Ours is a journey of a very small , limited individual ...that of futility... ..endless struggle to sustain our hard held peace ,worth and respect.. how long can we pretend to be brave ? How long can we put this show of strength ? Indeed we float so helplessly in this fleeting sea of Samsara..even our most precious gift of love seems to be so limited ...
But this realization can occur not to an ordinary man ..it can occur only to those who have realized that there is a deeper changeless truth behind this illusive drama ...
Rabindra Aradhana is a
modest personal project that I have under taken. It is my humble attempt to
fulfill the purpose of my life through explorations of Gurudev's life and works.
A musician and poet that I am at heart, I never cease to get moved by Gurudev’s
poetry and music .Through this blog I will express my feelings as I live through, contemplate and meditate on his
poetry, music and literature.
God has been very kind
to me .Though he took me through a lot of demanding situations in life, he
brought me in contact with great people and great books that helped me face and
cope up with those situations. They gave me a vision of what life is and its
purpose. But finding the means to a purpose is not always simple. One cannot
follow the paths followed by others blindly. It is a personal journey .At times
a little confusing, challenging and mostly solitary. When you love to clear your way through the
nebulas of life, love challenges and love being alone, the journey can be
enjoyable too.
To me Tagore is not just
a great poet, but a mystic who had divine visions indicated as milestones to
enlightenment in spiritual journey by
Vedas and Upanishads. How else can one explain the amazing details of his
visions and poetic expressions? May the world worship him as one of the
greatest poets that it has seen, but to me he was a sage who was firmly
established in traditions and yet far beyond their narrow dogmas and restrictions.
A saint poet ! A highly advanced seeker who was face to face with the almighty .
Through romantic love, devotion,
surrender and Puja he constantly yearned to meet his beloved and surely he did
meet him .One can see that in his poems such as “Bahe nirantar ananta anandadhara” or
Arun bin ruper arale. Perhaps that’s where from,
such un-ending brilliance and magnificence dawns.
So this is all about
holding a finger of Robi Dadu and walking with him, trying! I am sure he will
help me when I fall. An ocean of compassion that he is!
To begin with, I share
this beautiful song by Gurudev, “Mone Holo”.
Rendered beautifully by Imtiaz
Ahmed. Imtiazda is a honey filled, deep voice. Sonorous, soothing and honest in his representation of
the world of Tagore’s feelings and melodies.
The song is translated
by Mrs Anandamayee Majumdar. An Indian exposed to good poetry can often figure
out the literal meanings of words used in Bengali poems. However, capturing the
poetic essence, the cultural hues and subtle nuances of feelings expressed by a
poet becomes very difficult. It is her “Bhavanuvads”
that helped me reach Gurudev closer. I can’t thank her enough! I assume her
help in all my future endeavors of Rabindra Aradhana.
This is also my maiden
attempt at making a small movie with translations. I thank Richa Rajadhyax for
giving me tips and Siddesh Wagle for tutoring me whole night with tools to
arrive at this initiatory you tube clip.
In our culture, fire is one of the most worshiped forms of God .It finds a place in every religious function. We chant hymms and give
offerings to fire right from our naming ceremony to our last rights .There is
a sense of feared divinity in fire . That, it is pure and pristine, yet it can
burn and destroy. It can cleanse our evil karmas if we offer it Samidhas
and yet, it can inflict unbearable pain . We love to see the brilliant flames of fire yet , try to protect ourselves from it .Such is the mystic and complex picture
of fire God, that we have in our minds.
But calling fire as one’s brother, telling it, that we are similar, Inviting it with love and affection and adoring it as the final savior
from the bonds of this material world takes a different kind of heart. A heart that has boundless love for everything, it connects to .
Gurudev glorifies funeral
fire . The ultimate equalizer ! The sweet mate that embraces us in our final journey
and liberates us from the chains and bondage of this gross material world.
The ever rising, dancing
glorious savior, the brilliant bursting freedom that fire is ,can be seen only through the eyes of Gurudev . When the whole world is
immersed in the thoughts of intimacy of ordinary kind, Gurudev thinks about
intimacy with funeral fire. He says "both bodies will become one and sway in glee" .
The picture of fire receiving our beaten up bodies, hearts and souls in its arms and rocking us in its ,soft ,soothing ,purifying heat, relieving us from all our woes of life is so elating .
I am now sure , when my time comes ,I may skip Geeta Chanting but not this song .
What a positive invocation it will provide for the final journey !!
Lyrics in English
Ore agun amar bhai
Ami tomarie joy gai
Tomar oi shikol bhanga amon ranga murti dekhi nai
Tumi du hat tule akash pane metecho aaj kiser gane,
Aki anandomoy nrito abhoy bolihari jai
Jedin bhaber meyad phurabe bhai, agol jabe sore
Se din hater dori, payer beri, dibi re chai kore
Se din amar ango tomar ange oi nachone nachbe range
Sakol daho mitbe dahe, ghuchbe sab balai
Courtesy: http://www.geetabitan.com/
Translation in English
Flame of fire -- we are akin, I exalt you with a song Nothing is as free, as
flushed, to me As your fiery form
Your raise your ecstatic arms In a divine, happy dance And when I die and my fetters
bust You will singe my bonds
Your body and mine will sway in glee Your flare will burn my
impetuosity And as every twinge is turned
to ash My woes will vanish with your raging
flash.