Gitanjali, A Story of Soul's Liberation:
Gitanjali in brief, is the story of soul's liberation, a tale of soul's wait to meet her eternal bridegroom, the Divine Lord, a narration of soul's pilgrimage and voyage to the Heaven of Heavens. The lyrics, like flowers, are general from different gardens of love, light, time and death. The theme of live and death in Gitanjali attracts the reader.
Depiction of Death in Various Ways:
Death has been depicted and treated in a variety of ways. It is a traveller, a businessman, helmsman or a bridegroom. The soul of the poet is represented as a beloved, a bride. Sometimes it is the veil, at other times life and death are the two breasts of the Divine mother. It entails a renewal of life. It is diving into the ocean of form for the pearl of the formless.
No Fear of Death:
Rabindranath Tagore suffered a serial of shattering blows in the deaths of very dear members of his family his beloved wife, his dear daughter and son and his noble father. Naturally, it was too much for the poet who became melancholy and somber. But like a true philosopher and devotee of God, he spiritualised his grief, and the Gitanjali lyrics were composed during that period. As a result of his conviction and abide faith in Upanishads and God, he did not find death as something dreadful. He on the other hand welcomes it:
"Death, thy servant is at my door. He has crossed the unknown sea and brought thy call to my home."
“...yet I will take up the Camp, open my gates and bow to him mỹ welcome. Ii is thy messenger who stands at my door." "I will worship him with folded hands and with tears, I will worship him placing at his feet the treasure of my heart."
Poet's Accepting Death the Last Fulfilment of Life:
The poet accepts Death the last fulfilment of life. It is inevitable and man has to surrender himself before it in all his totality, when death strikes, all that man has ignored or spurned earlier will appear more valuable. So, love well while you are alive. But you should be ready when the summon comes from God without any bitter feelings as life is only and entrance to death. The soul dispossessed of all the worldly goods will reach God in a smooth manner.
Poet's Observing the Tendency of Man of Physical World:
When a person approaches his end, he realises the need of God and the futility of the material possessions. Daring the younger years, man ignores his soul because he is engrossed with the pursuit of happiness in material possessions. The poet has tried to convey his idea with the help of image in which human life is depicted as a sea voyage and man is the captain of the ship of his life. The poet resolves to leave the ship of his life under the control of his lord. The poet realizes that the material possessions do not give the peace of mind and happiness. The real happiness lies in the shelter of God. God will take care of everything. Man should patiently wait for his end and welcome death when it comes.
Reunion with the Divine Soul, the True Source of Eternal Peace and Happiness:
The poet eagerly awaits death so that he may enter into the ocean of Eternity as eternal peace and happiness can be achieved in the reunion with the divine soul and this reunion cannot come about in life. It is possible only after death when the human soul is released from the bondage of the human body. Man can never hope to achieve peace and happiness in material possessions. Eternal peace can be achieved only when human soul is released from the bondage of precarious and uncertain life and reunites with the divine soul.
Death, A Threshold of Life:
According to Tagore, death is but a threshold of life and across it lies the other world as strange and fascinating as this world appeared at birth. With the passage of time the soul started loving this world. So, the poet feels confident that the soul will love this new world where it has come after crossing the threshold of life. To Soul Life and Death are two breasts of the Divine Mother to soothe and comfort the child (soul) when it weeps when taken away from on breast. The soul will find the same comfort and happiness in the other world as it found in this before death.
"The child cries out when from the right breast the mother takes it away, in the very next moment to find the left one its consolation."
His Gently Softening the Severity of Death:
So, according to Tagore death is not the end of life. It leads the human soul to the place where it can fulfill its most cherished desire of union and communion with the divine soul. Death is the culmination and consummation of human existence of the soul which ultimately returns to its eternal home pays its respects and surrenders itself at the feet of the Divine Soul, God.
Death is not the end or cessation of life. It is the renewal of life. In Gitanjali-74 life is spoken of as the pitcher, which is filled again through. There is constant rhythm of birth-death-re-birth, and Death is only a phase of this rhythm. Death is the servant of the Divine, His messenger, whom the poet will welcome when he comes, and whose call he will obey. Death is the last fulfilment of life. In Gitanjali-92 we are told that it is only through death that spiritual truths can be realised and one can see into the heart of things. Death is necessary for a realisation of the value of meanest lives. The poet, therefore, goes to meet death with wedding garlands round his neck, as a bridegroom goes to meet his bride (Gitanjali-97).
