In the Worship of Love1,
there is a fear of perversion.
Love has a side
that is mainly
the side of emotions -
if we get caught in the lure of that,
then we reach up to only that much -
then only the enjoyment of emotions
we consider
the Ultimate Attainment
of our Worship.
Then this addiction traps us.
Keeping only this addiction awake day and night,
we try to remain oblivious
to the Harshness of Work,
to the Purity of Knowledge -
we forget Work,
we transgress Knowledge.
Thus,
effectively we try to pluck the flower after axing the tree;
no matter how much we become enchanted at the beauty of the flower,
if compared to that,
condemning the tree, calling it rough, calling it inaccessible,
we uproot it
and try to pluck the flower,
then
for that moment
we obtain the flower,
but
we ruin
the principal support
on which
that flower
could bloom
ever anew
for all eternity.
Thus,
aiming excessively at the flower alone -
we only commit injustice and atrocity to it.
From poetry,
we absorb the emotion of thoughts,
and get satisfied.
But the fulfillment of that emotion -
what does that depend on?
That has three supports.
One is the body of the poem - rhyme and language;
other than them,
the thoughts -
which after which,
arranging them in a way that makes their appearance beautiful -
that skill in layout.
The task of designing this framework
cannot be completed
in a slipshod manner -
we need to go about maintaining strict rules;
even the slightest disturbance to that
hurts the meter,
stresses the ear,
and
obstructs the expression of thoughts.
Therefore,
this rhyme, language, and arrangement of thoughts -
while designing them,
the poet
needs to accept the bondage of rules;
in here,
(s)he cannot do whatever (s)he likes.
After that,
there is another big support -
that is the support of knowledge.
All greatest poems have
within them
something
that satisfies our knowledge,
and that awakens our thinking faculty as well;
if the poet
composes her/his poem
on a topic
that is extremely bizarre -
that does not supply any food for our knowledge,
or
that stresses our thinking faculty owing to a perversion of truth,
then in that poem
expression of emotion
gets obstructed;
that poem
cannot give us joy
permanently and deeply.
And the third and final support
is the support of thoughts;
coming in touch with these thoughts
our heart becomes joyful.
Therefore,
in greatest poems
first the satisfaction
of our ears
and our sense of art,
after that
the satisfaction
of our intellect
and after that
the satisfaction of our heart;
if these three satisfactions happen,
then only
along with
the satisfaction of our whole nature,
the emotion of the poem -
that emotion captures our heart
permanently and very deeply.
Otherwise,
either the emotion gets diluted and/or effervesces;
or it gets perverted.
Sugar, honey and jaggery -
when they get perverted,
they ferment,
they turn into alcohol,
they crack their own vessels.
The perversion of psychic emotions, too,
brings intoxication within us;
then the psyche does not accept rules anymore,
it overflows
with impatience
and unrest.
This frenzy of emotions -
when it thrashes our mind,
then that thrashing
we consider
our Attainment.
But,
intoxication can never be called Attainment,
unchastity can never be called Love,2
the overwhelming unrest
of fever
and delirium
can never be called an expression of health and strength.
Within intoxication,
there is an acrid intensity,
that intensity
is effectively
not an advantage -
in that,
stealing verily from all other sides of our nature,
only one side
gets inflated unnaturally.
In that,
not only is it the case that
the parts
that get stolen from -
only they suffer loss and atrophy;
but the parts that get inflated and as a result intoxicated -
they, too, do not do well.
Because,
different parts of our nature -
when they remain spontaneously operative,
then only
in connection with every part,
every other part becomes significant;
from one,
if another steals -
then the one that gets stolen from,
it suffers a loss,
and the lifter, too, gets wasted.
That is why
I was mentioning,
if love steals from Truth and Knowledge,
and keeps wandering intoxicated -
its discipline and endurance get wasted,
its faculty of perception becomes lawless,
then
it undoes its own footing in its own hands,
and degenerates itself.
The love we shall worship,
is the worship of a chaste wife.
In that love,
all three attributes of chastity will be there;
in that,
there will be modesty,
there will be intellect,
and
there will be beauty.3
In that,
there will be reserve,
there will be reflection,
and
there will be grace.
This love,
in this World -
in coming and going,
in speech and utterances,
in work and duties,
in debit and credit,
in small and large,
in happiness and misery,
extensively and therefore with discipline,
innocently and sweetly
will keep revealing itself.
There is an innate modesty in love;
when that covering of modesty is intact,
only then
the love can spread itself widely;
otherwise,
it burns out in only one direction,
perhaps destroying the work,
perverting knowledge,
hurting the World,
and
expending itself completely
in one breath.
It is by modesty alone
that
a chaste wife
contains her own love
and
spreads it out in sundry directions -
this way,
that love
burns no one,
illumines every one.
Our Earth
has such a covering;
that is the covering of air.
It is with this covering
that the Earth
spreads out sunlight
everywhere -
in a measured
and
extensive way.
If this covering were not there,
where the sun would have shone,
that place would have been burnt out completely;
in the very least,
that place would have been ruthlessly sunny;
and exactly by its side,
where there was shadow,
there ice-cold death
and
densest darkness
would have reigned.
The love of an unchaste wife,4
where there is no modesty,
no restraint,
that love
cannot spread itself out everywhere
in a measured way;
that love
in one place spreads violent burning,
and exactly by its side -
spreads out an indifference
that is without any vigor,
and bereft of light.
For us, too,
in this love of a chaste wife
in the country house of our psyche,
there shall be intellect,
there shall be purity of Knowledge.
This love
is not an ignorant love,
tangled in the snare of habits and prejudices.
Like animals,
this is not a blind love
that is entirely instinctual.
Its vision is awake,
its psyche is open.
This love
does not want to fool itself
with some imaginary object;
the one this love wants,
for that person
it demands unrestrained access,
with respect to that person
it cannot tolerate
the possibility of keeping its own Knowledge affronted.
In its mind,
there is this only one fear that,
in the excessive desire to obtain,
it keeps itself quiet
after receiving
any one wrong thing.
Just like a bird
that is eager to sit on her eggs,
and
that sits on even a pebble that has been found -
likewise,
our love
may get
eager to surrender
in any way possible,
and
may completely lose track of
who it is surrendering to -
this fear doesn't go away;
to see her husband,
in the darkness of the evening
she wants to keep
her small lamp
burning,
carefully.
Over and above that,
in this chaste love of ours,
there shall be beauty,
and there shall be the joyfulness of grace.
But,
if modesty keeps lacking,
if intellect gets perverted,
then even this beauty
gets corrupted.
Chaste Maitreyii -
the prayer she had uttered -
in that,
none of the attributes of love was lacking.
The Immortality She Wanted -
that is Complete Love5,
that is not
an infatuated lust
devoid of Work
and
bereft of Knowledge.
She had uttered -
Asato Maa Sadgamaya -
from untruth,
Please Take me to Truth.
She had uttered -
I want Him Who Is Truth;
on all sides,
if I do not bind myself
with the rules of Truth,
with the Bondage of Truth -
the Nuptial Bondage
between Him and me
shall never be Complete.
In speech,
in thoughts,
in deed -
we have to be true;
then only
He Who Is True in this Whole Universe,
He Who Is True in this Whole World,
He Who Is True in this Whole Human Society -
with Him,
our mergence shall become True;
otherwise,
at every step
we shall keep stumbling.
This worship
is a difficult one -
it is the Worship of Piety,
it is the Worship of Work.
After that,
she had uttered:
Tamaso Maa Jyotirgamaya.
He, verily, Is the Essence of Knowledge;
within this Whole Universe,
He Exists as the Unchanging Truth;
likewise,
the truth we are knowing,
that knowledge, verily, is the Manifestation of the Essence of Knowledge.
It is verily therefore, that
in the Gaayatrii hymn6
on one hand
the earth, the purgatory, and the heaven -
within them
it has been instructed
to Witness His Truth;
likewise,
on the other hand
within our knowledge
it has been advised
to realize the Presence of His Knowledge;
He Who Is Projecting the Intellect -
within knowledge,
His Presence
Must Be Recognized
as the Essence of Intellect.
Within this Universe,
that Essence shall Merge with the Truth,
within knowledge,
we shall need to merge with the Knowledge.
With Meditation,
with Worship7,
this Mergence shall become successful.
After that,
the prayer is: Mrityormaamritam Gamaya!
We are afflicting and furcating our love within death;
May You Please Make it successful within the Infinite Love and Infinite Joy of Yours.
In our psyche,
the source of multifarious emotions,
oh Essence of Emotion,
may that source
merge with Your Complete Ocean of Emotions
and be fulfilled.
Like this,
our inner soul -
may it become Complete
in the Restraint of Truth,
in the Light of Knowledge,
and
in the Emotion of Joy;
may it receive within itself
Him -
Manifestation is Whose very Essence;
thus,
the Loving Face of Rudra
shall protect us for all eternity.
3 Paush 1315
(December 17, 1908)
Bengali original: http://www.tagoreweb.in/Render/ShowContent.aspx?ct=Essays&bi=72EE92F5-BE50-4057-6E6E-0F7410664DA3&ti=72EE92F5-BE50-4537-BE6E-0F7410664DA3&ch=c