Rabindranath Tagore Books

Fabulous collection from many of Tagore's books. Herbert Vetter has done a superb job. More importantly it brings out the greatness of Tagore. Short simple to read but very poignant.

this is a wonderful bedside book...the poems are what i would call in depth minimalist style writings...this might be a contradiction in terms but every word is positioned just right in tagors syntax...he is i guess what you would say famous for his going to the core of what he is trying to say...yet he excludes nothing and every poem is titled well...so you can a navigate the book with ease...this is my first tagore book and i have another...fireflies...on the way...pleasant reading

In prayers and poems of depth and simplicity,Tagore expresses his very soul...which is somehow the soul of each of us.

Obviously a spiritual master, he speaks for each of our hearts with a depth of compassion and honesty that embraces universal and timeless themes. Human struggle, delight, quest, hope, trust, joy, despair, and peace are expressed in a compelling commitment to Love which draws him only into deeper intimacy with the Beloved.

Tagore puts into words a love which surpasses understanding, time, or any methodology. He speaks in his writings a very human, very real, very tender love letter to the Divine.

I liked this book because it draws me also into the heart of God.

This collection of seventy-seven poems of the Nobel Laureate poet of India is taken from seven sources of his poetry. The editor has skillfully degenderized and introduced contemporary language where he deemed appropriate. The beauty of Tagore's spirit and his eloquence will be augmented for some by the editor's gifts. Long familiar with Tagore's own translations of his poetry, I find in this collection extreme satisfaction in accessing the presence of the poet in images of rare beauty. This book is an important addition to the literature, providing
fresh acquaintance with a master poet.

everyone will have something to worry about,some unfulfilled ambitions. This is a collection of the poet's mystic prayers.I am sure this will move anyone with a tender heart. He was the composer of the Indian national anthem and was also a social reformer and a romantic. This makes me wonder if he wanted to address these questions to god. My immediate goal is to learn bengali and read his poems in his own language. I am also looking forward to read his gitanjali which got him the nobel prize.

This book is sometimes referred to as Tagore's response to Kipling's Kim, but it's much more; in fact, there's only a single British official in the novel, and he only appears for several pages. This novel takes place in Kolkata in the mid 1880s (?), and focuses on the generation coming of age a few decades after the Sepoy Rebellion, especially on the Brahman revivalist Gora and his close friend Binoy, who is drawn to a less restrictive code. They form close personal, and gradually romantic connections, with the strong-willed girls in a family involved in the equally restrictive Hindu Samaj movement. Though the characters struggle to reconcile themselves with Bengali etiquette, they also embody the modernizing impulses of the nascent nationalist movement that is informed by English education and social values.

The above may sound dry, but the novel is quite gripping, and it provides a nuanced and loving recreation of a generation struggling to come to terms with India's extreme cultural & religious diversity and the outside influences that place additional strain on it. And, from our post-Partition perspective, we see perhaps the last, best chance to create one, comprehensive Bharatvarsha.

Although it has a very helpful introduction and notes, I've given the work 4 stars because of the occasional misspellings and syntactic trainwrecks that occur every 30 or 40 pages (there aren't many, but when they occur, it's quite messy).

To truly appreciate this book one needs to have some fair idea of the social, religious and political situation of India during the late nineteenth-early twentieth century. This book revolutionised the thinking and beliefs of the then contemporary modern thinkers and intellectuals, laying the foundation of the idea of a secular Indian society. The underlying theme is the essence of being a human, and very few in the history of mankind could find words that brings this out so beautifully (more so in the original Bengali, much of it is lost in the English translation). The reader undergoes the journey of self discovery along with the main protagonist, Gora. The beauty of Tagore's writing is that the unpredicatability and the vulnerability of the characters make them so natural and real, bringing out the inherent self-contradictions of human beings until they discover their true self and then all the cunfusions and the contradictions in one's own faith vanish. One finds one's place in this cosmos, realises the implication of being a human, experiences the beauty of life. And this makes the appeal of the book timeless.

This was one of the first book i had read. i was a teenager then. and although gora being a very bullheaded guy had become my hero. he was a believer. he was a proud Hindu or at least he thought he was a hindu. he was a leader and believed that if he did anything not permitted in hindu society then everyone else wud do it too. he made it his responsibility awaken religious beliefs in society. and in the process he met a family consisting of all women of another cast. he tried to stay away from them but couldn't and fell in love with one of them. but being a responsible hindu he stopped himselves from taking any steps to come closer to her.
the best part was the end of the novel when he comes to know that his all beleifs were baseless. he was not what he had believes himselves to be and that just changed his outlook in life. and it suddenly opened up his heart to each and every human being. he had become a believer of humanism instead of any religion.
women characters were all too good and Lalita was my favorite. all the arguments in the novels teached me a lot about indian society and religion. i had read this book several times since then. This Is a true classic novel.... WE are proud of u Rabindra Nath Tagore.

Gora is inteligent, energetic and a strong believer. He believes in believing and acting for those beliefs. He is strong he is aggressive. He thinks that the strong belief can bring in all the good. Strong belief in God, Culture, country, ... will automatically make them self confident and will lead to progress. Which will eliminate the problems for the society. He subscribes to the beliefs, that he thinks are birth right to him. He is strong Hindu, He is strong Indian, Strong __, ... At the end he comes to know that his all the beliefs are baseless. He is devastated! The meaning of his existence was closely bound to his beliefs, but there is nothing to believe. What can he survive on? He gains new insights and so do we.

All the women characters are simply great!! Which is very characteristic of Tagore and Sharad Chandra.

This book changed me!

Fireflies by Rabindranath Tagore is one of the most beautiful books that I have ever read. I am not an expert on Asian literature; so, I cannot give very much background on the poems presented her. What I can say is that every poem in here is a beautiful and is a perfect thought no matter where it came from or who is reading it. This collection by the Nobel Prize winner is made up of fireflies. They are each only three to six lines long and present a single thought. The poems flow together very cohesively. Tagore covers many different subjects. He speaks of innocense, nature, power, bigotry, freedom, death, and love. In short, Tagore writes about life. My favorite was the last:

"Before the end of my journey/may I reach within myself/the one which is the all,/leaving the outer shell/to float away with the drifting multitude/upon the current of chance and change."

I also liked:

"Love is an endless mystery,/for it has nothing else to explain it."

Few books flow as well as this one does. It enlightens the reader through the entire book and will express into words some feelings that all people have (as good poetry should do). Anyone who loved The Prophet by Gibran would love this book as well. It is somewhat forgotten among readers of today (I'm 18, and I guarantee that no other person in my high school has read this), but it should definately not be.

This book speaks directly to the soul. Its poems are concise yet beautifully eloquent. When I read them, I am re-awakened to an inner knowing of beauty and love and creative spirit. I am also reminded of the timelessness and constancy of truth. "Fireflies" is a book to return to again and again.

A friend gave me a copy of this book when I was entering the India X Peace Corps training project in 1964. "To be read in times of stress, but also happiness," it says inside the flyleaf. That just says it all. You don't need to think you enjoy poetry to treasure this book. Tagore captures moment after moment of the human experience, pierces each with an insight of his own and shares it with the reader. In a sense it bears a similarity to those little books of daily prayers or 'thoughts for the day' people used to hand you when they came to the door uninvited to explain to you what you should believe to mold yourself to a nearer model of what they, themselves believed. But it's a lot more than that. Tagore isn't pushy. He soaks in to your conciousness the way water enters a sponge, and he stays there.

I think a copy of this book ought to be by the bedside in every home in America to be read during those times when the weight of our submersion in this reality seems too heavy to bear, or when the joys lift us too high.

Read this book a few years ago and it still haunts me. Tagore is a poet and his writing hits you in the heart as much as the head, regardless of your religion. Just finished Unamuno's Tragic Sense of Life and it reminded me of this wonderful book, which I will be re-visiting soon.

This is a great book of spirituality with a nearly musical presentation.

In this beautiful book, Rabindranath Tagore sets forth a new religion, which he calls the "Religion of Man." The Religion of Man differs radically from most organized religions, in the way it defines God; in its views on the origins of man and the cosmos, on revelation, and on authority; and in its commandments.

God is defined as the Universal Spirit, the Spirit of Life, the Eternal Spirit of human unity beyond our direct knowledge, the Super Soul that permeates all moving things, the Supreme Person, Man the Eternal. This God dwells not in the heavens but in the heart of every human being.

The creation myth of this religion is the story of evolution. The first stage of Life's evolution was the physiological process, which seems to have reached its finality in man. The second stage of evolution, the spiritual process, is continuing. The evolutionary process has as its ultimate goal, not the attainment of Heaven or of nirvana or satori, but the release of each individual's consciousness from the illusory bond of the separate self and the realization of the spiritual unity of all human beings.

Truth in the Religion of Man is not that which was revealed only to a chosen few in the distant past. It is not reached through the analytical process of reasoning. It does not depend for proof on some corroboration of outward facts or the prevalent faith and practice of a group of people. Rather, the truth is revealed to every person every day, if we but listen. Truth comes like an inspiration and brings with it an assurance that it has been sent from an inner source of divine wisdom. This truth comes through an illumination, almost like a communication of the universal self to the personal self.

Every human being is capable of experiencing such illumination (the mystical experience). Although some people are more successful at actualizing this potentiality than others, most people have had at one time or another at least a partial vision of the universal unity. Furthermore, we can each increase our power of realization through "disciplined striving"--through our participation in nature, literature, arts, legends, symbols, and ceremonials, and through the remembrance of heroic souls who have personified this truth in their lives.

The truth, Tagore says, is inside us, like a song which has only to be mastered and sung. It is like the morning which has only to be welcomed by raising the screens and opening the doors.

Tagore calls Zarathustra the first prophet of the Religion of Man. Zarathustra, who spiritualized the meaning of sacrifice, was the first to address his words to all humanity, regardless of distance of space or time. He emancipated religion from the exclusive narrowness of the tribal God, the God of a chosen people, and offered it the Universal Man.

The only commandment in the Religion of Man is that the individual who has realized the Divine Truth accept his or her responsibility to communicate this truth in word and deed to others.

Tagore stresses that his understanding of the Religion of Man came to him through his personal experience of the holy, not from knowledge gathered or through any process of philosophical reasoning. However, he acknowledges that certain factors enabled him to be receptive to these visions. One was the feeling of intimacy with Nature that he had from early childhood. Another formative experience was the songs he heard from wandering village singers, belonging to a popular sect of Begal, called Bauls. The Bauls, who have no images, temples, scriptures, or ceremonials, express in their songs an intense yearning of the heart for the divine which is in Man. In addition, from childhood, he was immersed in the philosophy of the Upanishad, which holds that the world is pervaded by one supreme unity and that true enjoyment can be found only through the surrender of our individual self to the Universal Self.

Tagore, who won the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1913, believed that the task of the poet and artist is to direct our attention to the Infinite and to remind us that it ever dwells within each of us. He performs this task admirably in this book.

My grandfather bought this book in the 1940's while he lived in Japan, his copy was printed in 1919. I eventually inherited it. I read it last year sometime, and I thought that it was one of the best books that I had ever read. If you are fond of Tagore, or just like philosophical/poetic works I strongly recommend that you buy it! I hope that anyone who buys this will enjoy it as much as I did! Namaskar!

I am careful in spiritual pursuits--notions of spirituality have to win me by changing me with their beauty and honesty. Tagore's Sadhana does this time and again.

I fell in love with physics and mathematics because of my liking for their perfectness, exactness, and trimness; perfect form. (No large claims; a physics major and math minor, no graduate work.) For the same reasons, vague or inconsistent pictures of the universe are difficult for me to take in--I often take a statement, rework it, rework myself, think carefully, stay honest, and in the end sometimes come up with an expanded understanding of things; almost always the statement and I both must be reworked; there is no problem with that, it is just the natural metabolism of thinking.

But Sadhana is so honest and well thought through that my first reading of it was smooth, beginning to end. And it was expanding. And it was perfect. And it was beautiful because it was true; it was perfectly beautiful; however you want to put it, I was taken.

The book presents a perception of things which goes to their root; fortunately and unfortunately, I find no other words for this than "spiritual;" I must be careful to point out that this spirituality is grounded in the world; it is not pained to explain ugliness; it is honest about things--this honesty does not make it less beautiful; but a rather awe-filled more. The integrity of perception of things is wonderful, and makes it a joy to read; any inch of slack can be overlooked in loo of the expansiveness, truth, and depth of insight provided.

It is the only presentation of a cosmology I have found which seems (to me!) 1. entirely consistent with a physicist's beliefs of the nature of things, and 2. which even encompasses the physicists's awarenesses, without at all attempting to (at least not by the same route). And yet with all this, it is more a work of poetry of the heart than a work of philosophy or analysis. It successfully remains part of the *lived* world.

I would like to continue about how I came to *Sadhana* in the first place, but it is best read in quiet, absent commentary by others. Get to the book. Make it "yours" first, perhaps, and then talk with others (just a thought).

Perhaps I can say this final bit (it only clues you in to the table of contents):

I came to this book a few months after finishing Plato's *Republic*, and I know that Plato's work helped me develop the ideas and questions which led me to find Sadhana.

I felt--coming from my reading and response to *The Republic*--that there was something worthy to pursue related to such notions as beauty, self, soul, and consciousness. Unfortunately, keyword searches on these called up not much helpful; mainly, they were works arrived at with too much fear and desire pushing for a crystallization of philosophy, or which lacked depth of heart.

The best writings I didn't find under these searches, but instead under searches related to poetry, music, or art--nothing directly speaking of "soul," "self," and so forth. Yet I finally queried the library computer for any books which contained all four above words (the initial four). The fact that anything came up at all, with such 'different' notions, was unusual--I approached it warily, yet with subdued and slightly hopeful stride. My wariness soon evaporated away; dissolving. I read. It was Tagore's Sadhana, you assuredly have guessed.

Like the constancy of the great cellestial constellations, Tagore's Sadhana delivers the message of the human connection to universal transcendance in hauntingly beautiful English prose.

Perched as he was at the cusp of the Twentieth Century, Tagore saw with penetrating insight the fallacies of the age of science when he wrote,

" The man of science knows, in one aspect, that the world is not merely what it appears to be to our senses; he knows that earth and water are really the play of forces that manifest themselves to us as earth and water -how, we can but partially comprehend. Likewise the man who has his spiritual eyes open knows that the ultimate truth about earth and water lies in the apprehension of the eternal will which works in time and takes shape in the forces we realize under those aspects. This is not mere knowedge, as science is, but it is a perception of the the soul by the soul. This does not lead us to power, as knowledge does, but it gives us joy, which is the product of kindred things. The man whose acquaintance with the world does not lead deeper than science leads him, will never understand what it is that the man with the spiritual vision finds in these natural phenomena. The water does not merely cleanse his limbs, but it purifies his heart; for it touches his soul. The earth does not merely hold his body, but it gladdens his mind; for its contact is more than a physical contact, -it is a living prsesence."

When I first read these words over twenty years ago, they took my breath away.I have read and re-read Sadhana many time since then. Each reading or re-visting of favorite passages is as fresh as the first.He says much more that is worth reading in this 164 page gem.

Sadhana is also an excellent primer on classical Hinduism, as Tagore beautifully quotes the Vedas and Upanishads with Sanskrit transliteration to convey the lovliness of the vocal cadences of that ancient tongue.

Sadhana ranks with Psalms, the Tao De Ching, the Dhammapada, Zen Mind Begginers Mind and other enduring classics of world spiritual literature for its directness, simplicity and beauty of expression. My copy is beginning to fall apart so I am delighted to find it is again in print.

Finally, I thank Dr. Purshotam Lal of Calcutta for having introduced me to Tagore as Visiting Professor at Hofstra University in the 1960's. Lal, a Tagore Scholar, also produced a lovely translation (or as he preferred, a "transcreation") of the Dhammapada then published by Farrar Straus in New York. Thanks again, Lal.

Joel Freiser Hoboken, New Jersey

I have read several of Tagore's works but nothing has ever touched me as deeply as the lines in these poems about children and their loves. The one on the death of a child is my favorite. I lost my own child with leukemia several years ago and thought the tears had all dried up but these touching words of this great poetic master found some still tender areas. If these poems are so very beautiful in their English translations, I can only guess what they must sound like in the original rhythmic and lyrical Bengali language. Thank you for allowing me to review and recommend this book

My mom read some of these poems to me as a child. When she was dying, I read them to her. She smiled when almost nothing made her smile. And then later in the process, they calmed her when nearly nothing else could calm her. These poems seem almost sacred to me.

excellent collection of indian poetry. found it accidently while browsing in a huge 6 story library. quite a lucky find.

"Please, make me the gardener of your flower garden", a lover asks his beloved. He calls himself a servant and his beloved the queen. He dreams to serve her idle days. He wants to keep fresh the grassy path where she walks in the morning; he wants her feet to be greeted with praise at every step by the flowers.

And what he wants for his reward? He asks to be allowed to hold her little fists like tender lotus-buds and slip flower chains over her wrists; to tinge the soles of her feet with the red juice of flower petals and kiss away the speck of dust that may chance to linger there.

This is the way Rabindranath Tagore, the greatest Indian poet of all times, introduce us to this enchanted collection of poems, poems that touch the most profound strings of our hearts. His poems tell us about love and life - and they are rich with the description of nature and beauty. Anybody that loves or has loved cannot remain indifferent to his poems. Some readers "have smiles, sweet and simple, and some a sly twinkle in their eyes. Some have tears that well up in the daylight, and others tears that are hidden in the gloom." But we all have need for him, the poet, who is "ever as young or as old as the youngest and the oldest of the village".

His poems tell us of impossible love - like the love of the free bird and the cage bird: "Their love is intense with longing, but they never can fly wing to wing. Through the bars of the cage they look, and vain is their wish to know each other. They flutter their wings in yearning, and sing, 'Come closer, my love!' The free bird cries, 'It cannot be, I fear the closed doors of the cage.' The cage bird whispers, 'Alas, my wings are powerless and dead.' "

His poems tell us of secret love: "The young traveler came along the road in the rosy mist of the morning. He stopped before my door and asked me with an eager cry, 'Where is she?' For very shame I could not say, 'She is I, young traveler, she is I.' "

His poems tell us of lovers' emotion: "When my love comes and sits by my side, when my body trembles and my eyelids droop, the night darkens, the wind blows out the lamp, and the clouds draw veils over the stars. It is the jewel at my own breast that shines and gives light. I do not know how to hide it."

His poems tell us of the need for love confidence: "Do not keep to yourself the secret of your heart, my friend! Say it to me, only to me, in secret. You who smile so gently, softly whisper, my heart will hear it, not my ears."

His poems tell us of a love story: "Hands cling to hands and eyes linger on eyes: thus begins the record of our hearts. It is the moonlit night of March; the sweet smell of henna is in the air; my flute lies on the earth neglected and your garland of flowers is unfinished. This love between you and me is simple as a song."

His poems tell us of lovers departing: "An unbelieving smile flits on your eyes when I come to you to take my leave. I have done it so often that you think I will soon return. To tell you the truth I have the same doubt in my mind. For the spring days come again time after time; the full moon takes leave and comes on another visit, the flowers come again and blush upon their branches year after year, and it is likely that I take my leave only to come to you again. But keep the illusion awhile; do not send it away with ungentle haste. When I say I leave you for all time, accept it as true, and let a mist of tears for one moment deepen the dark rim of your eyes. Then smile as archly as you like when I come again."

Reading those poems I felt like visiting a flower garden full of scents and beauty in a magic ancient kingdom.

I wish people would see that Tagore breaks the barrier of cultural appreciation. He is not only the most important Indian writer...he is one of the most important world writers. In Gitanjali, his simple lines of a lust for the unification of some divnity and him is unparalleld by anyone of anytime.

I wish people would see that Tagore breaks the barrier of cultural appreciation. He is not only the most important Indian writer...he is one of the most important world writers. In Gitanjali, his simple lines of a lust for the unification of some divnity and him is unparalleld by anyone of anytime.

One day I was visiting my friend, and he gave me this book to read. I always knew Tagore from my childhood, but this relevation was too captivating... I still wish I have the book wherever I see myriad flowers .... A must for a Tagore Fan.

Worth seeking out, warranting reprinting, this is a dense, substantial, but readible biography, less concerned with literary criticism than with the psychological dynamics and political realities of Tagore's creative life. Ultimately, it is about East and West, which is to say, about Tagore the globalist who sought integration of east and west, as contrasted with Gandhi, the nationalist. Tagore believed that the human condition was first of all cultural, Gandhi regarded it as first of all political. This is a comprehensive but penetrating study not only of Tagore, but of modern India.

Inheriting a famous family name means nothing unless the bearer of this burden strives to achieve things that are extra-ordinary. I salute & congratulate Saranindranath (Tagore) and the co-author Wendy Barker for taking up the immense challenge of translating Rabindranath's Final Poems. Authors successfully carry the sacred torch of translating Bengali Literature to reach out to the world body in the new millenium that was once ignited by Tagore himself. It is interesting to rediscover this "mystic" poet from India who once became the sensation of America. In 1912, the famous Chicago based "Poetry" magazine ran an issue on Tagore before his visit to the Americas. Tagore became the Poet's Poet and Writer's Writer of many literary protagonists of west such as W B Yeats, Robert Frost and Ezra Pound. It is all the more befitting to publish this book in a time when the world is discovering the great literary genre of Indian English through the works of Rushdie, Roy and Naipaul.

It is a bit unusual to have a 40-page preface (by Wendy Barker) and introduction (by Saranindranath) in poetry book that contains only 59 pages of poems. But after reading these prologues I am convinced that they were necessary. Particularly Saranindranath's lucid explanation of Rabindranath's complex religious philosophy is very interesting. Before his death, Tagore wrote the Final Poems from his sick bed during 1940 and 1941. Through these poems, we understand and feel the maturity of a great genius of all times who explored the human inquiry through thousands of songs & poems, hundreds of essays, short stories, numerous novels & paintings. The Final Poems are divided into three sections: Sickbed, Birthday and Last poems. Being a serious reader of world literature, I completely appreciate the difficulties the translators were subjected to. However one can still smell the aroma original rose in many simple verses such as...Words of emptiness rise, compassion-filled, a meaning beyond understanding...Please read the rest, you will be enlightened.

I cannot recommend a book more than this one. I have read and re read this book so many times. This man's insight, joy, acceptance and fear of his impending death comes forth brilliantly in the Last Poems. Please read them, and read them again. I believe I will get his other poetry as well. WOW and Wendy Barker's translation captures the spirit of the author's work. She has to be commended as well.