( On the 160th birth anniversary of Gurudev Rabindranath Tagore (1861-1941) falling on 7th May, the author picks one of his poem from his iconic creation Gitanjali that fetched him Nobel Prize in1913, to explore the mystery behind Gurudev’s lost star. Why stars shine so bright at night? Why are they so countless ? Is the space over there a parking lot of human souls in transit? Let’s find out author’s perspective vis a vis Tagore’s lost star)
Mukesh Bhatnagar, Delhi. When the creation was new and all the stars shone in their first splendour, the gods held their assembly in the sky and sang – ‘Oh, the picture of perfection the journey unalloyed!’
But one cried of a sudden – ‘It seems that somewhere there is a break in the chain of light and one of the stars has been lost.’
The golden string of their harp snapped, their song stopped, and they cried in dismay – ‘ Yes, that lost star was the best, she was the glory of all heavens!’
From that day the search is unceasing for her, and the cry goes on from one to the other that in her the world has lost its one joy!
Only in the deepest silence of night the stars smile and whisper among themselves – ‘Vain is this seeking! Unbroken perfection is over all !’
When my maternal aunt died, I was nine years old (1963) and was so fond of her that I could not stop crying, even much after the funeral party returned home. My mother then consoled me, your mausi has become a star and will remain shining ever, over there. For a kid it was such soothing dose. The poetic expression, I take a clue, is of none other but noble laureate Rabindranath Tagore (Gitanjali LXXVIII). Today as I glanced through this legendary poet’s work, I got reminded of my mother’s version of a ‘soul’ becoming a ‘star’. In Tagore’s version too that lost star of ‘star galaxy’ was the best, the glory of heavens. But as the night beaconed, in deep silence they consoled themselves whispering among themselves – ‘vain is this seeking; unbroken perfection is over all.’
As I look corona pandemic today, living seems breaking away, but life cycle is unbroken. Human body is a weak vessel, gets broken easily. But the soul in it is eternal and immortal. It has the ability to reach God, from the human body. God fills this body again and again, constantly renewing or recreating it. Man dies and is born in another form. This implies the theory of incarnation of soul, after death as propounded by Lord Krishna in ‘Gita’ too.
We fail to live in happiness, because we fail to realise the true import of soul connection with body. We cry, because the body feels the pain. We cry, on seeing the sufferings of others. Self realisation is the highest form of wisdom. This pandemic is a boon in disguise, to sit in deep silence to avail the golden opportunity of millennium to know self.
It is no secret all the trouble in the world is manifested by attachment. However attachment to persons can be turned into pure love, if we train our mind to look upon them as different forms of God. God is in everyone. Looking everyone as devotee makes a huge difference. That way the search will never go in vain. Peace and solace springs from every where.
If a devotee does that, then the attachment becomes the purest form of love. However if we look as a relative, then the love is considered centric and absolute, there we find misery and people suffer from disappointments through sickness, death and seperation. But if people have consciousness of that infinite existence, the invisible soul, then the power of love gets fully satisfied. All the broken gaps gets filled and the joys and sorrows join hands in harmony. ‘Soul’ the eternal ‘star’ never get lost, it simply changes the form.
Love the life you live, not the things you live with. Remember God works relentlessly on you, on your well being, on your happiness, on the other hand you spend the precious time on the things that are destructible and non renewable. There is one life, make it count.
