UNIT I - POETRY 1. Tagore - Leave This Chanting

Reading:
Leave This Chanting and Singing
Leave this chanting and singing and telling of beads!

Whom dost thou worship in this lonely dark corner of a temple with doors all shut?
Open thine eyes and see thy God is not before thee!
He is there where the tiller is tilling the hard ground

and where the pathmaker is breaking stones.
He is with them in sun and in shower,
and his garment is covered with dust.
Put off thy holy mantle and even like him come down on the dusty soil!
Deliverance?
Where is this deliverance to be found?
Our master himself has joyfully taken upon him the bonds of creation;
he is bound with us all for ever.
Come out of thy meditations and leave aside thy flowers and incense!
What harm is there if thy clothes become tattered and stained?
Meet him and stand by him in toil and in sweat of thy brow.
- Rabindranath Tagore
Glossary and Notes:

Chanting : reciting mantras in a place of worship
Beads : small balls of wood or other material with a hole through for threading it
on a string.
Path-maker : those who pave roads
In Sun and Shower : in all seasons
Garment : dress
Holy mantle : the special dress of a guru or a priest worn during prayers or penance
Our Master : God
Meditations : thinking deeply about God and holy matters
Incense : substance producing sweet smell while burning, generally used during
poojas.
Stand Rabindranath
by :Tagore
be ready to support
(1861-1941) the sole Indian Writer who won of the most
prestigious, elusive and coveted Nobel Prize for Literature (1913), becoming Asia’s
Sweat
First of thytobrow
Person : hardwas
win. Tagore manual worka poet but also a social reformer as he was the
not only
philosopher of Brahmo Samaj and he was the person who gave India her National
About the
Anthem Poet:
“Jana-gana-mana”. Tagore basically was Bengali poet (Bengali, a regional
language, mostly spoken in a West-Bengal, a state in India), he translated his own poems
into the English Language. He has written Novels, Plays, short-stories, and essays as
well. Tagore’s “Amar Shonar Bangla” is adapted as a National Anthem of Bangladesh
and Sri Lankan National Anthem is also inspired by Tagore’s work.
Tagore’s poems are, mostly, philosophical, spiritual and there is a tone of

didacticism in his poems. The present “Leave this chanting” is taken from his Gitanjali
(1913), a collection of 103 poems and the celebrated W B Yeats has written an
Introduction to Gitanjali. Yeats says that Tagore has moved him and he would read
Tagore every day and Yeats calls Tagore the most famous poet of his era and Tagore is
famous wherever Bengali is spoken. This and more lauding from Yeats stamps Tagore’s
mastery of poetry.
Critical Reading:
Gitanjali is a collection of 103 English poems, largely translations, by Rabindranath

Tagore himself . ‘Leave this chanting’ is the 11th poem in the collection.The poet advises the
religious minded people to give up their counting of beads and their singing and chanting of
mantras. He also urges them stop the worship of God in a secluded corner of the temple, with
their eyes half shut. He sharply states, ‘Open your eyes and see God is not there before you.’
God is not to be found in this way. Tagore wants the pious ones to go beyond the four walls of
their shrines to where god really exists. God lives with the humble and down-trodden like the
tillers of the land and path-makers who work hard at breaking stones. He lives with those who
toil in sun and shower and whose clothes are soiled with dust. If the priest wants God he must
come out of his temple, give up his holy robes and work with the humble tillers of the soil in rain
and sun. Tagore thus glorifies the life of the humble labourers and rejects the ascetic way of life.
The ultimate spiritual goal of the ascetic is to seek deliverance. This is the liberation of
the soul from the cycle of birth and death. But God Himself is bound to all of us in chains of
love. God is the creator and master of everything. He himself is not free as He has joyfully bound
Himself to the work of creation and to the objects He has created. How can then man ever hope
to be free from bondage? He urges the ascetics to leave the ritualistic flowers and incense which
does not serve any purpose. According to the poet one can find God not in the temple but with
the workers who are working whole day in the dirt and under the hot sun. He asks us what harm
is there if you work under the sun and if your clothes become dirty. Even when your clothes are
turn out or stained there is no harm because one is going to see the creator. Thus Tagore conveys
that participation in the activity of life is essential for the realization of God.
Tagore suggests that the infinite expresses itself through the finite, and the divine is
found in the human. Tagore stands for a synthesis of contemplation and action. Contemplation
comes first, for that helps the purification of the mind. But the fullness of spiritual life can be
realised only when the life of contemplation is merged into the life of action-the life of service to
humanity. In the poetry of Tagore’s later life, the rejection of asceticism and the promotion of a
world-affirmative view become more subtle and intricate.
Tagore knows the value of humanism and he expresses the value of humanism in this
poem. Humanists believe that service to fellowmen and love of them is the highest form of
worship. They also believe that God is to be found with the poor and the labourer. Tagore says
that true worship of God means mingling with the humble humanity on terms of equality, and
participation in their humble activities. According to Tagore, the rich and the proud can never
find God, for they keep aloof from the poor and the downtrodden. He opines, pride can never
approach to where those walk in the clothes of the humble among the poorest, the lowliest and
lost.
It shows that God lives in the company of those who toil in Sun and Shower and whose clothes
are soiled with dust. God loves the humble tiller despite his dirty and tattered dress. God is to be
found with the poor and the humble who earn their bread with the sweat of their brow.
Critical Appreciation:
1. Whom dost thou worship in this lonely dark

corner of a temple with doors all shut?
Open thine eyes and see thy God is not before thee!
a) Who is addressed to?

b) What is the irony in the third line?
2. He is with them in sun and in shower,

And his garment is covered with dust.
Put off thy holy mantle and even like him come down on the dusty soil!
a) Whom do ‘he’ and ‘them’ stand for?

b) Explain the phrase ‘in sun and in shower’.
c) Who is asked to come down on the dusty soil?
3. Our master himself has joyfully taken upon him the bonds of creation;
He is bound with us all forever.
a) Who is ‘our master’?
b) How does the poet explain the love of God for humanity?
4. What harm is there if thy clothes become tattered and stained?

Meet him and stand by him in toil and in sweat of thy brow.
a) What difference does the poet notice between the dress of the priest and that
of the labourers?
b) What does ‘sweat of thy brow’ signify?
Comprehension:
Answer the questions briefly:
1. Who do you think the poet is addressing?
2. Pick out from the poem, the phrases and words which reveal the identity of the poem
addressed.
3. What does the poet urge the priest/devotee to do at the beginning of the poem?
4. Is the priest able to see God through his penance and prayers?
5. Who are presented as the representatives of the working class?
Critical Essay Questions:
Write Critical essays on the following:
1. According to Tagore, what is the best way to find deliverance?

2. What picture of God does Tagore present in his poem, “Leave this Chanting and
Singing”?
3. How does Tagore express his reservations against the traditional ways of worshipping
God in his poem “Leave this Chanting and Singing”?

UNIT I - POETRY 1. Tagore - Leave This Chanting

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UNIT I - POETRY 1. Tagore - Leave This Chanting

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Reading:

Leave This Chanting and Singing

Leave this chanting and singing and telling of beads!

He is there where the tiller is tilling the hard ground

Glossary and Notes:

Path-maker : those who pave roads

In Sun and Shower : in all seasons

Our Master : God

Meditations : thinking deeply about God and holy matters

Tagore’s poems are, mostly, philosophical, spiritual and there is a tone of

Gitanjali is a collection of 103 English poems, largely translations, by Rabindranath

1. Whom dost thou worship in this lonely dark

a) Who is addressed to?

2. He is with them in sun and in shower,

a) Whom do ‘he’ and ‘them’ stand for?

4. What harm is there if thy clothes become tattered and stained?

Critical Essay Questions:

Write Critical essays on the following:

1. According to Tagore, what is the best way to find deliverance?

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