune itself.What do you mean? Is there no philosophy in it?No, none at all, thank goodness.What does it say, then? King, it says "I exist." Don't you know the meaning of the first cry of the new-born child? The child, when it is born, hears at once the cries of the earth and water and sky, which surround him,--and they all cry to him, "We exist," and his tiny little heart responds, and cries out in its turn, "I exist." My poetry is like the cry of that new-born child. It is a response to the cry of the Universe. By Rabindranath Tagore King Cry Exist Child Written

Clever lies become matters of self-congratulation. Solemn pledges become a farce - laughable for their very solemnity. The Nation, with all its paraphernalia of power and prosperity, its flags and pious hymns, its blasphemous prayers in the churches, and the literary mock thunders of its patriotic bragging, cannot hide the fact that the Nation is the greatest evil for the Nation, that all its precautions are against it, and any new birth of its fellow in the world is always followed in its mind by the dread of a new peril. By Rabindranath Tagore Nation Clever Selfcongratulation Lies Matters

What I mean, King, is this. We are the true Renouncers, because change is our very secret. We lose, in order to find. We have no faith in the never-changing.What do you mean?Haven't you noticed the detachment of the rushing river, as it runs splashing from its mountain cave? It gives itself away so swiftly, and only thus it finds itself. What is never changing, for the river, is the desert sand, where it loses its course. By Rabindranath Tagore King Renouncers River Secret True

O thou the last fulfilment of life, Death, my death, come and whisper to me! Day after day I have kept watch for thee; for thee have I borne the joys and pangs of life. All that I am, that I have, that I hope and all my love have ever flowed towards thee in depth of secrecy. One final glance from thine eyes and my life will be ever thine own. The flowers have been woven and the garland is ready for the bridegroom. After the wedding the bride shall leave her home and meet her lord alone in the solitude of night. By Rabindranath Tagore Death Life Thee Thou Fulfilment

The infinite being has assumed unto himself the mystery of finitude. And in him who is love the finite and the infinite are made one. By Rabindranath Tagore Finitude Infinite Assumed Mystery Love

When he has the power to see things detached from self-interest and from the insistent claims of the lust of the senses, then alone can he have the true vision of the beauty that is everywhere. By Rabindranath Tagore Senses Power Things Detached Selfinterest

No more noisy, loud words from mesuch is my master's will. Henceforth I deal in whispers. The speech of my heart will be carried on in murmurings of a song. Men hasten to the King's market. All the buyers and sellers are there. But I have my untimely leave in the middle of the day, in the thick of work. Let then the flowers come out in my garden, though it is not their time; and let the midday bees strike up their lazy hum. Full many an hour have I spent in the strife of the good and the evil, but now it is the pleasure of my playmate of the empty days to draw my heart on to him; and I know not why is this sudden call to what useless inconsequence! By Rabindranath Tagore Noisy Loud Words Mesuch Master

When my play was with thee I never questioned who thou wert. I knew nor shyness nor fear, my life was boisterous. In the early morning thou wouldst call me from my sleep like my own comrade and lead me running from glade to glade. On those days I never cared to know the meaning of songs thou sangest to me. Only my voice took up the tunes, and my heart danced in their cadence. Now, when the playtime is over, what is this sudden sight that is come upon me? The world with eyes bent upon thy feet stands in awe with all its silent stars. By Rabindranath Tagore Wert Thou Play Thee Questioned

The time has come when I must divest Bimala of all the ideal decorations with which I decked her. It was owing to my own weakness that I indulged in such idolatry. I was too greedy. I created an angel of Bimala, in order to exaggerate my own enjoyment. But Bimala is what she is. It is preposterous to expect that she should assume the role of an angel for my pleasure. The Creator is under no obligation to supply me with angels, just because I have an avidity for imaginary perfection. By Rabindranath Tagore Bimala Time Divest Ideal Decorations

It was mid-day when you went away. The sun was strong in the sky. I had done my work and sat alone on my balcony when you went away. Fitful gusts came winnowing through the smells of many distant fields. The doves cooed tireless in the shade, and a bee strayed in my room humming the news of many distant fields. The village slept in the noonday heat. The road lay deserted. In sudden fits the rustling of the leaves rose and died. I glazed at the sky and wove in the blue the letters of a name I had known, while the village slept in the noonday heat. I had forgotten to braid my hair. The languid breeze played with it upon my cheek. The river ran unruffled under the shady bank. The lazy white clouds did not move. I had forgotten to braid my hair. It was mid-day when you went away. The dust of the road was hot and the fields panting. The doves cooed among the dense leaves. I was alone in my balcony when you went away. By Rabindranath Tagore Fields Distant Heat Sky Village

I have never been able to make out," I began, "why women are so shy about being caught reading poetry.We men--lawyers, mechanics, or what not--may well feel ashamed. If we must read poetry, it should be at dead of night, within closed doors. But you women are so akin to poesy. The Creator Himself is a lyric poet, and Jayadeva must have practised the divine art seated at His feet. By Rabindranath Tagore Lawyers Mechanics Began Men Ashamed

The Taj Mahal rises above the banks of the river like a solitary tear suspended on the cheek of time. By Rabindranath Tagore Taj Mahal Time Rises Banks

Man is not to fight with other human races, other human individuals, but his work is to bring about reconciliation and Peace and to restore the bonds of friendship and love. We are not like fighting beasts. It is the life of self which is predominating in our life, the self which is creating the seclusion, giving rise to sufferings, to jealousy and hatred, to political and commercial competition. All these illusions will vanish, if we go down to the heart of By Rabindranath Tagore Human Peace Man Races Individuals

The attitude of the God-conscious man of the Upanishad towards the universe is one of a deep feeling of adoration. His object of worship is present everywhere. It is the one living truth that makes all realities true. This truth is not only of knowledge but of devotion. By Rabindranath Tagore Godconscious Upanishad Adoration Attitude Man

Man's poverty is abysmal, his wants are endless till he becomes truly conscious of his soul. Till then, the world to him is in a state of flux - a phantasm that is and is not. By Rabindranath Tagore Man Abysmal Soul Till Poverty

I know not from what distant time thou art ever coming nearer to meet me. Thy sun and stars can never keep thee hidden from me for aye. In many a morning and eve thy footsteps have been heard and thy messenger has come within my heart and called me in secret. I know not only why today my life is all astir, and a feeling of tremulous joy is passing through my heart. It is as if the time were come to wind up my work, and I feel in the air a faint smell of thy sweet presence By Rabindranath Tagore Thy Distant Thou Art Coming

What divine drink wouldst thou have, my God, from this overflowing cup of my life? My poet, is it thy delight to see thy creation through my eyes and to stand at the portals of my ears silently to listen to thine own eternal harmony? Thy world is weaving words in my mind and thy joy is adding music to them. Thou givest thyself to me in love and then feelest thine own entire sweetness in me. By Rabindranath Tagore God Thy Life Divine Drink

Those who think to reach God by running away from the world, when and where do they expect to meet him? We are reaching him here in this very spot, now at this very moment. By Rabindranath Tagore God World Reach Running Expect

The fish in the water is silent, the animals on the earth is noisy, the bird in the air is singing. But man has in him the silence of the sea, the noise of the earth and the music of the air. By Rabindranath Tagore Earth Air Silent Noisy Singing

His love for me seemed to overflow my limits by its flood of wealth and service. But my necessity was more for giving than foe receiving; for love is a vagabond, who can make his flowers bloom in the wayside dust, better than in the crystal jars kept in the drawing-room. By Rabindranath Tagore Service Love Overflow Limits Flood

The West in the voice of her thundering cannon had said at the door of Japan, Let there be a nation - and there was a Nation. And now that it has come into existence, why do you not feel in your heart of hearts a pure feeling of gladness and say that it is good? Why is it that I saw in an English paper an expression of bitterness at Japan's boasting of her superiority of civilization - the thing that the British, along with other nations, has been carrying on for ages without blushing? Because the idealism of selfishness must keep itself drunk with a continual dose of self-laudation. But the same vices which seem so natural and innocuous in its own life make it surprised and angry at their unpleasantness when seen in other nations. By Rabindranath Tagore West Nation Nations Japan Voice

He had come to the conclusion that, as the earth consisted of land and water, so human life was made up of eatings and beatings. By Rabindranath Tagore Water Beatings Conclusion Earth Consisted

I have observed, on board a steamer, how men and women easily give way to their instinct for flirtation, because water has the power of washing away our sense of responsibility, and those who on land resemble the oak in their firmness behave like floating seaweed when on the sea. By Rabindranath Tagore Observed Steamer Flirtation Responsibility Sea

The world into which I have tumbled is peopled with strange beings. They are always busy erecting walls and rules round themselves, and how careful they are with their curtains lest they should see! It is a wonder to me they have not made drab covers for flowering plants and put up a canopy to ward off the moon. If the next life is determined by the desires of this, then I should be reborn from our enshrouded planet into some free and open realm of joy. By Rabindranath Tagore World Tumbled Peopled Strange Busy

Those who draw their sustenance from science are blessed. It is for me to only derive an occasional pleasure. This is nothing worthy of conceit, but I am indeed touched by the joys. This book is an ode to such joys, a digest of my collections from various sources. By Rabindranath Tagore Blessed Draw Sustenance Science Joys

Man cannot reach the shrine if he does not make the pilgrimage.Languages are jealous. They do not give up their best treasures to those who try to deal with them through an intermediary belonging to an alien rival. By Rabindranath Tagore Man Jealous Reach Shrine Make

The greedy man who is fond of his fish stew has no compunction in cutting up the fish according to his need. But the man who loves the fish wants to enjoy it in the water; and if that is impossible he waits on the bank; and even if he comes back home without a sight of it he has the consolation of knowing that the fish is all right. Perfect gain is the best of all; but if that is impossible, then the next best gain is perfect losing. By Rabindranath Tagore Fish Man Greedy Fond Stew

In desperate hope I go and search for her in all the corners of my room; I find her not. My house is small and what once has gone from it can never be regained. But infinite is thy mansion, my lord, and seeking her I have to come to thy door. I stand under the golden canopy of thine evening sky and I lift my eager eyes to thy face. I have come to the brink of eternity from which nothing can vanishno hope, no happiness, no vision of a face seen through tears. Oh, dip my emptied life into that ocean, plunge it into the deepest fullness. Let me for once feel that lost sweet touch in the allness of the universe By Rabindranath Tagore Room Thy Desperate Search Corners

I came out alone on my way to my tryst. But who is this that follows me in the silent dark? I move aside to avoid his presence but I escape him not. He makes the dust rise from the earth with his swagger; he adds his loud voice to every word that I utter. He is my own little self, my lord, he knows no shame; but I am ashamed to come to thy door in his company. By Rabindranath Tagore Tryst Dark Silent Swagger Utter

Eyes see only dust and earth, but feel with the heart, and know pure joy.The delights blossom on all sides in every form, but where is your heart's thread to make a wreath of them?My master's flute sounds through all things, drawing me out of my lodgings wherever they may be, and while I listen I know that every step I take is in my master's house.For he is the sea, he is the river that leads to the sea, and he is the landing-place. By Rabindranath Tagore Sea Master Heart Eyes Earth

True deliverance of man is the deliverance from Avidya i.e. ignorance. It is not in destroying anything that is positive and real, for that cannot be possible, but that which is negative, which obstructs our vision of truth. By Rabindranath Tagore Avidya Ignorance Deliverance True Man

The soil in return for her service keeps the tree tied to her, the sky asks nothing and leaves it free. By Rabindranath Tagore Free Soil Return Service Tree

I AM RESTLESS AM restless. I am athirst for far-away things.My soul goes out in a longing to touch the skirt of the dim distance.O Great Beyond, O the keen call of thy flute!I forget, I ever forget, that I have no wings to fly, that I am bound in this spot evermore.I am eager and wakeful, I am a stranger in a strange land.Thy breath comes to me whispering an impossible hope.Thy tongue is known to my heart as its very own.O Far-to-seek, O the keen call of thy flute!I forget, I ever forget, that I know not the way, that I have not the winged horse.I am listless, I am a wanderer in my heart.In the sunny haze of the languid hours, what vast vision of thine takes shape in the blue of the sky!O Farthest end, O the keen call of thy flute!I forget, I ever forget, that the gates are shut everywhere in the house where I dwell alone! By Rabindranath Tagore Forget Restless Flute Keen Call

On many an idle day have I grieved over lost time. But it is never lost, my lord. Thou hast taken every moment of my life in thine own hands. Hidden in the heart of things thou art nourishing seeds into sprouts, buds into blossoms, and ripening flowers into fruitfulness. I was tired and sleeping on my idle bed and imagined all work had ceased. In the morning I woke up and found my garden full with wonders of flowers. By Rabindranath Tagore Time Lost Day Grieved Idle

The product of this inner life is a living product. It will be needed when the youth returns home weary and dust-laden, when the soldier is wounded, when the wealth is squandered away and pride is humbled, when man's heart cries for truth in the immensity of facts and harmony in the contradiction of tendencies. Its value is not in its multiplication of materials, but in its spiritual fulfilment. By Rabindranath Tagore Product Life Living Dustladen Wounded

We cannot look upon our lives as dreams of a dreamer who has no awakening in all time. We have a personality to which matter and force are unmeaning unless related to something infinitely personal, whose nature we have discovered, in some measure, in human love, in the greatness of the good, in the martyrdom of heroic souls, in the ineffable beauty of nature, which can never be a mere physical fact nor anything but an expression of personality. By Rabindranath Tagore Time Lives Dreams Dreamer Awakening

The civilisation of the West has in it the spirit of the machine which must move; and to that blind movement human lives are offered as fuel, keeping up the steam-power. It represents the active aspect of inertia which has the appearance of freedom, but not its truth, and therefore gives rise to slavery both within its boundaries and outside. By Rabindranath Tagore West Move Fuel Keeping Steampower

Want of love is a degree of callousness; for love is the perfection of consciousness. We do not love because we do not comprehend, or rather we do not comprehend because we do not love. For love is the ultimate meaning of everything around us. It is not a mere sentiment; it is truth; it is the joy that is at the root of all creation. By Rabindranath Tagore Love Callousness Consciousness Degree Perfection

If things did not move on and vanish, we should see no beauty anywhere.If youth had only the heat of movement, it would get parched and withered. But there is ever the hidden tear, which keeps it fresh.The cry of the world is not only "I have," but also "I give." In the first dawning light of creation, "I have" was wedded to "I give." If this bond of union were to snap, then everything would go to ruin. By Rabindranath Tagore Give Vanish Movement Withered Things

Along the bank there are various other people, but why they come or go, with the slowest of idle steps, or remain seated on their haunches embracing their knees, or keep on gazing at nothing in particular, no one can guess.The days here drowse all their twelve hours in the sun, and silently sleep away the other twelve, wrapped in the mantle of darkness. The only thing you want to do in a place like this is to gaze and gaze on the landscape, swinging your fancies to and fro, alternately humming a tune and nodding dreamily, as the mother on a winter's noonday, her back to the sun, rocks and croons her baby to sleep. By Rabindranath Tagore Twelve Sun Sleep People Steps

I have read in books that we are called 'caged birds'. I cannot speak for others, but I had so much in this cage of mine that there was not room for it in the universe- at least that is what I then felt. By Rabindranath Tagore Called Caged Birds Read Books

Amal: It isn't sad. When they shut me in here first I felt the day was so long. Since the King's Post Office I like it more and more being indoors, and as I think I shall get a letter one day, I feel quite happy and then I don't mind being quiet and alone. I wonder if I shall make out what'll be in the King's letter?Gaffer: Even if you didn't wouldn't it be enough if it just bore your name? By Rabindranath Tagore Amal King Sad Day Letter

Amit likens fashion to a mask, and style to beauty of countenance. Style, he feels, belongs to the literary elite, who live by their own wishes. And fashion is for the ordinary lot, who make it their business to please other people ... You may view a professional dancing girl beneath the awning of a public marquee; but for the first glimpse of the bride's face during the shubhodrishti ritual, a veil of Benarasi fabric is required. The marquee belongs to fashion, the Benarasi veilwhich reveals the special one's countenance shaded by a special hueto style. By Rabindranath Tagore Style Fashion Amit Mask Benarasi

I lose thee, to find thee back again and again, My beloved. Thou leavest me, that I may receive thee all the more, when thou returnest. Thou canst vanish behind the moment's screen Only because thou art mine for evermore, My beloved.When I go in search of thee, my heart trembles, spreading ripples across my love. Thou smilest through thy disguise of utter absence, and my tears sweeten thy smile. By Rabindranath Tagore Thee Thou Beloved Lose Find

Where are those tears in your eyes, my child? How horrid of them to be always scolding you for nothing! You have stained your fingers and face with ink while writing-is that why they call you dirty? O, fie! Would they dare to call the full moon dirty becauseit has smudged its face with ink? For every little trifle they blame you, my child. They areready to find fault for nothing. You tore your clothes while playing-is that why they call youuntidy? O, fie! What would they call an autumn morning that smilesthrough its ragged clouds? Take no heed of what they say to you, my child. They make a long list of your misdeeds. Everybody knows how you love sweet things-is that why theycall you greedy? O, fie! What then would they call us who love you? By Rabindranath Tagore Call Fie Child Eyes Tears

Freedom, sir," I began unceremoniously, without greeting or inquiry, "freedom is the biggest thing for man. Nothing can be compared to it - nothing at all!" Surprised at my outburst, my master looked up at me in silence. "One can understand nothing from books," I went on. "We read in the scriptures that our desires are bonds, fettering us as well as others. But such words, by themselves, are so empty. It is only when we get to the point of letting the bird out of its cage that we can realize how free the bird has set us. Whatever we cage, shackles us with desire whose bonds are stronger than those of iron chains. I tell you, sir, this is just what the world has failed to understand. They all seek to reform something outside themselves. But reform is wanted only in one's own desires, nowhere else, nowhere else! By Rabindranath Tagore Freedom Unceremoniously Inquiry Man Sir

Is there any country, sir," pursued the history student, "where submission to Government is not due to fear?" "The freedom that exists in any country," I replied, "may be measured by the extent of this reign of fear. Where its threat is confined to those who would hurt or plunder, there the Government may claim to have freed man from the violence of man. But if fear is to regulate how people are to dress, where they shall trade, or what they must eat, then is man's freedom of will utterly ignored, and manhood destroyed at the root. By Rabindranath Tagore Country Government Sir Fear Pursued

Amongst men of the Cabuliwallah's class, however, it is well known that the words father-in-law's house have a double meaning. It is a euphemism for jail, the place where we are well cared for, at no expense to ourselves. In this sense would the sturdy pedlar take my daughter's question. 'Oh,' he would say, shaking his fist at an invisible policeman, 'I will thrash my father-in-law! By Rabindranath Tagore Cabuliwallah Class Words House Meaning

Thy gifts to us mortals fulfil all our needs and yet run back to thee undiminished. The river has its everyday work to do and hastens through fields and hamlets; yet its incessant stream winds towards the washing of thy feet. The flower sweetens the air with its perfume; yet its last service is to offer itself to thee. Thy worship does not impoverish the world. From the words of the poet men take what meanings please them; yet their last meaning points to thee. By Rabindranath Tagore Thy Thee Undiminished Gifts Mortals

I have got my leave. Bid me farewell, my brothers! I bow to you all and take my departure. Here I give back the keys of my door---and I give up all claims to my house. I only ask for last kind words from you. We were neighbours for long, but I received more than I could give. Now the day has dawned and the lamp that lit my dark corner is out. A summons has come and I am ready for my journey. By Rabindranath Tagore Leave Give Bid Farewell Brothers

We came hither together, friend, and now at the cross-roads I stop to bid you farewell.Your path is wide and straight before you, but my call comes up by ways from the unknown.I shall follow wind and cloud; I shall follow the stars to where day breaks behind the hills;I shall follow lovers who, as they walk, twine their days into a wreath on a single threadof song, "I love. By Rabindranath Tagore Follow Friend Cloud Hills Walk

If life's journey be endless where is its goal? The answer is, it is everywhere. We are in a palace which has no end, but which we have reached. By exploring it and extending our relationship with it we are ever making it more and more our own. By Rabindranath Tagore Goal Life Journey Endless Answer

The Child Angel Let your life come amongst them like a flame of light, my child, unflickering and pure, and delight them into silence. They are cruel in their greed and their envy, their words are like hidden knives thirsting for blood. Go and stand amidst their scowling hearts, my child, and let your gentle eyes fall upon them like the forgiving peace of the evening over the strife of the day. Let them see your face, my child, and thus know the meaning of all things, let them love you and love each other. Come and take your seat in the bosom of the limitless, my child. At sunrise open and raise your heart like a blossoming flower, and at sunset bend your head and in silence complete the worship of the day. By Rabindranath Tagore Child Angel Light Unflickering Pure

I boasted among men that I had known you. They see your pictures in all works of mine. They come and ask me, 'Who is he?' I know not how to answer them. I say, 'Indeed, I cannot tell.' They blame me and they go away in scorn. And you sit there smiling. I put my tales of you into lasting songs. The secret gushes out from my heart. They come and ask me, 'Tell me all your meanings.' I know not how to answer them. I say, 'Ah, who knows what they mean!' They smile and go away in utter scorn. And you sit there smiling. By Rabindranath Tagore Boasted Men Smiling Answer Scorn

The increased facilities of communication and exchange of thought, the teachings of history, the unity of government, the rise of literature and the efforts of the Congress over a period of time have together begun to make us realize that we belong to one country and are one people; that whether in joy or in sorrow our destiny is one; and that we cannot prosper unless we discover the ties which make us one, and seek to strengthen them. By Rabindranath Tagore Make Congress Thought History Government

The realization of our soul has its moral and its spiritual side. The moral side represents training of unselfishness, control of desire; the spiritual side represents sympathy and love. They should be taken together and never separated. The cultivation of the merely moral side of our nature leads us to the dark region of narrowness and hardness of heart, to the intolerant arrogance of goodness; and the cultivation of the merely spiritual side of our nature leads us to a still darker region of revelry in intemperance of imagination. By Rabindranath Tagore Side Spiritual Moral Represents Realization

Only when waves fall on the shore do they make a harmonious sound; Only when breezes shake the woods do we hear a rustling in the leaves. Only from a marriage of two forces does music arise in the world. Where the is no love, where listeners are dumb, there can never be song. By Rabindranath Tagore Sound Leaves Waves Fall Shore

Come oh come ye tea-thirsty restless ones the kettle boils, bubbles and sings, musically. By Rabindranath Tagore Musically Boils Bubbles Sings Teathirsty

A message came from my youth of vanished days, saying, 'I wait for you among the quivering of unborn May, where smiles ripen for tears and hours ache with songs unsung.' It says, 'Come to me across the worn-out track of age, through the gates of death. For dreams fade, hopes fail, the fathered fruits of the year decay, but I am the eternal truth, and you shall meet me again and again in your voyage of life from shore to shore. By Rabindranath Tagore Days Unsung Message Youth Vanished

Woman knows man well enough where he is weak, but she is quite unable to fathom him where he is strong. The fact is that man is as much a mystery to woman as woman is to man. If that were not so, the separation of the sexes would only have been a waste of Nature's energy. By Rabindranath Tagore Woman Man Weak Strong Unable

The sleep that flits on baby's eyes - does anybody know from where it comes? Yes, there is a rumour that it has its dwelling where, in the fairy village among shadows of the forest dimly lit with glow-worms, there hang two timid buds of enchantment. From there it comes to kiss baby's eyes.The smile that flickers on baby's lips when he sleeps - does anybody know where it was born? Yes, there is a rumour that a young pale beam of a crescent moon touched the edge of a vanishing autumn cloud, and there the smile was first born in the dream of a dew-washed morning - the smile that flickers on baby's lips when he sleeps.The sweet, soft freshness that blooms on baby's limbs - does anybody know where it was hidden so long? Yes, when the mother was a young girl it lay pervading her heart in tender and silent mystery of love - the sweet, soft freshness that has bloomed on baby's limbs. By Rabindranath Tagore Baby Smile Eyes Flits Rumour

I am like a remnant of a cloud of autumn uselessly roaming in the sky, O my sun ever-glorious! Thy touch has not yet melted my vapour, making me one with thy light, and thus I count months and years separated from thee. If this be thy wish and if this be thy play, then take this fleeting emptiness of mine, paint it with colours, gild it with gold, float it on the wanton wind and spread it in varied wonders. And again when it shall be thy wish to end this play at night, I shall melt and vanish away in the dark, or it may be in a smile of the white morning, in a coolness of purity transparent. By Rabindranath Tagore Thy Sky Everglorious Remnant Cloud

I would have you come into the heart of the outer world and meet reality. Merely going on with your household duties, living your life in the world of household conventions and the drudgery of household tasks - you were not made for that! If we meet, and recognize each other, in the real world, then only will our love be true. By Rabindranath Tagore World Household Reality Heart Outer

One who has never known the turbulence of life, in whom the petals of the mysterious flower within have never opened; such a one may seem happy, may seem a saint, his single track mind may impress the multitude with its power - but he is ill equipped for life's true adventure into the infinite. By Rabindranath Tagore Life Opened Happy Saint Power

Such lavish devotion made me proud to think that the wealth was all my own which drove you to my gate. But vanity such as this only checks the flow of free surrender in a woman's love. When I sit on he queen's throne and claim homage, then the claim only goes on magnifying itself; it is never satisfied. Can there be any real happiness for a woman in merely feeling that she has power over a man? To surrender one's pride in devotion is woman's only salvation. By Rabindranath Tagore Gate Woman Lavish Made Proud

If you would be busy and fill your pitcher, come, O come to my lake.The water will cling round your feet and babble its secret. The shadow of the coming rain is on the sands, and the clouds hang low upon the blue lines of the trees like the heavy hair above your eyebrows.I know well the rhythm of your steps, they are beating in my heart.Come, O come to my lake, if you must fill your pitcher. By Rabindranath Tagore Pitcher Fill Secret Busy Lakethe

For many years, at great cost, I traveled through many countries, saw the high mountains, the oceans. The only things I did not see were the sparkling dewdrops in the grass just outside my door. By Rabindranath Tagore Years Cost Countries Mountains Oceans

The religion that only comes to us from external scriptures never becomes our own; our only tie with it is that of habit. To gain religion within is man's great lifelong adventure. In the extremity of suffering must it be born; on his life-blood it must live; and then, whether or not it brings him happiness, the man's journey shall end in the joy of fulfilment. By Rabindranath Tagore Habit Religion External Scriptures Tie

Our music draws the listener away, beyond the limits of everyday human joys and sorrows, and takes us to that lonely region of renunciation which lies to the root of the universe, while European music leads us to a variegated dance through the endless rise and fall of human grief and joy. By Rabindranath Tagore European Music Human Sorrows Universe

Have you not heard his silent steps? He comes, comes, ever comes. Every moment and every age, every day and every night he comes, comes, ever comes. Many a song have I sung in many a mood of mind, but all their notes have always proclaimed, 'He comes, comes, ever comes.' In the fragrant days of sunny April through the forest path he comes, comes, ever comes. In the rainy gloom of July nights on the thundering chariot of clouds he comes, comes, ever comes. In sorrow after sorrow it is his steps that press upon my heart, and it is the golden touch of his feet that makes my joy to shine. By Rabindranath Tagore Heard Silent Steps Sorrow April

I ask for a moment's indulgence to sit by thy side. The works that I have in hand I will finish afterwards. Away from the sight of thy face my heart knows no rest nor respite, and my work becomes an endless toil in a shoreless sea of toil. Today the summer has come at my window with its sighs and murmurs; and the bees are plying their minstrelsy at the court of the flowering grove. A Moments IndulgenceNow it is time to sit quite, face to face with thee, and to sing dedication of life in this silent and overflowing leisure. By Rabindranath Tagore Side Face Indulgence Thy Sit

We are in misery because we are creatures of self - the self that is unyielding and narrow, that reflects no light, that is blind to the infinite. Our self is loud with its own discordant clamour - it is not the tuned harp whose chords vibrate with the music of the eternal. Sighs of discontent and weariness of failure, idle regrets for the past and anxieties for the future are troubling our shallow hearts because we have not found our souls, and the self-revealing spirit has not been manifest within us. Hence our cry. By Rabindranath Tagore Narrow Light Infinite Misery Creatures

Why did the flower fade? I pressed it to my heart with anxious love, that is why the flower faded. By Rabindranath Tagore Fade Flower Love Faded Pressed

A dewdrop is a perfect integrity that has no filial memory of its parentage. By Rabindranath Tagore Parentage Dewdrop Perfect Integrity Filial

I know that the day will come when my sight of this earth shall be lost, and life will take its leave in silence, drawing the last curtain over my eyes. Yet stars will watch at night, and morning rise as before, and hours heave like sea waves casting up pleasures and pains. When I think of this end of my moments, the barrier of the moments breaks and I see by the light of death thy world with its careless treasures. Rare is its lowliest seat, rare is its meanest of lives. Things that I longed for in vain and things that I gotlet them pass. Let me but truly possess the things that I ever spurned and overlooked. By Rabindranath Tagore Lost Silence Drawing Eyes Things

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. By Rabindranath Tagore World Power Mine Thine House

If no one responds to your call, then go your own way alone. By Rabindranath Tagore Call Responds

To try to give our infatuation a higher place than Truth is a sign of inherent slavishness. Where our minds are free we find ourselves lost. Our moribund vitality must have for its rider either some fantasy, or someone in authority, or a sanction from the pundits, in order to make it move. So long as we areimpervious to truth and have to be moved by some hypnotic stimulus, we must know that we lack the capacity for self- government. Whatever may be our condition, we shall either need some imaginary ghost or some actual medicine-man to terrorize over us. By Rabindranath Tagore Slavishness Truth Give Infatuation Higher

The more one lives alone on the river or in the open country, the clearer it becomes that nothing is more beautiful or great than to perform the ordinary duties of one's daily life simply and naturally. By Rabindranath Tagore Country Naturally Lives River Open

The birds looked upon me as nothing but a man, quite a trifling creature without wings - and they would have nothing to do with me. Were it not so I would build a small cabin for myself among their crowd of nests and pass my days counting the sea waves. By Rabindranath Tagore Man Wings Birds Looked Trifling

come to the brink of eternity from which nothing can vanish - no hope, no happiness, no vision of a face seen through tears. Oh, dip my emptied life into that ocean, plunge it into the deepest fullness. Let me for once feel that lost sweet touch in the allness of the universe. Deity By Rabindranath Tagore Vanish Hope Happiness Tears Brink

Give me the supreme courage of love, this is my prayer - the courage to speak, to do,to suffer at thy will, to leave all things or be left alone.Strengthen me on errands of danger, honour me with pain, and help me climb to that difficult mood which sacrifices daily to thee.Give me the supreme confidence of love, this is my prayer - the confidence that belongs to life in death, to victory in defeat, to the power hidden in frailest beauty, to that dignity in pain which accepts hurt but disdains to return it. By Rabindranath Tagore Love Prayer Supreme Courage Pain

XXIXYou have set me among those who are defeated.I know it is not for me to win, nor to leave the game.I shall plunge into the pool although but to sink to the bottom.I shall play the game of my undoing.I shall stake all I have and when I lose my last penny I shall stake myself, and then I think I shall have won through my utter defeat. By Rabindranath Tagore Stake Xxixyou Win Defeat Set

Let all the strains of joy mingle in my last song---the joy that makes the earth flow over in the riotous excess of the grass, the joy that sets the twin brothers, life and death, dancing over the wide world, the joy that sweeps in with the tempest, shaking and waking all life with laughter, the joy that sits still with its tears on the open red lotus of pain, and the joy that throws everything it has upon the dust, and knows not a word. By Rabindranath Tagore Joy Life Song Grass Brothers

Somewhere in the arrangement of this world there seems to be a great concern about giving us delight, which shows that, in the universe, over and above the meaning of matter and forces, there is a message conveyed through the magic touch of personality ... Is it merely because the rose is round and pink that it gives me more satisfaction than the gold which could buy me the necessities of life, or any number of slaves ... Somehow we feel that through a rose the language of love reached our hearts. By Rabindranath Tagore Delight Universe Forces Personality Arrangement

I travelled the old road every day, I took my fruits to the market,my cattle to the meadows, I ferried my boat across the stream andall the ways were well known to me. One morning my basket was heavy with wares. Men were busy inthe fields, the pastures crowded with cattle; the breast of earthheaved with the mirth of ripening rice. Suddenly there was a tremor in the air, and the sky seemed tokiss me on my forehead. My mind started up like the morning out ofmist. I forgot to follow the track. I stepped a few paces from thepath, and my familiar world appeared strange to me, like a flowerI had only known in bud. My everyday wisdom was ashamed. I went astray in the fairylandof things. It was the best luck of my life that I lost my path thatmorning, and found my eternal childhood. By Rabindranath Tagore Day Meadows Cattle Travelled Road

Let it not be death but completeness. Let love melt into memory and pain into songs. Let the flight through the sky end in the folding of the wings over the nest. Let the last touch of your hands be gentle like the flower of the night. Stand still, O Beautiful End, for a moment, and say your last words in silence. I bow to you and hold up my lamp to light you on your way. By Rabindranath Tagore Completeness Death End Songs Beautiful

Let moral ideals remain merely for those poor anaemic creatures of starved desire whose grasp is weak. Those who can desire with all their soul and enjoy with all their heart, those who have no hesitation or scruple, it is they who are the anointed of Providence. Nature spreads out her riches and loveliest treasures for their benefit. They swim across streams, leap over walls, kick open doors, to help themselves to whatever is worth taking. In such a getting one can rejoice; such wresting as this gives value to the thing taken. Nature By Rabindranath Tagore Weak Desire Providence Moral Ideals

If God had so wished, he could have made all Indians speak one language ... the unity of India has been and shall always be a unity in diversity. By Rabindranath Tagore God Indians Wished Language Made

Light, my light, the world-filling light, the eye-kissing light, heart-sweetening light! Ah, the light dances, my darling, at the centre of my life; the light strikes, my darling, the chords of my love; the sky opens, the wind runs wild, laughter passes over the earth. The butterflies spread their sails on the sea of light. Lilies and jasmines surge up on the crest of the waves of light. The light is shattered into gold on every cloud, my darling, and it scatters gems in profusion. Mirth spreads from leaf to leaf, my darling, and gladness without measure. The heaven's river has drowned its banks and the flood of joy is abroad. By Rabindranath Tagore Light Darling Heartsweetening Worldfilling Eyekissing

At this time of my parting, wish me good luck, my friends! The sky is flushed with the dawn and my path lies beautiful. Ask not what I have with me to take there. I start on my journey with empty hands and expectant heart. I shall put on my wedding garland. Mine is not the red-brown dress of the traveller, and though there are dangers on the way I have no fear in my mind. The evening star will come out when my voyage is done and the plaintive notes of the twilight melodies be struck up from the King's gateway. By Rabindranath Tagore Parting Luck Friends Time Good

Let my doing nothing when I have nothing to do, become untroubled in its depth of peace, like the evening in the seashore when the water is silent. By Rabindranath Tagore Peace Silent Untroubled Depth Evening

But now, where the spirit of the Western nationalism prevails, the whole people is being taught from boyhood to foster hatreds and ambitions by all kinds of means - by the manufacture of half-truths and untruths in history, by persistent misrepresentation of other races and the culture of unfavourable sentiments towards them, by setting up memorials of events, very often false, which for the sake of humanity should be speedily forgotten, thus continually brewing evil menace towards neighbours and nations other than their own. This is poisoning the very fountainhead of humanity. It is discrediting the ideals, which were born of the lives of men who were our greatest and best. It is holding up gigantic selfishness as the one universal religion for all nations of the world. By Rabindranath Tagore Western Humanity Prevails History Events

My dearest life, I know you are not mine forever; but do love me even if it's for this moment. After that I shall vanish into the forest where you cast me, I won't ask anyone for anything again. Give me something that can last me till I die. By Rabindranath Tagore Life Forever Moment Dearest Mine

When I stand before thee at the day's end, thou shalt see my scars and know that I had my wounds and also my healing. By Rabindranath Tagore End Thou Healing Stand Thee

In the music of the rushing stream sounds the joyful assurance, "I shall become the sea." It is not a vain assumption; it is true humility, for it is the truth. The river has no other alternative. On both sides of its banks it has numerous fields and forests, villages and towns; it can serve them in various ways, cleanse them and feed them, carry their produce from place to place. But it can have only partial relations with these, and however long it may linger among them it remains separate; it never can become a town or a forest. But it can and does become the sea. The lesser moving water has its affinity with the great motionless water of the ocean. It moves through the thousand objects on its onward course, and its motion finds its finality when it reaches the sea. By Rabindranath Tagore Sea Assurance Music Rushing Stream

We can look upon a road from two different points of view. One regards it as dividing us from the object of our desire; in that case we count every step of our journey over it as something attained by force in the face of obstruction. The other sees it as the road which leads us to our destination; and as such it is part of our goal. By Rabindranath Tagore View Points Road Desire Obstruction

Grant me that I may not be a coward, feeling your mercy in my success alone; but let me find the grasp of your hand in my failure. By Rabindranath Tagore Grant Coward Feeling Failure Mercy

The child, who is decked with prince's robes and who has jewelled chains round his neck loses all pleasure in his play; his dress hampers him at every step. In fear that it may be frayed, or stained with dust he keeps himself from the world, and is afraid even to move. Mother, it is no gain, thy bondage of finery, if it keep one shut off from the healthful dust of the earth, if it rob one of the right of entrance to the great fair of common human life. By Rabindranath Tagore Child Play Step Decked Prince

At midnight the would-be ascetic announced: "This is the time to give up my home and seek for God. Ah, who has held me so long in delusion here?" God whispered, "I," but the ears of the man were stopped. With a baby asleep at her breast lay his wife, peacefully sleeping on one side of the bed. The man said, "Who are ye that have fooled me so long?" The voice said again, "They are God," but he heard it not. The baby cried out in its dream, nestling close to its mother. God commanded, "Stop, fool, leave not thy home," but still he heard not. God sighed and complained, "Why does my servant wander to seek me, forsaking me? By Rabindranath Tagore God Announced Midnight Wouldbe Ascetic

It is the same life that emerges in joy through the dust of the earth into numberless waves of flower. By Rabindranath Tagore Flower Life Emerges Joy Dust

Chain Of PearlsMother, I shall weave a chain of pearls for thy neck with my tears of sorrow. The stars have wrought their anklets of light to deck thy feet, but mine will hang upon thy breast. Wealth and fame come from thee and it is for thee to give or to withhold them. But this my sorrow is absolutely mine own, and when I bring it to thee as my offering thou rewardest me with thy grace. By Rabindranath Tagore Chain Thy Pearlsmother Thee Weave

At last, when no one else came, Mother Sleep soothed with her soft caresses the wounded heart of the motherless lad. By Rabindranath Tagore Mother Sleep Lad Soothed Soft

A silent cry of the inmost heart for the mother, like the lowing of a calf in the twilight, - this By Rabindranath Tagore Mother Twilight Silent Cry Inmost

It is not easy to get rid of weeds; but it is easy, by a process of neglect, to ruin your food crops and let them revert to their primitive state of wildness. [ ... ] In political civilization, the state is an abstraction and the relationship of men utilitarian. Because it has no roots in sentiments, it is so dangerously easy to handle. Half a century has been enough for you to master this machine; and there are men among you, whose fondness for it exceeds their love for the living ideals which were born with the birth of your nation and nursed in your centuries. It is like a child who in the excitement of his play imagines he likes his playthings better than his mother. By Rabindranath Tagore Easy Weeds Neglect Wildness State

Mother, the tutor has come, and I have such a bad headache; couldn't I have no lessons to-day?" I hope no child of immature age will be allowed to read this story, and I sincerely trust it will not be used in text-books or primers for junior classes. For what I did was dreadfully bad, and I received no punishment whatever. On the contrary, my wickedness was crowned with success. By Rabindranath Tagore Mother Headache Today Tutor Lessons

The night kissed the fading day With a whisper: "I am death, your mother, From me you will get new birth." By Rabindranath Tagore Whisper Death Mother Birth Night

O poor, unthinking human heart! Error will not go away, logic and reason are slow to penetrate.We cling with both arms to false hope, refusing to believe in the weightiest proofs against it, embracing it with all our strength. In the end it escapes, ripping our veins and draining our heart's blood; until, regaining consciousness, we rush to fall into snares of delusion all over again By Rabindranath Tagore Poor Unthinking Human Heart Error

The greed of gain has no time or limit to its capaciousness. Its one object is to produce and consume. It has pity neither for beautiful nature nor for living human beings. It is ruthlessly ready without a moment's hesitation to crush beauty and life. By Rabindranath Tagore Capaciousness Greed Gain Time Limit

Thou art the sky and thou art the nest as well. O thou beautiful, there in the nest is thy love that encloses the soul with colours and sounds and odours. There comes the morning with the golden basket in her right hand bearing the wreath of beauty, silently to crown the earth. And there comes the evening over the lonely meadows deserted by herds, through trackless paths, carrying cool draughts of peace in her golden pitcher from the western ocean of rest. But there, where spreads the infinite sky for the soul to take her flight in, reigns the stainless white radiance. There is no day nor night, nor form nor colour, and never, never a word. By Rabindranath Tagore Art Thou Nest Soul Sky

I'm lost in the middle of my birthday. I want my friends, their touch, with the earth's last love. I will take life's final offering, I will take the last human blessing. By Rabindranath Tagore Birthday Lost Middle Friends Touch

Therefore the whole apparatus of piety, Hindu and Moslem alike - the temple and mosque, idol and holy water, scriptures and priests - were denounced by this inconveniently clear-sighted poet as mere substitutes for reality; dead things intervening between the soul and its love - By Rabindranath Tagore Hindu Moslem Piety Alike Mosque

If thou speakest not I will fill my heart with thy silence and endure it.I will keep still and wait like the night with starry vigiland its head bent low with patience.The morning will surely come, the darkness will vanish,and thy voice pour down in golden streams breaking through the sky.Then thy words will take wing in songs from every one of my birds' nests,and thy melodies will break forth in flowers in all my forest groves. By Rabindranath Tagore Thy Groves Thou Speakest Fill

Where roads are made I lose my way.In the wide water, in the blue sky there is no line of a track.The pathway is hidden by the birds' wings, by the star-fires, by the flowers of the wayfaring seasons.And I ask my heart if its blood carries the wisdom of the unseen way. By Rabindranath Tagore Water Wings Starfires Roads Made

Please is frail like a dewdrop, while it laughs it dies. But sorrow is strong and abiding. Let sorrowful love wake in your eyes. By Rabindranath Tagore Dewdrop Dies Frail Laughs Abiding

She who ever had remained in the depth of my being, in the twilight of gleams and of glimpses; she who never opened her veils in the morning light, will be my last gift to thee, my God, folded in my final song. Words have wooed yet failed to win her; persuasion has stretched to her its eager arms in vain. I have roamed from country to country keeping her in the core of my heart, and around her have risen and fallen the growth and decay of my life. Over my thoughts and actions, my slumbers and dreams, she reigned yet dwelled alone and apart. many a man knocked at my door and asked for her and turned away in despair. There was none in the world who ever saw her face to face, and she remained in her loneliness waiting for thy recognition By Rabindranath Tagore God Glimpses Light Thee Folded

I do not for a moment suggest that Japan should be unmindful of acquiring modern weapons of self-protection. But this should never be allowed to go beyond her instinct of self-preservation. She must know that the real power is not in the weapons themselves, but in the man who wields those weapons By Rabindranath Tagore Japan Selfprotection Weapons Moment Suggest

It is the docile who achieve the most impossible things in this world. By Rabindranath Tagore World Docile Achieve Impossible Things

I have spent a fortune traveling to distant shores and looked at lofty mountains and boundless oceans, and yet I haven't found time to take a few steps from my house to look at a single dew drop on a single blade of grass. By Rabindranath Tagore Single Oceans Grass Spent Fortune

Pessimism is a form of mental dipsomania; it disdains healthy nourishment, indulges in the strong drink of denunciation, and creates an artificial dejection which thirsts for a stronger draught. By Rabindranath Tagore Pessimism Dipsomania Nourishment Indulges Denunciation

As a flower plucked from a tree gradually droops and shrivels, love that avoids the harsh realities of practical life cannot thrive on its own resources. By Rabindranath Tagore Shrivels Love Resources Flower Plucked

If the day is done, if birds sing no more, if the wind has flagged tired, then draw the veil of darkness thick upon me, even as thou hast wrapt the earth with the coverlet of sleep and tenderly closed the petals of the drooping lotus at dusk. From the traveller, whose sack of provisions is empty before the voyage is ended, whose garment is torn and dustladen, whose strength is exhausted, remove shame and poverty, and renew his life like a flower under the cover of thy kindly night. By Rabindranath Tagore Tired Dusk Day Birds Sing

Adharmenaidhate tabat, tato bhadrani pashyati, tatah sapatnan jayati, - samulastu vinashyati. In unrightousness they prosper, in it they find their good, through it they defeat their enemies, - but they perish at the root. By Rabindranath Tagore Adharmenaidhate Tabat Tato Pashyati Tatah

Poems On Time The butterfly counts not months but moments, and has time enough. Time is a wealth of change, but the clock in its parody makes it mere change and no wealth. Let your life lightly dance on the edges of Time like dew on the tip of a leaf. By Rabindranath Tagore Time Poems Moments Butterfly Counts

The food which I get by begging is divine." After I had thought over what she said, I understood her meaning. When we get our food precariously as alms, we remember God the giver. But when we receive our food regularly at home, as a matter of course, we are apt to regard it as ours by right. By Rabindranath Tagore Divine Food Begging God Meaning

The marriage-pipes sounded, and the mild autumn sun streamed round us. But Rahmun sat in the little Calcutta lane, and saw before him the barren mountains of Afghanistan. I took out a bank-note and gave it to him, saying: "Go back to your own daughter, Rahmun, in your own country, and may the happiness of your meeting bring good fortune to my child!" Having made this present, I had to curtail some of the festivities. I could not have the electric lights I had intended, nor the military band, and the ladies of the house were despondent at it. But to me the wedding-feast was all the brighter for the thought that in a distant land a long-lost father met again with his only child. By Rabindranath Tagore Rahmun Sounded Marriagepipes Mild Autumn

In this world of human affairs there is no worse nuisance than a boy at the age of fourteen. He is neither ornamental nor useful. It is impossible to shower affection on him as on a little boy; and he is always getting in the way. If he talks with a childish lisp he is called a baby, and if he answers in a grown-up way he is called impertinent. In fact any talk at all from him is resented. Then he is at the unattractive, growing age. He grows out of his clothes with indecent haste; his voice grows hoarse and breaks and quavers; his face grows suddenly angular and unsightly. It is easy to excuse the shortcomings of early childhood, but it is hard to tolerate even unavoidable lapses in a boy of fourteen. By Rabindranath Tagore Boy World Human Affairs Worse

Let this be my last word, that I trust in thy love. By Rabindranath Tagore Word Love Trust Thy

For every child that is born, it brings with it the hope that God is not yet disappointed with man. By Rabindranath Tagore God Born Man Child Brings

The tragedy of human life consists in our vain attempts to stretch the limits of things which can never become unlimited, to reach the infinite by absurdly adding to the rungs of the ladder of the finite. By Rabindranath Tagore Unlimited Finite Tragedy Human Life

Day by day thou art making me worthy of the simple, great gifts that thou gavest to me unasked - this sky and the light, this body and the life and the mind - saving me from perils of overmuch desire. By Rabindranath Tagore Day Thou Simple Great Unasked

Strong Mercy: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. Day by day thou art making me worthy of the simple, great gifts that thou gavest to me unaskedthis sky and the light, this body and the life and the mindsaving me from perils of overmuch desire. There are times when I languidly linger and times when I awaken and hurry in search of my goal; but cruelly thou hidest thyself from before me. Day by day thou art making me worthy of thy full acceptance by refusing me ever and anon, saving me from perils of weak, uncertain desire. By Rabindranath Tagore Mercy Thou Strong Day Life

I sit at my window this morning where the world like a passer-by stops for a moment, nods to me and goes. By Rabindranath Tagore Moment Nods Sit Window Morning

We Poets exist for this very purpose. We set men free from their desires.I don't understand you. You talk in riddles.What? You don't understand me? And yet you have been reading my poems all this while! -- There is renunciation in our words, renunciation in the metre, renunciation in our music. That is why fortune always forsakes us; and we, in turn always forsake fortune. We go about, all day long, initiating the youths in the sacred cult of fortune-forsaking.What does it say to us?It says:'Ah brothers, don't cling to your goods and chattels,And sit ever in the corner of your room.Come out, come out into the open world.Come out into the highways of life.Come out, ye youthful Renouncers. By Rabindranath Tagore Poets Purpose Renunciation Exist Understand

If my heart is breaking - let it break! That will not make the world bankrupt - nor even me; for man is so much greater than the things he loses in this life. The very ocean of tears has its other shore, else none would have ever wept. By Rabindranath Tagore Breaking Break Heart Bankrupt Life

Your love keeps me afloat but will remain the anchor in my soul ... I don't really have words to describe how romantic I find that. Your love is what keeps me going, but it's also the anchor that keeps me close to you. I love it! By Rabindranath Tagore Soul Love Anchor Afloat Remain

By all means they try to hold me secure who love me in this world.But it is otherwise with thy love which is greater than theirs, and thout keepst me free.Lest I forgot them they never venture to leave me alone. But day passes by after day and thou art not seen.If I call not thee in my prayers, if I keep not thee in my heart, thy love for me still waits for my love. By Rabindranath Tagore Love Thy Thee Hold Secure

From my heart comes out and dances the image of my own desire. The gleaming vision flits on. I try to clasp it firmly, it eludes me and leads me astray. I seek what I cannot get, I get what I do not seek. By Rabindranath Tagore Desire Heart Dances Image Seek

You came down from your throne and stood at my cottage door. I was singing all alone in a corner, and the melody caught your ear. You came down and stood at my cottage door. Masters are many in your hall, and songs are sung there at all hours. But the simple carol of this novice struck at your love. One plaintive little strain mingled with the great music of the world, and with a flower for a prize you came down and stopped at my cottage door. By Rabindranath Tagore Door Cottage Stood Throne Corner

If only they let me, I'll go right into the dense forest where you can't find your way. And where the honey-sipping hummingbird rocks himself on the end of the thinnest branch, I will flower out as a champa. By Rabindranath Tagore Dense Forest Find Branch Champa

We cross infinity with every step;we meet eternity in every second. By Rabindranath Tagore Cross Step Meet Eternity

I must not hesitate to acknowledge where Europe is great, for great she is without doubt. We cannot help loving her with all our heart, and paying her the best homage of our admiration, - the Europe who, in her literature and art, pours out an inexhaustible cascade of beauty and truth fertilizing all countries and all time; the Europe who, with a mind which is titanic in its untiring power, is sweeping the height and the depth of the universe, winning her homage of knowledge from the infinitely great and the infinitely small, applying all the resources of her great intellect and heart in healing the sick and alleviating those miseries of man which up till now we were contented to accept in a spirit of hopeless resignation; the Europe who is making the earth yield more fruit than seemed possible, coaxing and compelling the great forces of nature into man's service. Such true greatness must have its motive power in spiritual strength. By Rabindranath Tagore Europe Great Doubt Hesitate Acknowledge

Passing Breeze"Yes, I know, this is nothing but thy love,O beloved of my heart - -this golden light that dances upon the leaves,these idle clouds sailing across the sky,this passing breeze leaving its coolness upon my forehead.The morning light has flooded my eyes - -this is thy message to my heart.Thy face is bent from above, thy eyes look down on my eyes,and my heart has touched thy feet. By Rabindranath Tagore Breeze Thy Passing Heart Light

Pluck this little flower and take it, delay not! I fear lest it droop and drop into the dust. I may not find a place in thy garland, but honour it with a touch of pain from thy hand and pluck it. I fear lest the day end before I am aware, and the time of offering go by. Though its colour be not deep and its smell be faint, use this flower in thy service and pluck it while there is time. By Rabindranath Tagore Pluck Delay Thy Fear Flower

Brahma was excessively sparing with earth, water, and fire ... The reckless expenditure of air and ether in his composition was amazing. And, in consequence, he perpetually struggled to outreach the wind, to outrun space itself. Other animals ran only when they had a reason, but the Horse would run for no reason whatever, as if to run out of his own skin. By Rabindranath Tagore Water Brahma Earth Fire Excessively

When at even-tide the child of want lies down, dirty and hungry, in his squalid home, and hears of prince and princess and fabled gold, then in the dark hovel lighted by its dim flickering candle, his mind springs free from its bonds of poverty and misery and walks in fresh beauty and glowing raiment, strong beyond all fear of hindrance, through that fairy realm where all is possible. By Rabindranath Tagore Dirty Hungry Home Gold Candle

Beautiful is thy wristlet, decked with stars and cunningly wrought in myriad-coloured jewels. But more beautiful to me thy sword with its curve of lightning like the outspread wings of the divine bird of Vishnu, perfectly poised in the angry red light of the sunset. It quivers like the one last response of life in ecstasy of pain at the final stroke of death; it shines like the pure flame of being burning up earthly sense with one fierce flash. Beautiful is thy wristlet, decked with starry gems; but thy sword, O lord of thunder, is wrought with uttermost beauty, terrible to behold or think of. By Rabindranath Tagore Thy Beautiful Wristlet Decked Jewels

Religion is not a fractional thing that can be doled out in fixed weekly or daily measures as one among various subjects in the school syllabus. It is the truth of our complete being, the consciousness of our personal relationship with the infinite; it is the true center of gravity of our life. This we can attain during our childhood by daily living in a place where the truth of the spiritual world is not obscured by a crowd of necessities assuming artificial importance; where life is simple, surrounded by fullness of leisure, by ample space and pure air and profound peace of nature; and where men live with a perfect faith in the eternal life before them. By Rabindranath Tagore Religion Syllabus Life Truth Fractional

Let those who are snake-charmers play with snakes; if harm comes to them, they are prepared for it. But these boys are so innocent, all the world is ready with its blessing to protect them. They play with a snake not knowing its nature, and when we see them smilingly, trustfully, putting their hands within reach of its fangs, then we understand how terribly dangerous the snake is. By Rabindranath Tagore Play Snakecharmers Harm Prepared Snake

Life itself is a strange mixture. We have to take it as it is, try to understand it, and then to better it. By Rabindranath Tagore Life Mixture Strange Understand

Where the mind is without fearand the head is held high,where knowledge is free.Where the world has not been broken up into fragments by narrow domestic walls.Where words come out from the depth of truth,where tireless striving stretches its arms toward perfection.Where the clear stream of reason has not lost it's wayinto the dreary desert sand of dead habit.Where the mind is led forward by theeinto ever widening thought and action.In to that heaven of freedom, my father,LET MY COUNTRY AWAKE! By Rabindranath Tagore Mind Awake Country Freedom Fearand

We have seen that in order to be powerful we have to submit to the laws of the universal forces, and to realise in practice that they are our own. So, in order to be happy, we have to submit our individual will to the sovereignty of the universal will, and to feel in truth that it is our own will. When we reach that state wherein the adjustment of the finite in us to the infinite is made perfect, then pain itself becomes a valuable asset. By Rabindranath Tagore Order Submit Universal Forces Powerful

Jewel-Like the immortaldoes not boast of its length of yearsbut of the scintillating point of the moment. By Rabindranath Tagore Jewellike Moment Immortaldoes Boast Length

Love is an endless mystery, because there is no reasonable cause that could explain it. By Rabindranath Tagore Love Mystery Endless Reasonable Explain

This principle of opposites is at the very root of Creation, which is divided between the rule of the King and the Queen; Night and Day; the One and the Varied; the Eternal and the Evolving. By Rabindranath Tagore Creation Queen Night Day Varied

Is it beyond thee to be glad with the gladness of this rhythm? to be tossed and lost and broken in the whirl of this fearful joy? All things rush on, they stop not, they look not behind, no power can hold them back, they rush on. Keeping steps with that restless, rapid music, seasons come dancing and pass awaycolours, tunes, and perfumes pour in endless cascades in the abounding joy that scatters and gives up and dies every moment. By Rabindranath Tagore Rhythm Thee Glad Gladness Rush

I will deck thee with trophies, garlands of my defeat. It is never in my power to escape unconquered. I surely know my pride will go to the wall, my life will burst its bonds in exceeding pain, and my empty heart will sob out in music like a hollow reed, and the stone will melt in tears. I surely know the hundred petals of a lotus will not remain closed for ever and the secret recess of its honey will be bared. From the blue sky an eye shall gaze upon me and summon me in silence. Nothing will be left for me, nothing whatever, and utter death shall I receive at thy feet. By Rabindranath Tagore Trophies Garlands Defeat Deck Thee

But if you could for a time wipe out all the poets and all their poetry from the world, then you would soon discover, by their very absence, where the men of action got their energy from, and who really supplied the life-sap to their harvest-field. It is not those who have plunged deep down into the Pundit's Ocean of Renunciation, nor those who are always clinging to their possessions; it is not those who have become adepts in turning out quantities of work, nor those who are ever telling the dry beads of duty,--it is not these who win at last. But it is those who love, because they live. These truly win, for they truly surrender. They accept pain with all their strength and with all their strength they remove pain. It is they who create, because they know the secret of true joy, which is the secret of detachment. By Rabindranath Tagore World Discover Absence Harvestfield Time

All my work and all my dealings with people feel very easy. Actually, everything is simple. There is one straight road - if you open your eyes you can go along it. I don't see the need to search for all sorts of clever short cuts. Happiness and sadness are both on the road - there is no road that avoids them - but peace is found only on this road, nowhere else. By Rabindranath Tagore Easy Road Work Dealings People

The same stream of life that runs through my veins night and day runs through the world and dances in rhythmic measures. It is the same life that shoots in joy through the dust of the earth in numberless blades of grass and breaks into tumultuous waves of leaves and flowers. By Rabindranath Tagore Runs Life Measures Stream Veins

The civilization of ancient Greece was nurtured within city walls. In fact, all the modern civilizations have their cradles of brick and mortar.These walls leave their mark deep in the minds of men. They set up a principle of "divide and rule" in our mental outlook, which begets in us a habit of securing all our conquests by fortifying them and separating them from one another. We divide nation and nation, knowledge and knowledge, man and nature. It breeds in us a strong suspicion of whatever is beyond the barriers we have built, and everything has to fight hard for its entrance into our recognition. By Rabindranath Tagore Greece Walls Ancient Nurtured City

It was chilly weather. Through the window the rays of the sun touched my feet, and the slight warmth was very welcome. It was almost eight o'clock, and the early pedestrians were returning home with their heads covered. By Rabindranath Tagore Weather Chilly Feet Window Rays

In the moon thou sendest thy love letters to me," said the night to the sun."I leave my answers in tears upon the grass. By Rabindranath Tagore Sun Grass Moon Thou Sendest

The pious sectarian is proud because he is confident of his right of possession in God. The man of devotion is meek because he is conscious of God's right of love over his life and soul. By Rabindranath Tagore God Pious Sectarian Proud Confident

Stray birds of summer come to my window to sing and fly away. And yellow leaves of autumn, which have no songs, flutter and fall there with a sigh. By Rabindranath Tagore Stray Birds Summer Window Sing

Stray birds of the summer come to my window to sing and fly away.And yellow leaves of autumn, which have no songs, flutter and fall there with a sigh.O TROUPE of little vagrants of the world, leave your footprints in my words ... By Rabindranath Tagore Troupe Stray Autumn Songs Flutter

Beauty is sweet to us, because she dances to the same fleeting tune with our lives. Knowledge is precious to us, because we shall never have time to complete it. All is done and finished in the eternal Heaven. But earth's flowers of illusion are kept eternally fresh by death. By Rabindranath Tagore Beauty Lives Sweet Dances Fleeting

Baby's WorldI wish I could take a quiet corner in the heart of my baby's veryown world. I know it has stars that talk to him, and a sky that stoopsdown to his face to amuse him with its silly clouds and rainbows. Those who make believe to be dumb, and look as if they nevercould move, come creeping to his window with their stories and withtrays crowded with bright toys. I wish I could travel by the road that crosses baby's mind,and out beyond all bounds; Where messengers run errands for no cause between the kingdomsof kings of no history; Where Reason makes kites of her laws and flies them, the Truthsets Fact free from its fetters. By Rabindranath Tagore World Baby Worldi Quiet Corner

Patriotism cannot be our final spiritual shelter; my refuge is humanity. I will not buy glass for the price of diamonds, and I will never allow patriotism to triumph over humanity as long as I live. By Rabindranath Tagore Shelter Patriotism Humanity Final Spiritual

Love is the only reality and it is not a mere sentiment. It is the ultimate truth that lies at the heart of creation. By Rabindranath Tagore Love Sentiment Reality Mere Creation

But when physical appearance evades the scrutiny of our senses and enters the sanctuary of our hearts, then it can forget itself. I know, from my childhood's experience, how devotion is beauty itself, in its inner aspect. By Rabindranath Tagore Hearts Physical Appearance Evades Scrutiny

So in the streets of Calcutta I sometimes imagine myself a foreigner, and only then do I discover how much is to be seen, which is lost so long as its full value in attention is not paid. It is the hunger to really see which drives people to travel to strange places. By Rabindranath Tagore Calcutta Foreigner Paid Streets Imagine

That I should make much of myself and turn it on all sides, thus casting coloured shadows on thy radiancesuch is thy maya. Thou settest a barrier in thine own being and then callest thy severed self in myriad notes. This thy self-separation has taken body in me. The poignant song is echoed through all the sky in many-coloured tears and smiles, alarms and hopes; waves rise up and sink again, dreams break and form. In me is thy own defeat of self. This screen that thou hast raised is painted with innumerable figures with the brush of the night and the day. Behind it thy seat is woven in wondrous mysteries of curves, casting away all barren lines of straightness. The great pageant of thee and me has overspread the sky. With the tune of thee and me all the air is vibrant, and all ages pass with the hiding and seeking of thee and me. By Rabindranath Tagore Thy Thee Sides Maya Make

In the night of weariness let me give myself up to sleep without struggle, resting my trust upon thee. Let me not force my flagging spirit into a poor preparation for thy worship. It is thou who drawest the veil of night upon the tired eyes of the day to renew its sight in a fresher gladness of awakening. By Rabindranath Tagore Struggle Resting Thee Weariness Give

We sit inert, like dead specimens of some museum, while lessons are pelted at us from on high, like hailstones on flowers. By Rabindranath Tagore Inert Museum High Flowers Sit

At the immortal touch of thy hands my little heart loses its limits in joy and gives birth to utterance ineffable. By Rabindranath Tagore Ineffable Immortal Touch Thy Hands

The touch of an infinite mystery passes over the trivial and the familiar, making it break out into ineffable music ... The trees, the stars, and the blue hills ache with a meaning which can never be uttered in words. By Rabindranath Tagore Familiar Making Music Touch Infinite

The world by day is like European music; a flowing concourse of vast harmony, composed of concord and discord and many disconnected fragments. And the night world is our Indian music; one pure, deep and tender raga. By Rabindranath Tagore European Music Harmony Composed Fragments

Life as a whole never takes death seriously. It laughs, dances and plays, it builds, hoards and loves in death's face. Only when we detach one individual fact of death do we see its blankness and become dismayed. We lose sight of the wholeness of a life of which death is part. It is like looking at a piece of cloth through a microscope. It appears like a net; we gaze at the big holes and shiver in imagination. But the truth is, death is not the ultimate reality. It looks black, as the sky looks blue; but it does not blacken existence, just as the sky does not leave its stain upon the wings of the bird. By Rabindranath Tagore Death Life Sky Laughs Dances

Let him only see the thorns who has eyes to see the rose. By Rabindranath Tagore Rose Thorns Eyes

The day was when I did not keep myself in readiness for thee; and entering my heart unbidden even as one of the common crowd, unknown to me, my king, thou didst press the signet of eternity upon many a fleeting moment of my life. And today when by chance I light upon them and see thy signature, I find they have lain scattered in the dust mixed with the memory of joys and sorrows of my trivial days forgotten. Thou didst not turn in contempt from my childish play among dust, and the steps that I heard in my playroom are the same that are echoing from star to star. By Rabindranath Tagore Thou Thee Crowd Unknown King

The smile that flickers on a baby's lips when he sleeps- does anyone know where it was born? Yes, there is a rumor that a young pale beam of a crescent moon touched the edge of a vanishing autumn cloud, and there the smile was first born in the dream of a dew-washed morning. By Rabindranath Tagore Smile Sleeps Born Flickers Baby

When a man sleeps he is shut up within the narrow activities of his physical life. He lives, but he knows not the varied relations of his life to his surroundings, - therefore he knows not himself. By Rabindranath Tagore Life Man Sleeps Shut Narrow

We do not want nowadays temples of worship and outward rites and ceremonies. What we really want is an Asram. We want a place where the beauty of nature and the noblest pursuits of man are in a sweet harmony. By Rabindranath Tagore Ceremonies Nowadays Temples Worship Outward

The fact is, those who are like everyone else arouse no hatred unless there is a reason. But when a resplendent inner self pierces the grossness that envelops it, some, quite irrationally, extend it heartfelt adoration; others, just as irrationally, try heart and soul to insult it. By Rabindranath Tagore Reason Irrationally Fact Arouse Hatred

If religion, instead of being the manifestation of a spiritual ideal, gives prominence to scriptures and external rites, then does it disturb the peace more than anything else. By Rabindranath Tagore Religion Ideal Rites Manifestation Spiritual

Your lips are bitter-sweet with the taste of my wine of pain. By Rabindranath Tagore Pain Lips Bittersweet Taste Wine

Let us unite, not in spite of our differences, but through them. For differences can never be wiped away, and life would be so much the poorer without them. Let all human races keep their own personalities, and yet come together, not in a uniformity that is dead, but in a unity that is living. By Rabindranath Tagore Unite Differences Spite Personalities Dead

Unless you have found God in your own soul, the whole world will seem meaningless to you. By Rabindranath Tagore God Soul Found World Meaningless

Nirvana is not the blowing out of the candle. It is the extinguishing of the flame because day is come. By Rabindranath Tagore Nirvana Candle Blowing Extinguishing Flame

Oh my only friend, my best beloved, the gates are open in myhouse - do not pass by like a dream. By Rabindranath Tagore Friend Beloved Myhouse Dream Gates

When the heart is hard and parched up, come upon me with a shower of mercy.When grace is lost from life, come with a burst of song.When tumultuous work raises its din on all sides shutting me out from beyond, come to me, my lord of silence, with thy peace and rest.When my beggarly heart sits crouched, shut up in a corner, break open the door, my king, and come with the ceremony of a king.When desire blinds the mind with delusion and dust, O thou holy one, thou wakeful, come with thy light and thy thunder. By Rabindranath Tagore Thy Heart Thou Life Silence

Say of him what you please, but I know my child's failings. I do not love him because he is good, but because he is my little child. How should you know how dear he can be when you try to weigh his merits against his faults? When I must punish him he becomes all the more a part of my being. When I cause his tears to come my heart weeps with him. I alone have a right to blame and punish, for he only may chastise who loves. By Rabindranath Tagore Failings Child Punish Good Faults

Yet it is at this very age when, in his heart of hearts, a young lad most craves for recognition and love; and he becomes the devoted slave of any one who shows him consideration. But none dare openly love him, for that would be regarded as undue indulgence and therefore bad for the boy. So, what with scolding and chiding, he becomes very much like a stray dog that has lost his master. By Rabindranath Tagore Consideration Love Age Young Lad

For what are obstacles to the lower creatures are opportunities to the higher life of man. By Rabindranath Tagore Man Obstacles Lower Creatures Opportunities

Whenever our life is stirred by truth, it expresses energy and comes to be filled, as it were, with a creative ardor. This consciousness of the creative urge is evidence of the force of truth on our mind. By Rabindranath Tagore Filled Ardor Truth Creative Life

Ours is truly a God-forsaken country. Difficult, indeed, is it for us to maintain the strength of will to do. We get no help in any real sense. There is no one, within miles of us, in converse with whom we might gain an accession of vitality. No one near seems to be thinking, or feeling, or working. Not a soul has any experience of big striving, or of really and truly living. They all eat and drink, do their office work, smoke and sleep, and chatter nonsensically. When they touch upon emotion they grow sentimental, when they reason they are childish. One yearns for a full-blooded, sturdy, and capable personality; these are all so many shadows, flitting about, out of touch with the world. By Rabindranath Tagore Godforsaken Country Difficult Touch Maintain

It sometimes strikes me how immensely fortunate I am that each day should take its place in my life, either reddened with the rising and setting sun, or refreshingly cool with deep, dark clouds, or blooming like a white flower in the moonlight. What untold wealth! By Rabindranath Tagore Life Sun Deep Dark Clouds

True modernism is freedom of mind, not slavery of taste. It is independence of thought and action, not tutelage under European schoolmasters. By Rabindranath Tagore True Mind Taste Modernism Freedom

Love remains a secret even when spoken, for only a true lover truly knows that he is loved. By Rabindranath Tagore Love Spoken Loved Remains Secret

Thus it is that thy joy in me is so full. Thus it is that thou hast come down to me. O thou lord of all heavens, where would be thy love if I were not? Thou hast taken me as thy partner of all this wealth. In my heart is the endless play of thy delight. In my life thy will is ever taking shape. And for this, thou who art the King of kings hast decked thyself in beauty to captivate my heart. And for this thy love loses itself in the love of thy lover, and there art thou seen in the perfect union of two. By Rabindranath Tagore Thy Thou Hast Love Full

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 pathmaker is breaking stones. He is with them in sun and in shower, and his garment is covered with dust. Put of thy holy mantle and even like him come down on 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 By Rabindranath Tagore Thy Beads Chanting Singing Telling

These were autumn mornings, the very time of year when kings of old went forth to conquest; and I, never stirring from my little corner in Calcutta, would let my mind wander over the whole world. By Rabindranath Tagore Calcutta Mornings Conquest World Autumn

When the knife was busy with my life's most intimate tie, my mind was so clouded with fumes of intoxicating gas that I was not in the least aware of what a cruel thing was happening. Possibly this is woman's nature. When her passion is roused she louses her sensibility for all that is outside it. When, like the river, we women keep to our banks, we give nourishment with all that we have: when we overflow them we destroy with all that we are. By Rabindranath Tagore Tie Happening Knife Busy Life

When I go from hence, let this be my parting word, that what I have seen is unsurpassable. I have tasted of the hidden honey of this lotus that expands on the ocean of light, and thus I am blessed - let this be my parting word. In this playhouse of infinite forms I have had my play and here have I caught sight of him who is formless. My whole body and my limbs have thrilled with his touch who is beyond touch; and if the end comes here, let it come - let this be my parting word. By Rabindranath Tagore Word Parting Unsurpassable Touch Light

It is the pang of separation that spreads throughout the world and gives birth to shapes innumerable in the infinite sky. It is this sorrow of separation that gazes in silence all nights from star to star and becomes lyric among rustling leaves in rainy darkness of July. It is this overspreading pain that deepens into loves and desires, into sufferings and joy in human homes; and this it is that ever melts and flows in songs through my poet's heart. By Rabindranath Tagore Separation Sky Pang Spreads World

Great calm, generous detachment, selfless love, disinterested effort: these are what make for success in life. If you can find peace in yourself and can spread comfort around you, you will be happier than an empress. By Rabindranath Tagore Great Calm Generous Detachment Selfless

All statistics consist of our attempts to represent statistically what is in motion; and in the process things assume a weight in our mind which they have not in reality. For this reason a man, who by his profession is concerned with any particular aspect of life, is apt to magnify its proportions; in laying undue stress upon facts he loses his hold upon truth. A detective may have the opportunity of studying crimes in detail, but he loses his sense of their relative places in the whole social economy. When science collects facts to illustrate the struggle for existence that is going on in the kingdom of life, it raises a picture in our minds of "nature red in tooth and claw." But in these mental pictures we give a fixity to colours and forms which are really evanescent. By Rabindranath Tagore Motion Reality Life Loses Statistics

The cure for all the illness of life is stored in the inner depth of life itself, the access to which becomes possible when we are alone. This solitude is a world in itself, full of wonders and resources unthought of. It is absurdly near; yet so unapproachably distant. By Rabindranath Tagore Life Cure Illness Stored Depth

From the solemn gloom of the temple children run out to sit in the dust, God watches them play and forgets the priest. By Rabindranath Tagore God Dust Priest Solemn Gloom

Music is the purest form of art ... therefore true poets ... seek to express the universe in terms of music. The singer has everything within him. The notes come out from his very life. They are not materials gathered from outside. By Rabindranath Tagore Art Purest Form Music Poets

If one had to fill in, little by little, the gap between day and night, it would take an eternity to do it. But the sun rises and the darkness is dispelled- a moment is sufficient to overcome an infinite distance. By Rabindranath Tagore Night Fill Gap Day Eternity

Our self (Soul) is maya (an illusion) where it is merely individual and finite, where it considers its separateness as absolute; it is satyam (truth) where it recognizes its essence in the universal and infinite, in the Supreme Self, in paramatman (God). This is what Christ means when he says, "Before Abraham was, I am" (i.e. before Abraham was God, who is the same that is in my soul - I am That.) By Rabindranath Tagore God Soul Supreme Abraham Truth

In your body is the garden of flowers. Take your seat on the thousand petals of the lotus, and there gaze on the Infinite Beauty. By Rabindranath Tagore Flowers Body Garden Beauty Infinite

Alas, for our foolish human nature! Its fond mistakes are persistent. The dictates of reason take a long time to assert their sway. By Rabindranath Tagore Alas Nature Foolish Human Persistent

While God waits for His temple to be built of love, men bring stones. By Rabindranath Tagore God Love Men Stones Waits

The artist is the lover of nature; therefore he is her slave and her master. By Rabindranath Tagore Nature Master Artist Lover Slave

This is the ultimate end of man, to find the One which is in him; which is his truth, which is his soul; the key with which he opens the gate of the spiritual life, the heavenly kingdom. By Rabindranath Tagore Man Truth Soul Life Kingdom

Those who are near me do not know that you are nearer to me than they areThose who speak to me do not know that my heart is full with your unspoken wordsThose who crowd in my path do not know that I am walking alone with youThose who love me do not know that their love brings you to my heart By Rabindranath Tagore Heart Love Nearer Arethose Speak

Let my love like sunlight surround you and yet give you illumined freedom. By Rabindranath Tagore Freedom Love Sunlight Surround Give

Yet what each one does is by no means of little moment. The grass has to put forth all its energy to draw sustenance from the uttermost tips of its rootlets simply to grow where it is as grass; it does not vainly strive to become a banyan tree; and so the earth gains a lovely carpet of green. By Rabindranath Tagore Moment Grass Tree Green Put

Spurious fame spreads from tongue to tongue like the fog of the early dawn before the sun rises. By Rabindranath Tagore Tongue Spurious Rises Fame Spreads

We may not know exactly what is happening: we do not know exactly even about a speck of dust. But when we feel the flow of life in us to be one with the universal life outside, then all our pleasures and pains are seen strung upon one long thread of joy. The facts: I am, I move, I grow, are seen in all their immensity in connection with the fact that everything else is there along with me, and not the tiniest atom can do without me. By Rabindranath Tagore Happening Dust Speck Life Joy

It is easy to drown yourself effortlessly into that which is truly profound and do no realise its true worth. And since the restless illusion which brings no pleasure even if you drain it to the dregs lead us by the nose and makes us dance a merry dance to its tune and we take it to be the lost desirable thing By Rabindranath Tagore Worth Easy Drown Effortlessly Profound

The day is no more, the shadow is upon the earth. It is time that I go to the stream to fill my pitcher. The evening air is eager with the sad music of the water. Ah, it calls me out into the dusk. In the lonely lane there is no passer-by, the wind is up, the ripples are rampant in the river. I know not if I shall come back home. I know not whom I shall chance to meet. There at the fording in the little boat the unknown man plays upon his lute. By Rabindranath Tagore Earth Day Shadow Pitcher Time

You can't cross a sea by merely staring into the water. By Rabindranath Tagore Water Cross Sea Staring

Perhaps the crescent moon smiles in doubtat being told that it is a fragmentawaiting perfection. By Rabindranath Tagore Perfection Crescent Moon Smiles Doubtat

Man's abiding happiness is not in getting anything but in giving himself up to what is greater than himself, to ideas which are larger than his individual life, the idea of his country, of humanity, of God. By Rabindranath Tagore God Man Life Country Humanity

At the very name of another country, my heart would go out to it, and at the sight of a foreigner in the streets, I would fall to weaving a network of dreams, - the mountains, the glens, and the forests of his distant home, with his cottage in its setting, and the free and independent life of far-away wilds. By Rabindranath Tagore Country Streets Dreams Mountains Glens

Blessed is he whose fame does not outshine his truth. By Rabindranath Tagore Blessed Truth Fame Outshine

Those who wish to sit, shut their eyes,and meditate to know if the world's true or lies,may do so. It's their choice. But I meanwhilewith hungry eyes that can't be satisfiedshall take a look at the world in broad daylight. By Rabindranath Tagore Sit Shut World Eyesand Meditate

In the drowsy dark cave of the mind dreams build their nest with fragments dropped from day's caravan. By Rabindranath Tagore Caravan Drowsy Dark Cave Mind

Man's cry is to reach his fullest expression. It is this desire for self-expression that leads him to seek wealth and power. But he has to discover that accumulation is not realisation. It is the inner light that reveals him, not outer things.The real misery of man is in the fact that he has not fully come out, that he is self obscured, lost in the midst of his own desires. He cannot feel himself beyond his personal surroundings, his greater self is blotted out, his truth is unrealised. By Rabindranath Tagore Expression Cry Reach Fullest Man

The force of arms only reveals man s weakness. By Rabindranath Tagore Weakness Force Arms Reveals Man

For the worthy there are many rewards on God's earth, but God has specially reserved love for the unworthy. By Rabindranath Tagore God Earth Unworthy Worthy Rewards

Because each nation has its own history of thieving and lies and broken faith, therefore there can only flourish international suspicion and jealousy, and international moral shame becomes anaemic to a degree of ludicrousness. The nation's bagpipe of righteous indignation has so often changed its tune according to the variation of time and to the altered groupings of the alliances of diplomacy, that it can be enjoyed with amusement as the variety performance of the political music hall. By Rabindranath Tagore International Faith Jealousy Ludicrousness Nation

The higher nature in man always seeks for something which transcends itself and yet is its deepest truth; which claims all its sacrifice, yet makes this sacrifice its own recompense. This is man's dharma, man's religion, and man's self is the vessel. By Rabindranath Tagore Sacrifice Man Truth Recompense Higher

Life's fulfillment finds constant obstacles in its path; but those are necessary for the sake of its advance. The stream is saved from the sluggishness of its current by the perpetual opposition of the soil through which it must cut its way. The spirit of fight belongs to the genius of life. By Rabindranath Tagore Path Advance Fulfillment Finds Constant

Man's freedom is never in being saved from troubles, but it is the freedom to take trouble for his own good, to make the trouble an element in his joy. By Rabindranath Tagore Man Good Joy Freedom Trouble

What is Art? It is the response of man's creative soul to the call of the Real. By Rabindranath Tagore Art Real Response Man Creative

To be constantly changing one's plans isn't decision at all-it's indecision. By Rabindranath Tagore Indecision Constantly Changing Plans Decision

Raicharan was twelve years old when he came as a servant to his master's house. He belonged to the same caste as his master and was given his master's little son to nurse. As time went on the boy left Raicharan's arms to go to school. From school he went on to college, and after college he entered the judicial service. Always, until he married, Raicharan was his sole attendant. By Rabindranath Tagore Master Raicharan House Twelve Years

Brahmos accept a formless deity who is invisible to the eye. You accept idols who cannot be heard. We acccept the living who can be seen and heard it's impossible not to believe in them. By Rabindranath Tagore Brahmos Eye Accept Formless Deity

Man's history is being shaped according to the difficulties it encounters. By Rabindranath Tagore Man Encounters History Shaped Difficulties

The traveller in the read-brown clothes that he wears that dust may not show upon him, the girl searching in her bed for the petals fallen from the wreath of her royal lover, the servant or the bride awaiting the master's home-coming in the empty house, are images of the heart turning to God. By Rabindranath Tagore God Lover House Traveller Readbrown

To the guests that must go, bid God's speed and brush away all traces of their steps. By Rabindranath Tagore God Bid Steps Guests Speed

Joy is everywhere; it is in the earth's green covering of grass: in the blue serenity of the sky: in the reckless exuberance of spring: in the severe abstinence of grey winter: in the living flesh that animates our bodily frame: in the perfect poise of the human figure, noble and upright: in living, in the exercise of all our powers: in the acquisition of knowledge ... Joy is there everywhere. By Rabindranath Tagore Living Joy Grass Sky Spring

The idea became rooted in my mind that I had a special right to Surabala above that of people in general. So it happened that, in the pride of ownership, at times I punished and tormented her; and she, too, fagged for me and bore all my punishments without complaint. The village was wont to praise her beauty; but in the eyes of a young barbarian like me that beauty had no glory; - I knew only that Surabala had been born in her father's house solely to bear my yoke, and that therefore she was the particular object of my neglect. By Rabindranath Tagore Surabala General Idea Rooted Mind

The light of our home also was to depart to her husband's house, and leave her father's in the shadow. By Rabindranath Tagore House Shadow Light Home Depart

When the warriors came out first from their master's hall, where had they hid their power? Where were their armour and their arms? They looked poor and helpless, and the arrows were showered upon them on the day they came out from their master's hall. When the warriors marched back again to their master's hall where did they hide their power? They had dropped the sword and dropped the bow and the arrow; peace was on their foreheads, and they had left the fruits of their life behind them on the day they marched back again to their master's hall. By Rabindranath Tagore Master Hall Power Warriors Hid

Life's errors cry for the merciful beauty that can modulate their isolation into a harmony with the whole. By Rabindranath Tagore Life Errors Cry Merciful Beauty

Men can only think. Women have a way of understanding without thinking. Woman was created out of God's own fancy. Man, He had to hammer into shape. By Rabindranath Tagore Men Man God Women Thinking

Poems On Life:Life is given to us,we earn it by giving it. Let the dead have the immortality of fame,but the living the immortality of love. Life's errors cry for the merciful beautythat can modulate their isolation into aharmony with the whole.Life, like a child, laughs,shaking its rattle of death as it runs. By Rabindranath Tagore Life Poems Immortality Uswe Earn

But the child's faith never admits defeat, and it would snatch at the mantle of death itself to turn him back. By Rabindranath Tagore Defeat Back Child Faith Admits

The thing which seems so glorious when viewed from the heights of the country's cause looks so muddy when seen from the bottom. One begins by getting angry and then feels disgusted. By Rabindranath Tagore Bottom Thing Glorious Viewed Heights

Our self (Soul), as a form of God's joy, is deathless. For his joy is amritham, eternal bliss. We know that the life of a Soul, which is finite in its expression and infinite in its principle, must go through the portals of death in its journey to realize the infinite. By Rabindranath Tagore God Soul Deathless Joy Form

Love's gift cannot be given, it waits to be accepted. By Rabindranath Tagore Love Accepted Gift Waits

Night's darkness is the bag that bursts with the gold of the dawn. By Rabindranath Tagore Night Dawn Darkness Bag Bursts

I have had my invitation to this world's festival, and thus my life has been blessed. My eyes have seen and my ears have heard. It was my part at this feast to play upon my instrument, and I have done all I could. Now, I ask, has the time come at last when I may go in and see thy face and offer thee my silent salutation? By Rabindranath Tagore Festival Blessed Invitation World Life

And joy is everywhere; it is in the earth's green covering of grass; in the blue serenity of the sky. By Rabindranath Tagore Grass Sky Joy Earth Green

Your idol is shattered in the dust to prove that God's dust is greater than your idol. By Rabindranath Tagore God Idol Dust Shattered Prove

The great ocean, crooning its lullaby with one unceasing melody, lapped the island to sleep with a thousand soft touches of its wave's white hands. The By Rabindranath Tagore Ocean Crooning Melody Lapped Hands

Dark clouds become heaven's flowers when kissed by light. By Rabindranath Tagore Dark Light Clouds Heaven Flowers

In this world's endless time and boundless space One may be born at last to match my sovereign grace. By Rabindranath Tagore Grace World Endless Time Boundless

Let me not look for allies in life's battlefield,But to my own strength.Let me not crave in anxious fear to be saved,But for the patience to win my freedom. By Rabindranath Tagore Freedom Allies Life Battlefieldbut Strengthlet

It's far better to make people angry than to make them ashamed. By Rabindranath Tagore Make Ashamed People Angry

Repentance is a gift of God's grace. By Rabindranath Tagore God Repentance Grace Gift

Life's aspirations come in the guise of children. By Rabindranath Tagore Life Children Aspirations Guise

Those who slander others,' Sachish said, 'do so because they love slander, not because they love truth. It's pointless therefore to struggle to prove that a piece of slander is untrue. By Rabindranath Tagore Sachish Love Truth Slander Untrue

Set the bird's wings with gold and it will never again soar in thesky. By Rabindranath Tagore Set Thesky Bird Wings Gold

When it was day they came into my house and said, 'We shall only take the smallest room here.' They said, 'We shall help you in the worship of your God and humbly accept only our own share in his grace'; and then they took their seat in a corner and they sat quiet and meek. But in the darkness of night I find they break into my sacred shrine, strong and turbulent, and snatch with unholy greed the offerings from God's altar. By Rabindranath Tagore God Day House Smallest Room

The man who aims at his own aggrandizement underrates everything else. Compared to his ego the rest of the world is unreal. Thus in order to be fully conscious of the reality of all, one has to be free himself from the bonds of personal desires. This discipline we have to go through to prepare ourselves for our social duties - for sharing the burdens of our fellow-beings. Every endeavor to attain a larger life requires of man "to gain by giving away, and not to be greedy." And thus to expand gradually the consciousness of one's unity with all is the striving of humanity. By Rabindranath Tagore Aims Aggrandizement Underrates Man Compared

I remember I once told him: 'Women's minds are so petty, so crooked!' 'Like the feet of Chinese women,' he replied. 'Has not the pressure of society cramped them into pettiness and crookedness? They are but pawns of the fate which gambles with them. What responsibility have they of their own? By Rabindranath Tagore Women Petty Crooked Remember Told

The greatest changes in a woman's nature are wrought by love; in a man's, by ambition. By Rabindranath Tagore Love Man Ambition Greatest Woman

It dances today, my heart, like a peacock it dances, it dances. It sports a mosaic of passions like a peacock's tail, It soars to the sky with delight, it quests, Oh wildly, it dances today, my heart, like a peacock it dances. By Rabindranath Tagore Dances Peacock Today Heart Tail

My union with you, my love, was only of the wayside; it was well enough so long as we followed the same road; it will only hamper us if we try to preserve it further. We are now leaving its bonds behind. We are started on our journey beyond, and it will be enough if we can throw each other a glance, or feel the touch of each other's hands in passing. After that? After that there is the larger world-path, the endless current of universal life. By Rabindranath Tagore Love Wayside Road Union Long

It means that God's Creation has not its source in any necessity; it comes from his fullness of joy; it is his love that creates, therefore in Creation is his own revealment. By Rabindranath Tagore Creation God Necessity Joy Creates

The biggest changes in a women's nature are brought by love; in man, by ambition By Rabindranath Tagore Love Man Ambition Biggest Women

But there are ideals which do not play hide-and-seek with our life; they slowly grow from seed to flower, from flower to fruit; they require infinite space and heaven's light to mature, and the fruits that they produce can survive years of insult and neglect. By Rabindranath Tagore Flower Play Life Mature Neglect

We never cared for such useless things as knowledge. We only cared for truth. And our unsophisticated little hearts knew well where the Crystal Palace of Truth lay and how to reach it. But to-day we are expected to write pages of facts, while the truth is simply this: "There was a king. By Rabindranath Tagore Knowledge Cared Truth Useless Things

When we were young, we understood all sweet things; and we could detect the sweets of a fairy story by an unerring science of our own. We never cared for such useless things as knowledge. We only cared for truth. By Rabindranath Tagore Young Things Understood Detect Fairy

Only in silence I find myself. Life in the city is so hectic that you lose the right perspective. It's important to know that our biggest resources are in our heart. By Rabindranath Tagore Silence Find Life Perspective Heart

I am here to sing thee songs. In this hall of thine I have a corner seat. In thy world I have no work to do; my useless life can only break out in tunes without a purpose. When the hour strikes for thy silent worship at the dark temple of midnight, command me, my master, to stand before thee to sing. When in the morning air the golden harp is tuned, honour me, commanding my presence. By Rabindranath Tagore Songs Sing Thee Thy Seat

When I come to the country I cease to view man as separate from the rest. As the river runs through many a clime, so does the stream of men babble on, winding through woods and villages and towns. It is not a true contrast that men may come and men may go, but I go on for ever. Humanity, with all its confluent streams, big and small, flows on and on, just as does the river, from its source in birth to its sea in death- two dark mysteries at either end, and between them various play and work and chattering unceasing. By Rabindranath Tagore Men Rest Country Cease View

On the day when the lotus bloomed, alas, my mind was straying, and I knew it not. My basket was empty and the flower remained unheeded. Only now and again a sadness fell upon me, and I started up from my dream and felt a sweet trace of a strange fragrance in the south wind. That vague sweetness made my heart ache with longing and it seemed to me that is was the eager breath of the summer seeking for its completion. I knew not then that it was so near, that it was mine, and that this perfect sweetness had blossomed in the depth of my own heart. By Rabindranath Tagore Alas Bloomed Straying Day Lotus

My song has put off her adornments. She has no pride of dress and decoration. Ornaments would mar our union; they would come between thee and me; their jingling would drown thy whispers. My poet's vanity dies in shame before thy sight. O master poet, I have sat down at thy feet. Only let me make my life simple and straight, like a flute of reed for thee to fill with music. By Rabindranath Tagore Adornments Thy Song Put Thee

Drunk with the joy of singing I forget myself and call thee friend who art my lord. By Rabindranath Tagore Drunk Lord Joy Singing Forget

If you cry because the sun has gone out of your life, your tears will prevent you from seeing the stars. By Rabindranath Tagore Life Stars Cry Sun Tears

I have seen in Japan the voluntary submission of the whole people to the trimming of their minds and clipping of their freedom by their government, which through various educational agencies regulates their thoughts, manufactures their feelings, becomes suspiciously watchful when they show signs of inclining toward the spiritual, leading them through a narrow path not toward what is true but what is necessary for the complete welding of them into one uniform mass according to its own recipe. The people accept this all-pervading mental slavery with cheerfulness and pride because of their nervous desire to turn themselves into a machine of power, called the Nation, and emulate other machines in their collective worldliness. By Rabindranath Tagore Japan Government Thoughts Manufactures Feelings

Leave out my name from the gift if it be a burden, but keep my song. By Rabindranath Tagore Leave Burden Song Gift

The burden of the self is lightened with I laugh at myself. By Rabindranath Tagore Burden Lightened Laugh

I've travelled all around the world to see the rivers and the mountains, and I've spent a lot of money. I have gone to great lengths, I have seen everything, but I forgot to see just outside my house a dewdrop on a little blade of grass, a dewdrop which reflects in its convexity the whole universe around you. By Rabindranath Tagore Mountains Money Travelled World Rivers

Deliverance is not for me in renunciation. I feel the embrace of freedom in a thousand bonds of delight. By Rabindranath Tagore Deliverance Renunciation Delight Feel Embrace

There is a point where in the mystery of existence contradictions meet; where movement is not all movement and stillness is not all stillness; where the idea and the form, the within and the without, are united; where infinite becomes finite, yet not losing its infinity. If this meeting is dissolved, then things become unreal. By Rabindranath Tagore Movement Stillness Meet Form United

The flower fades and dies; but he who wears the flower has not to mourn for it for ever. By Rabindranath Tagore Flower Dies Fades Wears Mourn

The problem is not how to wipe out all differences, but how to unite with all differences intact. By Rabindranath Tagore Differences Intact Problem Wipe Unite

We women are weak," replied Bimala. "So I suppose we must join in the conspiracy of the weak.""Women weak!" I exclaimed with a laugh. "Men belaud you as delicate and fragile, so as to delude you into thinking yourselves weak. But it is you women who are strong. Men make a great outward show of their so-called freedom, but those who know their inner minds are aware of their bondage. They havemanufactured scriptures with their own hands to bind themselves; with their very idealism they have made golden fetters of women to wind round their body and mind. If men had not that extraordinary faculty of entangling themselves in meshes of their own contriving, nothing could have kept them bound. But as foryou women, you have desired to conceive reality with body and soul. You have given birth to reality. You have suckled reality at your breasts. By Rabindranath Tagore Bimala Weak Women Men Replied

In Indian music, it is not possible to build anything other than the raga basis. We can run away from its fetters, but not from its main outline. By Rabindranath Tagore Indian Music Basis Build Raga

If he is weak enough to grow smaller to fit himself to his covering, then it becomes a process of gradual suicide by shrinkage of the soul. By Rabindranath Tagore Covering Soul Weak Grow Smaller

Truth comes as conqueror only to those who have lost the art of receiving it as friend. By Rabindranath Tagore Truth Friend Conqueror Lost Art

When we feel for certain that we are alive, then we know for certain that we shall go on living. Those who have never put life to the test,in all possible ways, these keep on crying out:Life is fleeting, Life is waning, Life is like a dew-drop on a lotus leaf.But, isn't life inconstant?Only because its movement is unceasing. The moment you stop this movement, that moment you begin to play the drama of Death. By Rabindranath Tagore Life Alive Living Feel Movement

black eyes need no translating; the mind itself throws a shadow upon them. In them thought opens or shuts, shines forth or goes out in darkness, hangs steadfast like the setting moon or like the swift and restless lightning illumines all quarters of the sky. They who from birth have had no other speech than the trembling of their lips learn a language of the eyes, endless in expression, deep as the sea, clear as the heavens, wherein play dawn and sunset, light and shadow. The By Rabindranath Tagore Black Translating Mind Throws Eyes

To thee, to thee, my fire! Thou hast been burning in my heart all these futile years. If my life were a piece of gold it would come out of its trial brighter, but it is a trodden turf of grass, and nothing remains of it but this handful of ashes. By Rabindranath Tagore Thee Fire Thou Years Hast

You are dark, even as the flints are. You must come to violent conflicts and make a noise in order to produce your sparks. But their disconnected flashes merely assist your pride, and not your clear vision. By Rabindranath Tagore Dark Flints Sparks Pride Vision

They knew that mere appearance and disappearance are on the surface like waves on the sea, but life which is permanent knows no decay or diminution. By Rabindranath Tagore Sea Diminution Knew Mere Appearance

I dive down into the depth of the ocean of forms, hoping to gain the perfect pearl of the formless. No more sailing from harbour to harbour with this my weather-beaten boat. The days are long passed when my sport was to be tossed on waves. And now I am eager to die into the deathless. Into the audience hall by the fathomless abyss where swells up the music of toneless strings I shall take this harp of my life. I shall tune it to the notes of forever, and when it has sobbed out its last utterance, lay down my silent harp at the feet of the silent. By Rabindranath Tagore Forms Hoping Formless Dive Depth

We cannot see Beauty till we let go our hold of it. It was Buddha who conquered the world, not Alexander - this is untrue when stated in dry prose - oh when shall we be able to sing it? When shall all these most intimate truths of the universe overflow the pages of printed books and leap out in a sacred stream like the Ganges from the Gangotrie? By Rabindranath Tagore Beauty Till Hold Alexander Buddha

My heart, the bird of the wilderness, has found its sky in your eyes. They are the cradle of the morning, they are the kingdom of the stars. My songs are lost in their depths. Let me but soar in that sky, in its lonely immensity. Let me but cleave its clouds and spread wings in its sunshine. By Rabindranath Tagore Heart Wilderness Eyes Bird Found

Perhaps the new dawn will come from this horizon, from the East where the sun rises; and then, unvanquished Man will retrace his path of conquest, despite all barriers, to win back his lost heritage. By Rabindranath Tagore East Man Horizon Rises Unvanquished

The time that my journey takes is long and the way of it long. I came out on the chariot of the first gleam of light, and pursued my voyage through the wildernesses of worlds leaving my track on many a star and planet. It is the most distant course that comes nearest to thyself, and that training is the most intricate which leads to the utter simplicity of a tune. 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. My eyes strayed far and wide before I shut them and said 'Here art thou!' 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! By Rabindranath Tagore Long Time Journey Worlds World

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. My eyes strayed far and wide before I shut them and said, "Here art thou!" 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!" XIII By Rabindranath Tagore End Traveller Knock Alien Door

those who cannot find food for their enthusiasm in a knowledge of their country as it actually is, or those who cannot love men just because they are men - who needs must shout and deify their country in order to keep up their excitement - these love excitement more than their country. To By Rabindranath Tagore Country Love Men Excitement Find

The real frienship is like fluorescence, it shines better when everything has darken. By Rabindranath Tagore Fluorescence Darken Real Frienship Shines

Away from the sight of thy face my heart knows no rest nor respite, and my work becomes an endless toil in a shoreless sea of toil. By Rabindranath Tagore Respite Toil Sight Thy Face

The question is, In what manner do we accept this world, which is a perfect gift of joy? Have we been able to receive it in our heart where we keep enshrined things that are of deathless value to us? We are frantically busy making use of the forces of the universe to gain more and more power; we feed and we clothe ourselves from its stores, we scramble for its riches, and it becomes for us a field of fierce competition. But were we born for this, to extend our proprietary rights over this world and make of it a marketable commodity? When our whole mind is bent only upon making use of this world it loses for us its true value. We make it cheap by our sordid desires; and thus to the end of our days we only try to feed upon it and miss its truth, just like the greedy child who tears leaves from a precious book and tries to swallow them. By Rabindranath Tagore World Joy Question Manner Accept

A day came when all the rebel in me knew itself beaten, and then my whole nature bowed down in humble resignation in the dust. And then I saw... I saw that he was as incomparable in beauty as he was in terror. I was saved, I was rescued. By Rabindranath Tagore Beaten Dust Day Rebel Knew

In appearance Sachish gives the impression of a celestial being. His eyes glow; his long, slender fingers are like tongues of flame; the colour of his skin is more a luminescence than a colour. As soon as I set eyes on him I seemed to glimpse his inner self; and from that moment I loved him. By Rabindranath Tagore Sachish Appearance Impression Celestial Colour

If someone smells a flower and says he does not understand, the reply to him is: there is nothing to understand, it is only a scent. If he persists, saying: that I know, but what does it all mean? Then one has either to change the subject, or make it more abstruse by saying that the scent is the shape which the universal joy takes in the flower. By Rabindranath Tagore Understand Smells Reply Flower Scent

If you shed tears when you miss the sun, you also miss the stars. By Rabindranath Tagore Miss Sun Stars Shed Tears

O Beauty, find thyself in love, not in the flattery of thy mirror. By Rabindranath Tagore Beauty Find Love Mirror Thyself

Do not linger to gather flowers to keep them, but walk on, for flowers will keep themselves blooming all your way. By Rabindranath Tagore Flowers Linger Gather Walk Blooming

YOU are the big drop of dew under the lotus leaf, I am the smaller one on its upper side,'said the dewdrop to the lake. By Rabindranath Tagore Leaf Side Lake Big Drop

Love gives beauty to everything it touches. By Rabindranath Tagore Love Touches Beauty

The meaning of this is, that whomsoever we love, in him we find our own soul in the highest sense. The final truth of our existence lies in this. God, the Supreme Soul, is in me, as well as in my son, and my joy in my son is the realisation of this truth. By Rabindranath Tagore Love Sense Soul Meaning Whomsoever

Asks the Possible of the Impossible, "Where is your dwelling-place?" "In the dreams of the Impotent," comes the answer. By Rabindranath Tagore Impossible Dwellingplace Impotent Answer Dreams

The meaning of our self is not to be found in its separateness from God and others, but in the ceaseless realization of yoga, of union; not on the side of the canvas where it is blank, but on the side where the picture is being painted. By Rabindranath Tagore Side God Yoga Union Blank

Oh! what lies we women have to tell! When we are mothers, we tell lies to pacify our children; and when we are wives, we tell lies to pacify the fathers of our children. We are never free from this necessity. By Rabindranath Tagore Lies Children Pacify Women Mothers

Love adorns itself; it seeks to prove inward joy by outward beauty By Rabindranath Tagore Love Beauty Adorns Seeks Prove

When the Goddess of Fortune deserts a house, she usually leaves some of her burdens behind, and this ancient family was still encumbered with its host of dependents, though its own shelter was nearly crumbling to dust. These parasites take it to be an insult if they are asked to do any service. They get head-aches at the least touch of the kitchen smoke. They are visited with sudden rheumatism the moment they are asked to run errands. By Rabindranath Tagore Goddess Fortune House Dependents Dust

Cruelly unjust both in their act and their thought, accompanied by a feeling that they are helping the world to receive its deserts; men who are honest can blindly go on robbing others of their By Rabindranath Tagore Cruelly Thought Accompanied Deserts Men

One clings desperately to some vain hope, till a day comes when it has sucked the heart dry and then it breaks through its bonds and departs. After that comes the misery of awakening, and then once again the longing to get back into the maze of the same mistakes. By Rabindranath Tagore Hope Till Departs Clings Desperately

I have only one prayer to offer to God, and it is that when I have been driven out of every society He will give me shelter at His own feet. By Rabindranath Tagore God Feet Prayer Offer Driven

When a man does not realize his kinship with the world, he lives in a prison-house whose walls are alien to him. When he meets the eternal spirit in all objects, then is he emancipated, for then he discovers the fullest significance of the world into which he is born; then he finds himself in perfect truth, and his harmony with the all is established. In India men are enjoined to be fully awake to the fact that they are in the closest relation to things around them, body and soul, and that they are to hail the morning sun, the flowing water, the fruitful earth, as the manifestation of the same living truth which holds them in its embrace. By Rabindranath Tagore World Man Realize Kinship Lives

Our scientific world is our world of reasoning. It has its greatness and uses and attractions. We are ready to pay homage due to it. But when it claims to have discovered the real world for us and laughs at the worlds of all simple-minded men, then we must say it is like a general grown intoxicated with his power, usurping the throne of his king By Rabindranath Tagore Reasoning World Scientific Attractions Greatness

Genuine courtesy is a creation, like pictures, like music. It is a harmonious blending of voice, gesture and movement, words and action, in which generosity of conduct is expressed. It reveals the man himself and has no ulterior purpose. By Rabindranath Tagore Genuine Creation Pictures Music Courtesy

I didn't write the history of my flight in the sky,, still I flew for sheer joy. By Rabindranath Tagore Sky Joy Write History Flight

I thought that my voyage had come to its end at the last limit of my power, that the path before me was closed, that provisions were exhausted, and the time come to take shelter in a silent obscurity, but I find that thy will knows no end in me, and when old words die out on the tongue, new melodies break forth from the heart, and where the old tracks are lost, new country is revealed with its wonders. By Rabindranath Tagore End Power Closed Exhausted Obscurity

Clouds come floating into my life, no longer to carry rain or usher storm, but to add color to my sunset sky. By Rabindranath Tagore Clouds Life Storm Sky Floating

The potentiality of perfection outweighs actual contradictions ... Existence in itself is here to prove that it cannot be an evil. By Rabindranath Tagore Contradictions Potentiality Perfection Outweighs Actual

I have lost my dewdrop, cries the flower to the morning sky that lost all its stars By Rabindranath Tagore Dewdrop Cries Stars Lost Flower

Things in which we do not take joy are either a burden upon our minds to be got rid of at any cost; or they are useful, and therefore in temporary and partial relation to us, becoming burdensome when their utility is lost; or they are like wandering vagabonds, loitering for a moment on the outskirts of our recognition, and then passing on. A thing is only completely our own when it is a thing of joy to us. By Rabindranath Tagore Cost Lost Vagabonds Loitering Recognition

The small wisdom is like water in a glass:clear, transparent, pure.The great wisdom is like the water in the sea:dark, mysterious, impenetrable. By Rabindranath Tagore Clear Transparent Dark Mysterious Impenetrable

Great suffering brings with it the power of great endurance. When sorrow is deepest all the forces of patience and courage are banded together to do their duty. So while we are cowards before petty troubles, great sorrows make us brave by rousing our truer manhood. By Rabindranath Tagore Endurance Great Suffering Brings Power

Who are you, reader, reading my poems a hundred years hence?I cannot send you one single flower from this wealth of the spring, one single streak of gold from yonder clouds.Open your doors and look abroad.From your blossoming garden gather fragrant memories of the vanished flowers of an hundred years before.In the joy of your heart may you feel the living joy that sang one spring morning, sending its glad voice across an hundred years. By Rabindranath Tagore Hundred Years Single Reader Spring

Whatever character our theology may ascribe to him, in reality God is the infinite ideal of Man, towards whom men move in their collective growth, with whom they seek their union of love as individuals, in whom they find their ideal of father, friend and beloved. By Rabindranath Tagore Man Ideal God Growth Individuals

The sands of desert may be very white and shiny, but I would much rather sow my seeds in black soil. By Rabindranath Tagore Shiny Soil Sands Desert White

Women lose their delicacy and refinement, when they are compelled night and day to haggle with their destiny over things pitifully small, and for this they are blamed by those whom their toil supports. By Rabindranath Tagore Women Refinement Small Supports Lose

Pain, which is the feeling of our finiteness, is not a fixture in our life.