I am in awe of how Rabindranath Tagore has touched nature in every aspect of his literature. In prose and poetry, on subjects of love, nature, worship and even human relationships, the bard expressed himself in many respects through nature. In the words of the poet, “I have been overwhelmed by another feeling. The one inseparable link between me and the universe, nature -- this everlasting unity of soul has drawn me intensely. How often sitting on a boat I have emptied forth my soul over the land, the water and the skies radiant with the sun's light. I have not then considered earth, quite apart from me, the water with its flow had passed within my heart raising its outburst of joy.” (A Tagore Testament)
Nature, with its colours, perfume and beauty enchanted Tagore. However, this feeling of enchantment did not chain him, rather it freed him. It gave him the chance to expand, to step outside himself. He believed that there was someone who sat behind his eyes, a great force that enabled him to find himself in the universe. It was this force that pulled him towards the absolute. To him the essence of his freedom was his love for the universe and nature. Just as a lamp reveals not only the things we are looking for but also illuminates the whole room, his love of nature helped him to realise his freedom.
As a poet, Tagore wrote of his intrigue with nature and the great force that made him write: “Here is the poet, the King of poets, who taking all the ingredients that are good and bad in me, all the probabilities that exist in me is ever busy composing my life. That is why I can feel an old bond of unity with creepers and trees, birds and beasts of this world. That is why this vastly mysterious, immense universe does not appear terrifying or unfriendly.” (A Tagore Testament)
I love Tagore's works and whenever I feel the need to gasp for air in this hectic city life, I open the “Geetanjali” or “Geetbitan” and pour my heart over the vast array of songs and poems, playing ode to nature. A whole section of “Geetbitan” has been dedicated to nature. What could be more beautiful to rouse the heart than the following lines,
Akash bhora shurjo-tara, bishswa bhora pran
Tahari majhkhane ami peyechi mor sthan
Bishshoye tai jage amar pran…
(“The sun and the stars fill the sky, my heart is with the universe and among it all awakes my heart…”)
Then I go on to the next favourite song, Aaj dhaner khete roudro chhayae lukochuri khela…(“Today's game of hide and seek in the paddy field as the sun and the shadow play…”) I hear the songs and the poems vibrating with the essence of life in nature. In many of his works, nature speaks for itself. I hear and see nature with a different light when I see them through the great bard's eyes. In his work Tagore is the singer of the shade that shelters both sides of his road, the flowers and foliage, the bird's songs. The poet did not only sing or write his poems of the greater things in nature, but the smallest things also found their way through the poet's eyes. Jol porey, pata norey… (“Water drops and the leaves move”) is a reflection of the joy he found in nature's simple details. Of the universe he said, “All around us the incessant manifestations of this language is attracting our minds directly or indirectly without fail. Its conversation is eloquent day and night.”
And even now as I sit reflecting how Tagore spread the beauty of nature in my heart, I know I need to delve into more and more of his work to fill my heart to the brink. I sit under the Srabon sky, reflect on the blue up there and the kash flowers to which so many of his songs are dedicated, and hum his song, Ogo amar Srabon megher kheyatorir majhi, osru bhora purob hawaye paal tuley dao aji…

The writer is a literary critic.