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Life of my life by Rabindranath Tagore (Text & Summary)


Life of my life

by Rabindranath Tagore

(Text & Summary)

 

This fourth lyric of Tagore's Gitanjali is a solemn pledge, a pledge to remain true to God. In this song, the poet shows love and respect to God by attempting to keep every aspect of his body and mind, pure and beautiful for the glory and greatness of God.

Life of my life

Life of my life, I shall ever try

to keep my body pure, knowing that thy living touch

is upon all my limbs.

I shall ever try to keep all untruths out from my thoughts,

knowing that thou art that truth which has kindled

the light of reason in my mind.

 

I shall ever try to drive all evils away from my heart

and keep my love in flower, knowing that thou hast thy seat

in the inmost shrine of my heart.

And it shall be my endeavour to reveal thee in my actions,

knowing it is thy power gives me strength to act.

 

Summary

In this song, Tagore expresses love. ‘Life of my life’ here means the love force behind his life. Life becomes lively only when it is filled with love. One has to keep his body, mind and spirit pure, to receive the bliss of love. True love is accessible to those who keep themselves pure.

Tagore says, that real Love is the ultimate truth. Man can realize the real love only when he keeps his thoughts pure. Thoughts of evil, greed, anger, revenge will keep him away from the ultimate truth. After realizing this universal truth, one becomes enlightened and his mind becomes spiritual. Here ‘the light of reason in my mind’ means the transformation of mind from doubts to answers. One who realizes the truth has no doubts, his thoughts are like light, he can see, feel and realize the truth for himself. But for this, one has to keep his mind pure.

The poet says, that he shall strive to keep all the evil thoughts away from his mind and keep his love in flower. Tagore says he will preserve his love in flower because love is as fragile as a flower. Only a flower can hold love. As much as love is fragile so is a person’s heart. Heart is so fragile too. Love can only reside in a person’ heart and it has no other place where it can sustain. But for love to sustain, one has to drive away all the evils from one’s heart.

Tagore says that he will try to express his love through action, because there is no other way to express love. True love is in action. Knowledge of this ultimate truth about love, gives Tagore the strength and courage to act. Love is action.

In this poem, the poet pledges to God, that he shall always try to be pure because the source of his life is He and He is present in every part of his body. He promises to drive away all forms of untruths from his thoughts because God Himself is truth and has blessed him with the power to reason and rationalize. He shall keep his love and adoration for God in bloom and fresh because he knows that God lives in his heart. He shall do good things, because the power in him to act and work has been granted by God himself.


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