Rabindranath and the old man

Life must be something more. To be of any value, life must have something of eternity in it; it must be something beyond death. And you can know it, because it exists within you.

Life exists within you — death is only an experience of others, outside observers. It is simply like love. Can you understand love by seeing a person being loving to someone? What will you see? They are hugging each other, but is hugging love? You may see they are holding hands together, but is holding hands love? From the outside, what else can you discover about love? Anything that you discover will be absolutely futile. These are expressions of love, but not love itself. Love is something one knows only when one is in it.

On May 7th, we celebrated the birth anniversary of one of the greatest poet’s of India, Rabindranath Tagore. He was very much embarrassed by an old man who was his grandfather’s friend. The old man often used to come because he lived in the neighborhood, and he would never leave the house without creating trouble for Rabindranath. He would certainly knock on his doors, and ask, “How is your poetry going? Do you really know God? Do you really know love? Tell me, do you know all these things that you talk about in your poetry? Or are you just articulate with words? Any idiot can talk about love, about God, about the soul, but I don’t see in your eyes that you have experienced anything.”

And Rabindranath could not answer him. In fact he was right. The old man would meet him in the marketplace and hold him and ask him, “What about your God, have you found him? Or are you still writing poetry about him? Remember, talking about God, is not knowing God.”

He was a very embarrassing person. In poets’ gatherings, where Rabindranath was very much respected — he was a Nobel prize winner — that old man was bound to reach. On the stage, before all the poets and worshipers of Rabindranath, he would hold him by his collar and would say, “Still it has not happened. Why are you deceiving these idiots? They are smaller idiots, you are a bigger idiot; they are not known outside the land, you are known all over the world — but that does not mean that you know God.”

Rabindranath has written in his diary: “I was so much harassed by him, and he had such penetrating eyes that it was impossible to tell a lie to him. His very presence was such that either you had to say the truth, or you had to remain silent.”

But one day it happened… Rabindranath had gone for a morning walk. In the night it had rained; it was very early morning and the sun was rising. In the ocean it was all gold, and by the side of the streets water had gathered in small pools. In those small pools also the sun was rising with the same glory, with the same color, with the same joy…. And just this experience — that in existence there is nothing superior and nothing inferior, that all is one whole — suddenly triggered something in him.

One has to come in immediate contact, direct, heart to heart. Nothing should be allowed between the two: your heart and the heart of reality. They should respond in a deep resonance. They should meet and mingle and merge and there should not even be a curtain of words, knowledge, concepts. Only then, you know what religion is.

For the first time in his life, he went to the old man’s house, knocked on the door, looked into the eyes of the old man and said, “Now, what do you say?”

He said, “Now there is nothing to say. It has happened. I bless you.”

The experience of your immortality, of your eternity, of your wholeness, of your oneness with existence is always possible. It only needs some triggering experience.

The whole function of the master is to create a situation in which the experience can be triggered; and suddenly the cloud of death disappears and there is all sunshine — tremendous life, abundant life, life full of song and full of dance.

So the first thing is to get rid of death. All fears will disappear. You don’t have to work on each single fear; otherwise it will take lives and still you will not be able to get rid of them.

And to see yourself and the mess that you are carrying within you, is certainly saddening. But it is also important, because if you become aware of it, it can be dropped. Guilt is an idea accepted by you. You can reject it, and it can be rejected because it is not part of existence. It is part of some stupid theology, of some old primitive religion.

If you are feeling that you would like your love to grow, to blossom, then wait with deep longing — as a seed. The longing has to be the seed. And the waiting, the patient waiting for the time when the spring comes, and seeds start changing from dormant beings into alive, active blossoming….
The longing is there.
Just waiting is needed.
And the waiting should not be impatient, because impatient waiting means you don’t trust existence. And your impatience cannot bring the spring a single moment earlier. On the contrary, your impatience may block the door for the spring to come to you.

Just remain available, with a deep longing, just like a thirst in every cell of your body, a passion.
And spring has always come.
Your spring will also come.
You need not do anything else.
Just long as lovingly, as intensely, and wait as patiently, as possible.

I want you to be absolutely innocent of all religious corruption and pollution. Have a silent, loving mind, waiting for more to happen. Life is so much that we go on exploring it — but we cannot exhaust it. The mystery is timeless.

Osho: The Golden Future Chapter #12 Chapter title: That beyondness is you Q 2. (Excerpts)

जग में आ कर इधर उधर देखा
तू ही आया नज़र जिधर देखा ……………ख़्वाजा मीर दर्द

jag meñ aa kar idhar udhar dekhā
tū hī aayā nazar jidhar dekhā ……………..KHWAJA MEER DARD

I came to this world and looked around,
I only saw you wherever I looked.

Mohabbat (love) and Ibaadat (reverence) are two sides of the same coin. Listen to this lovely song with a prayerful ear and you may find a new meaning. Film – ‘Mahaan’ (1983) written by Anjaan, sung by Kishore Kumar and composed by R.D. Burman.

जिधर देखूँ तेरी तसवीर, नज़र आती है
तेरी सूरत, मेरी तक़दीर, नज़र आती है

ज़िन्दा हूँ मैं तेरे लिये, जीवन तेरा है
मेरा है जो, सब है तेरा, अब क्या मेरा है
मेरी खुशियों की तू जागीर नज़र आती है...जिधर देखूँ 

बिना देखे, बिना जाने, तन मन बाँधे जो
बंधन जो, जनम जनम, मर के जुदा न हो
तेरी चाहत वही ज़ंजीर, नज़र आती है...जिधर देखूँ 

(73) Mahaan - Jidhar Dekhoon Teri Tasveer Nazar Aati Hai - Kishore Kumar - YouTube

1 thought on “Rabindranath and the old man”

  1. Every alternate Sunday becomes a “Good Sunday” as your blog is ready for us to read. Death we have to imagine but every “Lamha” of life; each moment of the life has to be enjoyed. Oneness with the nature is the realization of God. નિસર્ગ સાથેનુ તાદાત્મ્ય એટલે ઈશ્વર નો સાક્ષાત્કાર 🙏🏽🎊
    Nicely explained by Ravi babu’s self realization !

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