What religion was Rabindrath Tagore- how did he express his spirituality, and what effect did this have on?

Question

I have a copy of Gitanjali in English, a reproduction of the 1912 version with the Yeats foreword... the text has a Christian feel to it, and I wondered if this was a true expression of the original...

Answer 1

He wasn't christian see here

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rabindranath_Tagore

“Rabindranath’s life and thoughts were shaped by a special set of historical circumstances that predisposed him in his choice of life style, and nurtured him in the atmosphere of the most accomplished Brahmo Family of the Bengal renaissance.

The situation then prevailing is best explained by Rabindranath Tagore -

“Unfortunately, when Englishmen alighted at our doorsteps with their material power, science and philosophy, our hearts were immobile. The religious asceticism, which had assisted the positioning of India as a preceptor in the world, had withered away. At that time, we were occasionally drying our ancient manuscripts in the sun, collecting them back and storing them in our houses. We were really doing nothing. The days of our glory were visible as a shadow on the horizon far behind. Even the banks of the nearby pond appeared to be more realistic and higher than those distant hill ranges.” [7]

The Bengal renaissance of the 19th century was a remarkable period of societal transformation in which whole range of creative activities – literary, cultural, social and economic- flourished [8] The Bengal Renaissance was the culmination of the process of emergence of the cultural characteristics of the Bengali people that had started in the age of Hussein Shah (1493-1519). [9] This spread over covering around three centuries had a tremendous impact on Bengali society. Incidentally that coincided with the rise of the Tagore family.

The Tagore family attained prominence during this period through its unusual social positioning between Indian and European influences. “Our being ostracised by the Hindu society provided us with a certain freedom in absorbing western influences, and at the same time the Adi Brahmo Samaj was a branch of Hindu society in all respects except the practise of idolatry. Maharshi (Debendranath Tagore) always expressed a hearty desire to establish this, and as such all the rituals and customs of Hindu society were followed in his family, and that environment prevailed at least till he was alive.” [10]

To quote Chitra Deb, “Though the cultural role of the Thakurs has received the greatest attention by far, their importance on final assessment is a composite one: commercial and political as well as literary and musical. They played a collective role in every patriotic movement of their times: Nabagopal Mitra’s Hindu Mela, the Congress and the National Conference, the Rakhi Festival of 1905, and the Nationalist Movement generally. The story of the Thakurs is inseparable from the story of Calcutta, Bengal and India.”

Answer 2

The only Asian person ever to win Nobel Prize in literature, Tagore was a Bengali Brahmin from West Bengal, India. Tagore first wrote poems at age eight. You can read his poems in his book Geetanjali, originally composed in Bengali but now also available in translation. Tagore says says, 'there is more power in the gentle morning breeze that lightly passes through flowers in the garden than there is in an entire windstorm.’ I think he was Hindu, you can see his larger than life size Bust Statue in Birmingham Museum, UK. A great poet and philosopher!

Answer 3

Happy Thanksgiving.

Answer 4

well according to yahoo he is an Asian poet lorriet so think he was of no fixed abode but spiritual and that's why Keats liked him ......you can be spiritual and have no fixed religion it is allowed ...just a nice person and his poetry is good is that a problem