CHAPTER III NATURE. Nature, too. A worshipper of Nature from his childhood, he. dwelt upon both the beautiful physical aspects and the

Transcription

1 CHAPTER III NATURE Tagore the great poet of God and Man was a great poet of Nature, too. A worshipper of Nature from his childhood, he dwelt upon both the beautiful physical aspects and the beneficent divine aspects of Nature. He succeeded in discovering a pre-ordained harmony between Man and nature. It may be an exaggeration to say that he makes an important figure among the poets who willingly associated themselves with the Return to Nature movement initiated by Rousseau. He himself learnt many a beneficent lesson from nature and advocated directly or indirectly to return to Nature for moral lessons and general good. Tagore has written about his early love of nature: "I had a deep sense, almost from infancy, of the beauty of nature, and intimate feeling of companionship with the trees and the clouds, and felt in tune with the musical touch of the 79

2 seasons in the air. At the same time I had a peculiar susceptibility to human kindness." 1 Tagore's attitude towards nature is romantic as it was of the English romantic poets such as Wordsworth, Keats, Shelley, Thomas Gray and Indian poets like Kalidas, Valmiki, it was also mystical as found in William Blake, Coleridge, Kabir, Mira, and Aurobindo Ghose. There is a marked fondness in Nature poets for some natural objects, for example, in Keats and Shelley for birds, in William Wordsworth for flowers. Tagore is a great river poet, and an outstanding poet of the Bengali seasons. His accuracy of details is breath-holding. Rainy season has found a considerable place in Tagore's depictions of season. Imaginative touches bringing to life and presenting the object before our eyes give Tagore supremacy. For example, he has depicted lightning as a fiery snake biting the darkness again and again. Clouds are presented as dancers on the aerial stage. The actor-clouds dance shaking their tambourines of thunder, play their part and disappear. But he is a poet not 1 Rabindranath Tagore, Lectures and Addresses, op.cit p.8 80

3 only of Rains, but also of all other Indian seasons of which he has drawn dozens of pictures all distinct from each other. Like Keats, he liked the autumn. He has personified her as Lakshmi. Noon in the summer so often caught his eye. The tense and pin-drop silence and quietness is his favourite penpicture. And he is neither blind nor deaf for the beauty and music of spring. He can make his word-picture fragrant with Bakul flowers and musical with humming bees. Comparatively speaking, he is not a lover of winter. In sum, the variety and profusion, and the freshness and loveliness of nature have magical effect on his reader. One feels an open air atmosphere in the Gitanjali poems. Nature has been an inexhaustible source of Tagore's imagery, symbols and figures of speech. Let us have a bird's eye-view of some of the symbols from Nature and their meanings. The stars symbolise the dispersal of darkness and presence of light. The attraction between stars stands for their yearning to embrace each other and through that embrace their Maker. They love each other and they love God, too, who has given them their light. The blue sky sybolises the 81

4 omnipresence and majesty of God. The horizon, the imaginary meeting line where the earth and the sky look meeting each other, and which ever recedes and is beyond the reach of man, symbolises, the keen desire of Man to meet God. Like the horizon, re-union of soul with God, is receding, going farther off, how much so ever great effort, man makes. The floating clouds and the blowing winds symbolise pleasant wandering and freedom in which lies the real significance and purpose of life. Death symbolises passage from the known to the unknown skies. The flight of birds in the sky symbolises, the yearning of the Purusha for that freedom which he never succeeds in attaining. The home-seeking birds at dusk symbolise the sweeping power of human love. God is symbolised by both the boundless sky and the restful nest. "Thou art the sky and thou art the nest as well. (Song LXVII,l- 1.) A flock of birds winging swiftly symbolise the passion for quick-arrival which is at the heart of an individual as well as the whole universe. The remaining clouds symbolise God's mercy, as the poet says, Let the cloud of grace bend low from 82

5 above like the hungry tearful eyes of the mother at the father's wrath (Song XL, ll 7-8). The poet's adoration "spreads wings like a glad bird on its light across the sea"(song II, ll 7-8). The poet, like a bird perched on a ship, which flies at times, but has to come back again to the ship, leaves the feet of God and travels here, there and everywhere seeking rest ultimately surrenders himself to God. The poet's heart danced when he saw Nature's beauties and his Negative Capability drew haunting scenes artistically in Indian English poetry. At least to me, no poet has ever shown the power of identification with Nature like Tagore's. He merges himself into her life and sees and depicts scenes through her own perception. In a word, the most distinctive feature of Tagore as a poet of nature is his complete selfeffacement and identification with Nature. In this respect, no other Indian English poet can equal him. There are some Nature poems written by Tagore to make it clear that he treated Nature as the primal store-house of life out of which humanity has evolved through countless ages and births. He felt sad when he thought that his birth cut him 83

6 off from Nature's vast life. He wanted to merge his identity again into this universal life. This remembrance and painful feeling of his belonging once to pre-human cosmic existence is the theme of many of his poems. In a poem address to sea, the poet highlights his connection with the sea. He remained as an embryo in the womb of sea for millions of years. The day he wrote this poem, he sat on the sea-shore and listened to the eternal roar of the sea waves. This revived his past memories of the sea. In one poem, the poet hears the cries of birds and animals and appears to listen to the primeval voice of Nature: "I peep into the primeval nursery of life, where the mother Earth thrills at the first living clutch near her breast. 1 " Tagore had a worshipping attitude towards Nature. He looked at the beautiful objects, scenes and sights of nature, not wonder-struck like a child, but full of deep reverence and awe: for him Nature was a part and parcel of God. In the Vedantic philosophy, which makes the core of Tagore's philosophical thought, Nature and God are Prakriti and Purusha, the two aspects of the Absolute. Meditation on 1 Rabindranath Tagore,, Fugitive Macmillan India Ltd.1921 p-65 84

7 Nature or an aspect or object of Nature leads man to the realisation of God. Considered as such Nature is not something imposed from outside, but it is the core of the spirit of man. It will not be wrong to say that Tagore's love for Nature made him not only a poet but also a devotee of God. In his boyhood, confined within the four walls of the house, he looked at the world of nature outside the railing of his verandah. Earth, water, foliage and sky - they all spoke to him of remarkable things. In his poems, he has addressed Nature as a beneficent spirit, serene and joyous. He often painted word-pictures taking some rural setting. Bengal for him made the whole world both as a geographical area and also a living spirit. And he saw the whole of Bengal in a small piece of land Kushita - a circle with a radius of about fifty miles from a centre at Kushita. The river Padma and its tributaries flowed there and Tagore lived in a house-boat on these rivers. No wonder he developed into a great river and water poet. Splendid pen-pictures of Nature in all her splendour and glory in all her spring-season beauty when she is decked out 85

8 in her best attire are scattered all through his poetry. We illustrate our point made here taking at random one such sketch of nature from The Gardener: "Over the green and yellow rice fields sweep the shadows of the autumn clouds followed by the swift chasing sun." (Song 84, ll 1-2) He is not idealistic and Wordsworthian in his treatment of Nature. He is as susceptible to the harsh, the ugly and the cruel as to the soft, the tender, and the gentle in Nature. Here is a picturesque description of a terrible land storm: "Like fruit, shaken free by an impatient wind from the veils of its mother flower, Thou convert, New Year whirling in a frantic dance and aimed the stampede of the wind, lashed clouds and infuriate showers, while trampled by the turbulence. 1 " The poem ends with a quiet picture which by contrast heightens the fury and turmoil of the previous lines. The hundred lines go out like a hundred wicks in one sudden rush of wind, love trembling like the flame of a lamp. The Gitanjali 1 Rabindranath Tagore, Collected Poems and Plays, Macmillan India Ltd, The New Year,ll

9 may be read as a text-book to give lessons in Tagore's treatment of nature. In it, as in the rest of his poetry water imagery predominates. The stream and rivers, the sea and the ocean; the clouds and lightning, the rain and flood, the boat and vessel, the traveller and the voyage, pools, rivulets and showers have a pleasing assemblage there. In the opening song of Gitanjali, human body is compared to a "frail vessel", which "though emptiest again and again and fillest it ever with fresh life"(song-i, ll 2-3). The closing song has that very theme put in different words. An abundance of Nature-imagery strikes all readers-they may be students preparing for examinations, or scholars writing theses for their post graduate degrees. In Song LX, we have children playing on the beach with "empty shells, "and "withered leaves". Nature is producing the joy and ecstasy in man s life it is deep calm at her heart. If man establishes close communion with Her, he can assimilate hidden rush of the life-force streaming though Nature; the trembling sprouts of the blade, the mute joy of the blossoms; the frenzied delight of tree, grass 87

10 and leaves as, spread in the radiant sun, they drink in light and life, and can be happy. Nature reflects God's creativity, and the nature-poet in Tagore is realistic and scientific in his scenes of Nature. In Song XL, Tagore gives scientifically the whole process of the formation of clouds and rainfall, storm, heat, vapour, rain, shower, lightning and thunder work together. The parched and dry land and delayed rainfall seems to be a precursor of drought. The poet is worried, sad and restless: "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 (Song LX, ll 1-4). The poet could not withstand the symbolical suggestiveness when he heard birds and animals crying. In the sounds made by them, he seems to hear the primeval voice of Nature. In his imagination, he reaches the distant past and sees into the secrets of life and Nature fancifully. The most original note of Rabindranath Tagore's poetry of Nature is discernible in his re-creations of the primeval spirit 88

11 of life. Life and existence are larger and more ancient than human life. In these sketches, we have a breath-holding combination of romantic fancy and evolutionary biology. Tagore's visions of Nature are steeped in wonder, mystery and boundless joy; that is why they fuse the human body and soul, heart and mind and nature into a harmony. An exalting rapture breathes into a vision of timeless union physical as well as spiritual with Nature's forms and phenomena. This lands the poet and the readers of his poetry into the primitive bound of creative unity between the temporal and the universal. There dawns the sense of oneness with sounds, lights and waves, with flowers and fragrance, with the starry spheres. Resultantly, they blend and merge into a paean of joy and wonder, into an affirmation welling from inner spiritual apprehension. Like the great English romantic poet Wordsworth, Tagore could go to Nature for moral lessons. Nature is the kind and loving mother of man the grandmother of grandmothers. He had known from his own experience that Mother-Nature is bound to exercise her influence on man if he approaches her 89

12 in a receptive and unquestioning attitude and mood, which makes morality flow into the soul of man. He is with Wordsworth in this respect. But he surpasses Wordsworth when he made sincere efforts to translate his theory into practice. Tagore gave practical shape to the concept of Education by Nature. In his open air university at Shantiniketan, the entire system is based on a living contact with Nature. He has full-faith in Nature as a moral teacher and guide to man. She teaches him goodness and morality by examples. Tagore becomes a practical idealist and a romantic realist. Darkness and night contrasted with light and day symbolise the mysterious beauty of the unknown. God becomes 'the King of the Dark Chamber', who walks "In the deep shadows of rainy July, with secret steps, thou walkest, silent as night, eluding all watchers (Song XXII, ll 1-2). The chief glory and the haunting beauty of night are in its stars. They illuminate darkness and resemble anklets of light. An illuminating note which occurs so often in Tagore s poetry with endless variations in rapturous oneness with the beauty of 90

13 nature, yearning for it, joy in contemplating it, and bliss in attaining it. Nature with her beauty in numerous poems is a living spirit spread out like sea, heaving with life and mystery. The one constant endless longing of the poet was to lay bare his soul to receive her gift: the one aching desire was to plunge head long into it and dive deep for the purpose treasures hidden in its bosom. There is a surprising wealth and abundance of nature imagery and illustration in the Gitanjali alone. No poet that ever lived had Tagore's constant and intimate touch with and love for natural beauty. Tagore, to be sure, is seen in using same images and pictures, the oldest ones in the world dozen of times in as many lines, and each tune with freshness and charm. His wealth of Nature-imagery is boundless and it is manifest in prose and verse and in English as in Bengali. Tagore in his heart of hearts believed that Nature's store of wealth was inexhaustible. Nature in his hands illustrates the human and the abstract, the temporal and the universal, and reigns supreme in his poetry. We believe that full justice to Tagore as a poet of Nature is yet to be done. We also believe 91

14 that scholars and researchers have been put on a false track because of his greatness as a mystic and as a philosopher, because of his spiritualism and Indianness, his philanthropism and altruism. There is hardly any thought, or feeling, or concept, emotion that does not come to life with vivid, suggestive and telling images drawn from Nature. In the companionship with nature that Tagore tries to seek in all his works again and again, the Romantic poets of England influenced him very much. He agrees with Wordsworth and, therefore, he advises us not be too much with the world. He writes about the Religion of a Poet:"I remember, when I was a child, that a row of coconut trees by our garden wall, with their branches beckoning the rising sun on the horizon, gave me a companion as living as I was myself" 1 At the moment when the poet feels the bliss divine, he starts comparing himself with the various objects of nature or at times he merges with her: 1 Rabindranath Tagore,, The Religion of Man: Creative Unity, London, Macmillan Publication, 1939 p

15 "Today the summer has come at my window with its signs and murmurs and the bees are playing their minstrelsy at the court of flowering grove. (Song V, ll7-9). And again: "I sit on the grass and gaze upon the sky and dream of the sudden splendour of thy coming - all the lights ablaze, golden pennons flying over thy car, and they at the roadside standing agape, when they see thee come down from thy seat to raise me from the dust, and set at thy side this ragged beggar girl a tremble with shame and pride, like a creeper in a summer breeze"(song XLI, ll 19-26). The devotee poet does not want to live his life uselessly. So he request, God to 'pluck this flower' (Song VI) that is, his soul without any delay so that it may be used for the purpose of the divine. As: Pluck this little flower and take it, delay not! I fear lest it droop and drop into the dust. It may not find a place in my garland, but honour it with a touch of pain from 93

16 thy hand and pluck it. I fear lest the day end before I am aware, and the time of offering go by (Song VI, ll 1-6). There are poems in which the poet expresses intensity of longing for God and also the agony of heart that was made by 'That vague sweetness'. This is all done by the objects of nature. In such poems Tagore appears as a pantheist like the great English poet Wordsworth. The devotee wants to meet God but God is delaying to give his Darshan; still the poet is determined to "Wait like the night with starry vigil and its need bent low with patience". Then the poet very confidently sings: "The morning will surely come, the darkness will vanish, and thy voice pours 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."(song XIX, ll 5-10) In the next poem the blooming of the lotus refer to the appearance of the glory of God that the poet could not have 94

17 the sight; so he exclaimed with grief: 'Alas' "My Basket was empty and flower remained unheeded"(song XX, ll 2-3) In another poem poet expresses his belief that everything has its existence in this universe-living or non-living, and has one and the same source of its origin. Thus the poet-mystic sings: "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 shows in joy through the dust of the earth in numberless blades of grass and break into tumultuous waves of leaves and flowers. It is the same life that is rocked in the oceancradle of birth and of death, in ebb and in flow (Song LXIX, ll 1-8). And again in the second stanza of the poem (LXXXI), we find that God is ever, secretly fulfilling all things with the purpose of imparting meaning and significance. Thus behind the process of budding, growing, and ripening in nature is no other than God who also makes man's efforts successful. The 95

18 beauty of images of the lines which vividly picturise and present the scene our eyes is remarkable: "Hidden in the heart of things thou art nourishing seeds into sprouts, buds into blossoms, and ripening flowers into fruitfulness."(song LXXXI, ll 4-6) Just as the poet's God resides in the heart of all human beings, in the same manner he resides in the heart of the objects of nature. In the course of his journey towards God, the poet lost himself in his admiration of beauty of the objects of nature. For an instance we can take this poem: "The morning sea of silence broke into ripples of bird songs; and the flowers were all merry by the roadside; and the wealth of gold was scattered through the rift of the clouds while we busily went on our way and paid no heed."(song LXVII, ll 1-5) And again, 96

19 "The sun rose to the mid sky and doves cooed in the shade. Withered leaves danced and whirled in the hot air of noon. The shepherd boy drowsed and dreamed in the shadow of the banyan tree, and I laid myself down by the water and stretched my tired limbs on the grass"(song LXXVII, ll 10-15). Thus the poet sees God everywhere in flowers and leaves, in grass and meadow and in everything of nature. In another poem, the realization of God's nearness has been imagined through and through the sword which has its curve of lightning "like the outspread wind" of Garuna, the "Bird of Lord Vishnu, perfectly poised in the angry red light of the sun set"(song LIII, ll 4-6). Another poem celebrating the beauty of nature expresses the faith of the poet whose heart feels closer to God at the time of the day. The poet received his message that came to him through the various objects of nature including the light of dawn: 97

20 "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."(song LIX, ll 1-7). Such a series of realistic and charming pictures of native are found in other poems also. For example, see the following lines of the poem that describe the origin of sleep: "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"(song LXI, ll 3-5). And as far as baby's smile is concerned, "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 98

21 morning the smile that flickers on baby's lip when he sleeps"(song LXI, ll 9-13). Actually 'two timid buds of enchantment' and 'the pale golden rays of crescent moon touching the edge of a vanishing Autumn cloud' are nothing but the mysterious working of the Divine spirit which pervades mankind as well as nature. Children as well as the mature men derive their pleasure from nature. While the child gets joy in its numerous colours, its beautiful sights, and its musical sounds, mature man finds delight in the beauties and melodies of nature and also understands that nature is a store house of happiness and delight for him. These feelings can be viewed in the following lines of poem: "When I bring sweet things to your greedy hands I know why there is honey in the cup of the flower and why fruits are secretly filled with sweet juice when I bring sweet things to your greedy hands. When I kiss your face to make you smile, my darling, I surely understand what pleasure 99

22 streams from the sky in the morning light, and what delight that is which the summer breeze brings to my body when I kiss you to make you smile."(song LXII, ll 9-17) Thus the clouds, water, flower, etc look like toys which give pleasure to the child. In the poem LXII God is called 'the sky' as well as 'the nest' in which man's soul resides and is developed by the love of God. The picture of the sunrise and sunset have fancifully been depicted: "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."(lxvii, ll 5-11) Such nature imagery is also visible in another poem where like the other poems Nature has not accomplished her 100

23 own purpose but she serves to indicate the various gifts given by God to man and at last the gift, are returned to God: "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"(song LXXV, ll 2-7). These beautiful objects of nature have been created by God to win the heart of man. The beauty of objects of nature is sure to create a longing in the heart of the men. Thus the Divine power manifests itself through different methods and nature is one of them. The mystic's desire has not attained fruition: 'the blossom has not opened'. It is in the singing of wind. He lives, which refers to the agony of the separation of lover from the beloved. The longing of the poet to reunite with God has been symbolized through nature variously and vividly. The objects of nature are charged with feeling and emotion. Therefore, in 101

24 order to meet God, even the journey of the poet will be through nature, his God is coming and coming through the mazy paths besieged by the gloom in nature. The poet asks: "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?"(song LXII, ll 8-11). Yet God has not come to him. The poet is sad. The gloomy mood has been expressed with the help of natural objects. The wind has 'flagged tired' and it is time that someone drew the veil of darkness upon the poet. The poet thinks that he is leading a futile life which is meaningless unless and until he achieved a union with the divine spirit. In these lines the poet compares himself to a remnant of cloud. He sings: "I am like a remnant of a cloud of autumn uselessly roaming in the sky, O my sun everglorious! Thy touch has not yet melted my vapour, making me one with thy light, and 102

25 thus I count months and years separated from thee"( Song LXXX, ll 1-5). Whenever the poet's spirit stirs, we find the nature, too, stirs; as, for example: "The sky is overcast with clouds and the rain is ceaseless. I know not what is that stirs in me I know not its meaning. A moment's flash of lightning drags down a deeper gloom on my sight, and my heart gropes for the path to where the music of the night calls me. Light, on where is the light! Kindle it with the burning fire of desire! It thunders and the wind rushes screaming through the void. The night is black as a black stone. Let not the hours pass by in the dark. Kindle the lamp of love with thy life."(song XXVII, ll 9-19). In Tagore's philosophy Man and Nature co-exist together with God. All of them are interdependent, but enjoy a unique identity of their own. 103

26 For Tagore, Nature is not only a source of poetic inspiration but also provides him with a vision to realize the mystery of great diaspora beyond it. Nature has always fascinated the poet-philosopher, and in one of his essays, he has admitted that "The first stage of my realization was through my feeling of intimacy with Nature." 1 It goes without saying that it was nature which formed the back-ground of all his mystic experiences. If we examine the development of Tagore's poetry, we shall learn that this poet-philosopher realized his own true self and the mystery of Almighty through Nature. Tagore always felt oneness with Nature. For him, Nature was something living and kindred with which he felt close companionship and harmony. "This world", he says, 'was living to me, intimately close to my life, permeated by a subtle touch of kinship which enhanced the value of my own being". 2 In one of the poems of Gitanjali, Tagore has beautifully conveyed his thankfulness for all the joys that God has bestowed upon him. He feels that God is immaculate and all- 1 Rabindranath Tagore: Reminiscences: Macmillan India Limited, Page No Rabindranath Tagore: Religion of Man: Page No

27 pervasive. He objectifies himself through all the wonderful creations of God and feels the divine expression of God in him by identifying himself with Nature: "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. It is the same life that is reached in the oceancradle of birth and death, in ebb and in flow. I feel my limbs are made glorious by the touch of this world of life. And my pride is from the life-throb of ages dancing in my blood this moment."(song LXIX, 1-12). This feeling of oneness with Nature provides him with a feeling of pride in human existence. It is Indian philosophy that reflects living communion with God and Nature. Nature 105

28 and God are not mute but a living entity, and this is reflected in many of Tagore's poems. In this regard, Tagore comments: "India has saturated with her love and worship the great Nature, with which her children are surrounded, who fills their eyes with gladness, and who water cleanses them, whose food gives them life, and from whose majestic mystery comes forth the constant revelation of the infinite music, scent and colour which brings its awakening to the soul of Man." 1 Tagore believes that Nature helps Man to realize the truth, beauty and goodness. Nature in its freedom and joy brings forth a message of Truth to human heart. Nature needs perceptive eye towards the realization of the Truth which lies in the mystery of unity between Man and Nature. A flower for instance, in its aspect of regular chain of growth and decay is under the thraldom of botanical law. But the same flower assumes the role of divine messenger when it makes its appearance in the heart of Man. It then gives up its aspect of busy practicality and becomes a symbol of love and peace. 1 Rabindranath Tagore, Creative Unity, Macmillan and Co. London, 8th Ed. 1971, p

29 "This principle of unity is the mystery of all mysteries. The existence of a duality at once raises a question in our minds, and seeks its solution in the One. When at last we find a relation between these two, and thereby see them as one in essence, we feel that we have come to the truth." 1 Nature has two aspects: one is calm, beautiful and wonderful, while the other is boisterous, ugly and harsh. Tagore has beautifully described Nature as seen by Man. In Vasundhara the poet has given beautiful tribute to Nature: "In me night and day, have your flowers bloomed, in me your seeds sprouted. For me do your trees shower their perfume and foliage." 2 For Tagore, Man is a part of the whole universe. He cannot be true to himself unless he realizes his oneness, his unity with the universe. Tagore believes that: 1 Rabindranath Tagore, Sadhana, India Macmillan Ltd p Dr. Vivek Ranjan Bhattacharya, Tagore's Vision of a Global Family, New Delhi, Emkay Publishers Pvt. Ltd. Ed. 1987, p

30 "Man's individuality is not his highest truth; there is that in him which is universal. If Man were made to live in a world where his own self was the only factor to consider, then that would be the worst prison imaginable to him, for Man's deepest joy is in growing greater and greater by more and more union with the all." 1 This consciousness of Man, that he is a part of a world flow, makes him realize the unity with all and he becomes free from all suffering and pain. Tagore has also described the same side of Nature. Like a mystic, he believes that when Man separates himself from the unity of creation, he feels detached and suffers from pain and suffering. On the other hand, if Man realizes that he coexists with nature and he is a part of nature, he feels himself as a part of God's design. Thus, the flow of individuality, when united with the flow of humanity, becomes a part of the flow of universe, produces an interlink between God and Man through Nature. Therefore, Tagore's 1 Rabindranath Tagore, Sadhana, op.cit p

31 concept of Nature is universal and supreme. Nature helps us to realize the truth in the design of Almighty. 109