The shopkeepers and retailers
of
yesterday's festival-fair
haven't left yet.
All night last night
they have spent
in this field -
lighting campfires,
chitchatting,
singing,
playing instruments.
Yesterday night
was a winter night -
fourteenth of the new moon.
When I came and sat
in the hall of our regular prayers,
it was still quite some time before
the night turned into dawn.
On all four sides of me
was dense darkness;
the stars of the transparent sky here -
a sky bereft of dust and moisture -
were manifesting tirelessly,
like the untiring awakeness of Angels' Eyes.
Here and there in the field
campfires were alight.
People of the dispersed fair
were getting some warmth
by burning dry leaves.
On other days,
in this pre-dawn moment
what Peace reigns,
what Stillness!
Even if
all birds in the garden
wake up
and
start singing,
that Stillness is not undone;
even if
the north wind of Paush
gets rough
in the midst of the
murmuring heaps of leaves
of the Sal1 groves,
that Peace
abides untouched.
But,
when a few people get together
and start clamoring,
then
This Stillness of pre-dawn Nature -
why does It get so agitated?
For His/Her Worship,
an Ascetic
does not look for
a place without animals and birds;
why does (S)He
look for
a place without people?
The reason behind that is,
with the Nature of the Universe,
people do not have Complete Unity.
With the Flow of the Universe,
people do not move
in the same drift,
in the same rhythm.
It is precisely because of this
that
wherever people are,
there
on his/her four sides
(s)he raises
a wave
of
his/her own;
even if
(s)he does not utter
a single word,
even if
(s)he does not move
even slightly
and
remains silent
like the Stars,
(s)he cannot remain
Still
like Huge Trees.
His/Her very Existence
proceeds
and hurts.
God has purposefully
Ruined - ever so slightly -
the Harmony between
the Nature of the Universe
and
human beings;
this is
His Sport of Joy.
He Has Sprinkled
a little bit of Intellect
in Those
Five Elements
of ours;
He Has Added
an ego
to us,
and then
He Has Sat still;
with these,
we have become separate
from the rest of the Universe;
it is with these things
that our rank
has been undone.
It is precisely because of this
that
with Planets,
with the Sun,
with Stars -
we cannot move in harmony
anymore;
where we are,
that we are there -
this
no one has an opportunity
to forget anymore.
Since God Has Ruined
That Harmony of ours,
and
Has Made us
ostracized
from the lap of Nature,
we need to
go about
ourselves,
from morning till night -
in pursuance
of our own work.
It is precisely because
That Harmony Has Been broken
that
in our nature,
the Peace of this Huge Universe
is absent;
from several houses within us,
a loud cry has risen:
'I want, I want, I want.'
The body is crying: 'I want';
the mind is crying: 'I want';
the heart is crying: 'I want';
even for a moment,
this cry has no rest.
If we had an Unbroken Union
with the Whole -
then
within us,
this cry of want
in thousand voices
would have had no presence
at all.
Today,
sitting in the dark pre-dawn,
on my four sides
I was hearing that clamor of diverse wants -
so many cries of need.
'Hello, where did the cow go!
Where is somebody!
I need some fire!
Where is tobacco!
Please call the cart2!
The pot is left here!'
Birds of a single feather -
when they sing in the morning
they sing in the same tune -
they sing the same kinds of songs;
but
these shouts of human beings -
in these,
with one person
another person
does not have a harmony of words,
let alone a harmony of melody3.
For God
Has Engendered
a separation
between us
and the World
by adding that ego;
in that,
He Has Made us -
each one of us -
separate.
Our tastes,
our desires,
our efforts -
all of them
have nested around
a different center each;
and have rested assured,
assuming a different form4 each.
Hence,
with one,
another is continuously
engaged
in
encounters
and rencounters.
There is no end
to
scrimmages and fights.
In that,
so much discord,
so much heat
is being generated -
there is no end to that anymore.
Afflicted with that discord,
charred by that heat,
our lack of harmony
owing to that separation
is only praying for harmony;
it is precisely because of this
that
we cannot live
simply eating and sleeping,
simply putting on various robes
and moving through life unheeded.
We want
a tune,
a symphony.
That want
is definitely more
than the want
of our food and drink,
of our clothes and jewelry;
that want
is definitely not less -
we absolutely need harmony.
It is precisely because of this
that we have sat to compose poetry -
even without any external provocation or reminder;
we are writing so much;
we are painting so much;
we are building so much.
We are building so many houses,
we are building so many societies,
we are building so many religious doctrines.
We have so many ceremonies,
we have so many institutions,
we have so many customs.
At the urge of
this desire
to achieve harmony
people from different countries
are building
so many
political systems
of different shapes.
So many rules,
so many regimes,
so many different types of education and behavior.
Performing which set of actions,
arranging
different egos
of different people
an amazing, beautiful unity
can be established -
in this effort,
in this practice,
all around the World
all of Humanity
have been busy.
It is verily at the impulse of this effort
that
human beings are building
a creation of their own.
From the Entire Creation,
it is only after
having been exiled
in this ego
that
(s)he has felt this need
to build a creation of his/her own
so much more.
The human history
is only the history
of this creation, this synthesis5;
his/her all religions and efforts,
all moods and imaginations -
in all of them,
only this history of harmonizing the discordance
is being created6.
'We would like to have, We would like to have,
We would like to unite, We would like to unite' -
without these,
there are no other demands.
That is why
spreading this field
different people's
different - separate - needs -
their different - loud - voices -
amidst them
when I heard
someone singing:
'Oh Lord, please take me across7 for free',
then
in the heart of that song
all these shoutings -
their central theme
I could hear.
The want
in the middle of
all wants
is this want to go across8.
One who is separated -
(s)he is continuously praying,
'Oh Lord, please help me across this separation.'
Once this separation is over,
then only
my Love9 Reaches Fulfillment.
If This Love is not Fulfilled,
I have no satisfaction whatsoever
even if I get everything else;
otherwise I am only traveling from death to death -
wandering and dying aimlessly
from one to the other;
the moment I am United10,
this terrible misery stops.
But,
the Union That Is Immortality -
to reach There
we verily need to
go through Separation.
If union is already present,
Unity can never be reached.
That is why,
that God Has Separated us
from each other
by ego -
That, verily, Is
a Sport of Love
of His.
If ego is not there, there is no separation;
if separation is not there, there is no Union;
if Union is not there, there is no Love.
That is why
human beings -
sitting on the shore of
this Ocean of Separation -
are building several kinds of boats,
while desiring - only This Love -
in various shapes;
all these, verily, are boats
to get him/her across -
call it a political system,
call it a social system,
or
call it a religious system.
But, if that is the case -
then
where shall we go
once we are on the other shore?
Is it then the case
that
eliminating the ego
completely,
going to the Land of Total Non-separation
is
Reaching the Realm of Immortality?
In That Land, too,
dust and soil and rocks exist.
They, too, are
moving
in unison
with the Whole -
they, too, do not know any separation.
Are people crying only for
this kind of self-annihilation?
That is never the case.
If it were to be the case,
then
amidst all kinds of annihilation
(s)he would have found solace,
(s)he would have found joy.
That human beings
fear annihilation
with all their heart,
there is no need
to establish
any proof for that.
That something
passed him/her by,
the memory of this
is not
a happy memory
for him/her.
With these fears
and these memories,
verily,
his/her life's deep sorrows
are connected;
(s)he wants to keep,
and yet,
(s)he fails at that.
If ever
human beings
do not
want something -
with all their heart -
that something
is annihilation.
If this is the case,
then
the discordance,
the separation -
on which
his/her distinction is established -
does (s)he want that?
No, (s)he does not even want that.
This separation,
this discord -
it is precisely for these
that (s)he is crying to death
since time immemorial.
His/her all sins, all sorrows -
they, verily, are
predicated on these.
That is precisely why
(s)he is singing:
'Oh Lord, please take me across for free.'
But,
if going across means
being annihilated11,
then
we surely are in big trouble.
Then -
it is surely the case
that
on this shore
reigns sorrow,
and
on the other shore
reigns
fraud12.
But,
we neither want sorrow,
nor do we want fraud.
Then,
what do we want,
and how shall we get it?
We, verily, want Love13.
When do we get That Love?
When there is Harmony
between
Separation,
and
Union;
when Separation does not annihilate Union,
and
Union does not devour14 Separation;
when both are together,
and yet
there is no conflict between them anymore,
they help each other.
It is for the Harmony
of This Separation
and
This Union
that
all our desires
exist.
We do not
want to
part with
any of these two.
All our efforts, all our creations -
they are
only to see
This Ideal
of
Unconflicted Unity
between
Separation and Union15 -
they are
only to gain
One16
in the midst
of Two17.
Our God of Love -
when He Will Take us across,
then
He Will Make our Separation of Eternal Sorrow -
Separation within Eternal Joy.
Then -
He Will Make us drink
the Nectar of Union
by filling This
Vessel of Separation only.
It is only then,
that
He Will Make us realize
what an invaluable gem
This Separation Is.
8 Paush 1315
(December 22, 1908)
Bengali original: http://www.tagoreweb.in/Render/ShowContent.aspx?ct=Essays&bi=72EE92F5-BE50-4057-6E6E-0F7410664DA3&ti=72EE92F5-BE50-4957-2E6E-0F7410664DA3&ch=c