The Time That My Journey Takes Is Long by Rabindranath Tagore (Summary)

 

The Time That My Journey Takes Is Long

by Rabindranath Tagore

(Summary)

 

Human life is a long journey. If we lead a simple and noble life, we can see the Lord Almighty. There is no need to search for him here and there. The Omnipresent Almighty can be felt through Divine music and noble living.

This is the twelfth song of Gitanjali.

 

The Time That My Journey Takes Is Long

The time that my journey takes is long and the way of it long.

I came out on the chariot of the first gleam of light, and pursued my voyage through the wildernesses of worlds leaving my track on many a star and planet.

It is the most distant course that comes nearest to thyself, and that training is the most intricate which leads to the utter simplicity of a tune.

The traveler has to knock at every alien door to come to his own, and one has to wander through all the outer worlds to reach the innermost shrine at the end.

My eyes strayed far and wide before I shut them and said 'Here art thou!'

The question and the cry 'Oh, where?' Melt into tears of a thousand streams and deluge the world with the blood of the assurance 'I am!'

 

Summary

The theme of this poem is a mystical quest for God. God can be found within oneself. The journey of the poet's soul is a long journey. The poet has started out with the first ray of the sun. while travelling through various worlds, he has left impressions on many stars and planets. Tagore, further, says, that as the musician's creation of a simple harmony is the result of a long process, the journey to the most distant place turns out to be that to the place nearest to oneself.

Tagore says, that in order to find His door, the traveler has to knock and check every stranger's door. In order to find the shrine that is within, one must travel to all the outer worlds.

The poet says, that he has looked everywhere with his eyes but finally he finds God, with closed eyes. He means to say, that man labourers hard in search of God only to find that God dwells within himself. God is the assurance, that He is present everywhere. God is everything and everywhere. The poet realizes that God is Omnipresent and Omnipotent.