Poetry Chaikhana Sacred Poetry from Around the World

Yoga / Hindu 20th Century	About Rabindranath Tagore Timeline (1861 - 1941)
<<Previous Poem | View All Poems by Rabindranath Tagore | Next Poem >>
English version by Rabindranath Tagore Original Language Bengali	(1) Thou hast made me endless (from Gitanjali)
Commentary by Ivan M. Granger Themes   Birth, Rebirth   Bliss   Eternal Life   Flute   Heart   Recommended Books Collected Poems & Plays of Rabindranath Tagore, by Rabindranath Tagore The Crescent Moon, by Rabindranath Tagore The Fugitive, by Rabindranath Tagore Gitanjali, by Rabindranath Tagore The Heart of God: Prayers of Rabindranath Tagore, by Rabindranath Tagore / Edited by Herbert F. Vetter More >>	Thou hast made me endless, such is thy pleasure. This frail vessel thou emptiest again and again, and fillest it ever with fresh life.      This little flute of a reed thou hast carried over hills and dales, and hast breathed through it melodies eternally new.      At the immortal touch of thy hands my little heart loses its limits in joy and gives birth to utterance ineffable.      Thy infinite gifts come to me only on these very small hands of mine. Ages pass, and still thou pourest, and still there is room to fill.     -- from Gitanjali, by Rabindranath Tagore Amazon.com
<<Previous Poem | View More Poems by Rabindranath Tagore | Next Poem >>

Commentary by Ivan M. Granger

This opening verse of Gitanjali by the great 20th century Bengali poet Rabindranath Tagore is clearly speaking of the mystic's experience.

There is the awareness of being endless, without any boundaries. You recognize yourself as being truly vast, beyond all limits of skin and thought.

You often feel yourself to be a "vessel," a cup or a bowl that has been repeatedly emptied of everything and scrubbed clean, only to be filled with an entirely new sense of life and identity.

The metaphor of a reed or flute is a common one in sacred poetry. In Yogic terminology, he is speaking of the shushumna, the energetic channel associated with the spine, and the energy centers called chakras are the "holes" of the flute that allow its music to be tuned and modified. It is God's warm breath that blows through us, animating us with the gift of consciousness. And something in us hums, producing an awareness of divine music.

The heart, along with the general sense of self, "loses its limits" and spreads itself open in an indescribable joy and love.

Ivan M. Granger's original poetry, stories and commentaries are Copyright © 2002 - 2008 by Ivan M. Granger.
All other material is copyrighted by the respective authors, translators and/or publishers.