Songs of Tagore

Since coming to the US five years ago, I have developed a taste for a number of musical genres for which I cared little when I was in India. Notable among them are the compositions of Rabindranath … the words of the bard of Bengal are truly like wines, their spectrum flavours get enhanced with the passage of time, in this case the more you age, the more you appreciate the plethora of meanings the poet may have referred to … unfortunately we have no manner of verifying the meanings to which the composer  alluded to …
Here is one of my favourites, rendered by Debabrata Biswas in his inimitable deep-throated voice and uncluttered diction, the bengali lyrics (Gitabitan PDF by Somen Roy – a really awesome effort), the english translation (literal) and the youtube  video made with éclat are below:


[Megh bolechhe jabo jabo]
The Clouds and the Night keep parrying their visits,
The Seas say they are at the shore and thus no more,
Sadness sits quietly at His feet as a mere abstraction,
The Self says I am here and need no more.

The World waits for You with its welcoming garland,
The Sky waits for You with its million lamps,
Love lies awake for You through the ages,
Death just takes the oars in the journey of Life.

The translation is very literal, and I tried my best, any opinions and new viewpoints would be welcome ! The song talks about the tenets of the religion (or probably the spirituality) pervading in the Universe. Truly Tagore was a man above the dogma induced stupor of conventional religions, which are all fettered by the chains of human failings, contemporary parochiality and petty political machinations and have been so through the ages and in all cultures. The all pervading commonality of the Spirit of the Universe is easy to see, but oh so hard to inculcate in face of all the human failings ... it takes a philosopher like Tagore to get to the kernel of truth in one fell swoop.