IP_ Tagore Issue - Final.indd - high commission of india mauritius

“Everyone has something specialcalled ‘my religion’… which is hisreligion? The one that lies hiddenin his heart and keeps on creatinghim.”– Rabindranath Tagore (Of Myself, Tr ofTagore’s Atmaparichaya by DevadattaJoardan & Joe Winter, Visva-Bharati, 23)Rabindranath Tagorewas born in the familyhouse of the Tagore’sof Jorasanko, a centre of 19 thcentury Bengal renaissance.When he was born, the Hindurevivalist movement already wasin progress. Raja RammohanRoy had founded the BrahmoSamaj, Pandit Iswar ChandraVidyasagar started his socialreforms from within Hinduismand Sri Ramkrishna Paramhansa(1836-1886) was preaching hisinter-religious understanding.Maharshi Debendranath Tagore,father of Rabindranath Tagorewas an ardent follower of RajaRammohan Roy, the maker ofmodern India. Debendranathabjured idolatory, acceptedinitiation into Brahmo Dharma,Tagore’s ReligionSABUJKOLI SENRabindranath’s mission is – the divinization of man and thehumanizing of God. Tagore’s journey to “Religion of Man” startedwith the shlokas of Upanisad in his childhood. It was enrichedby the philosophy of the Gita, the teaching of the Buddha, theMahavira and also by the Christian tradition besides the indigenousBaul and Sufi traditions.gave it a shape, and becamethe leader of a re-orientedfaith founded on the puremonotheism of the ancientUpanisads. Every morning hissons had to recite, with correctpronunciation and accent theverses culled from the Vedasand Upanisads. The daily recitalof these beautiful as well asmorally uplifting verses and thesimple prayer introduced bythe Maharshi influenced youngRabindranath and made alasting impression on his mentalmake up.As a member of Tagore’s familyin 1884 at the age of twentythree Tagore had to take chargeas the Secretary of Adi BrahmoSamaj. During this time BrahmoSamaj was the target of adverseHindu criticism. As a reactionto Brahmo Dharma a groupof Hindu educated men wasformed. They called themselvespositivists or atheists. AkshayKumar Dutta (1820-1886)was one of them. TheHindu revivalist Pt. SasadharTarkachuramani (1851-1928)invented a new religion calledScientific Hindu Religion. Itstwo organs, Navajivan andPrachar systemically publishedarticles against Brahmo Religion.Bankim Chandra Chattapadhyaythe famous Bengali novelistused to write articles in thesepapers supporting Hinduism.The young Secretary of BrahmoSamaj, Rabindranath, took upthe challenge of the Hindusand replied to the articles ofBankim Chandra. BankimChandra replied back and thewordy duel of these two famouslitterateurs continued for sometime. In the long run both ofthem forgave each other andfriendship was establishedbetween them. It will beinteresting to mention here thatthe date Feb.26, 1891 was fixedfor the census in India. SomeBrahmo sects used to thinkthemselves different from theHindus. But the Adi BrahmoSamaj sect of Brahmo Dharmato which Tagore belongedconsidered themselves as aspecial branch of Hinduism.In a letter to C. J. O’Donnell(1850-1934), in charge ofcensus, Tagore requested him torefer the Adi Brahmo Samaj as‘Theistic Hindu’. He publisheda circular in Tattvabodhinirequesting Adi Bramho familiesto classify themselves as“Hindu – Brahmo” (Rabi Jivani,Prasanta Kumar Pal, AnandaPublisher, Kolkata, Vol.III,165).As a Brahmo, Rabindranathwas against the practice ofidolatory in Hinduism. He wasagainst the ‘Incarnation-theory’or avatarvada of Hinduism.The taboos and prohibitions ofHinduism were repugnant tothe poet. In Dharmer Adhikar(Vide Sanchaya, RabindraRachanavali, Vol. XII). He says :“There are two sides of man’spower. One is his ‘can’ and theother is his ‘should’. The mancan do certain actions, this is theeasy side of his power. But heshould do certain actions, thisconstitutes the utmost exerciseof his power. Religion stands onthe high precipice of the ‘should’and as such, always draws the‘can’ towards it. When our ‘can’is completely assimilated by our‘should’, we attain the most desiredobject of our life, we attain Truth.But these impotent people who cannot act up to this ideal of religion,try to pull it down to their own level.Thus taboos and prohibitions arise”.Rabindranath did not spareany opportunity to protestvehemently against orthodoxRaja Rammohan RoyHinduism be that through hisliterary works or through hisletters to Hemanta Bala Devi(1894-1976) or Kadambini Devi(1878-1943). But Rabindranathhad an unprejudiced mind anddid not subscribe to the viewsof any particular conventionalreligion. We have an idea ofhis religious view from thefollowing statement “I havebeen asked to let you knowsomething about my own viewof religion. One of the reasonswhy I always feel reluctant tospeak about this is that I havenot come to my own religionthrough the portals of passiveacceptance of a particular creedowing to some accident of birth.I was born in a family whowere pioneers in the revival inour country of a great religion,based upon the utterance ofIndian sages in the Upanisads.But owing to my idiosyncrasy oftemperament, it was impossiblefor me to accept any religiousteaching on the only groundthat people in my surroundingsbelieved it to be true… Thusmy mind was brought up inan atmosphere of freedom,freedom from the dominance ofany creed that had its sanctionin the definite authority of somescripture or in the teaching ofsome organized worshippers(Lectures And Addresses,R.N. Tagore, Macmillan & Co.Ltd., London, 11).Throughout his lifeRabindranath Tagore neverclung to one belief, however,his thoughts went throughchanges and developed further.From the fiftieth year of hislife we find a change in hisideas about religion. He wasno longer against Hinduism.He was eager to incorporatethe best of Hinduism intoBrahmoism. At that time therewas a debate in the country:Are the Brahmos Hindus? TheBrahmo leaders were dividedon this issue. According tosome, Brahmos are separatefrom the Hindus like Christiansand Muslims. But as we havealready mentioned earlieraccording to Tagore Brahmoswere Hindus and in supportof this view, he read a paperin the Sadharan BrahmoSamaj Mandir under thecaption Atmaparichaya. Hesaid: “Brahmoism has receivedits spiritual inspiration fromHindus, it stands on theINDIA PERSPECTIVES VOL 24 NO. 2/2010 60 INDIA PERSPECTIVES VOL 24 NO. 2/2010 61