Humanism of Rabindranath

Nobel laureate Rabindranath Tagore needs no introduction. The whole world is aware that he is one of the greatest poets the world has ever produced. Yet many of his admirers are oblivious of the deep philosophical view expressed through his poetry. His philosophy revolved round mankind, which is known as ‘Humanism’.

The word ‘Humanism’ comes from its Latin root ‘Humanitus’, which implies a search for perfection of the human soul and the development of the full potential of man. Humanism states that in each human soul and the development of the full potential of man. Humanism states that in each human soul there is a great power, which can be awakened and inspired to reach the ideal of perfection. Humanism is not a novel idea. Many thinkers, intellectuals and philosophers in Europe were influenced by the concept of Humanism as early as 24th century. Their inspiring thought, religion and activities helped in freeing man from narrow religious superstitions and rigid social bindings.

In India about five hundred years ago Lord Chaitanya stated that the way to God is through love of mankind. His followers realized that God could be reached through friendship, love and devotion. That is, the love of God was expressed by love of man and it led to the eternal truth preached by Chandidas that ‘man is the greatest truth and there is nobody above him’ (savar uparey manush satya, tahar uparey nai).

At the beginning of 19th century the French philosopher Comte in his theory of Humanism put man in place of God and he rejected the concept of a divine being as the basis of creation and evolution. The philosophical and religious theories put forward by other philosophers were rejected by him as irrelevant. He had great faith in science, which for him was the only acceptable measure of all analysis and investigations. Yet he firmly believed that religion is intimately and inexorably related to man. For Comte, religious life is centered on humanity. Nature is indifferent to man’s existence and development—or life’s woes. Man’ with his infinite strength, has conquered the adverse elements and with his own power has made enormous development in the path of progress. Individual human beings may succumb to death, but the concept of Humanity with its high values is immortal. Humanity is God according to Comte and man has to sacrifice everything in its altar.

Rabindranath’s poems, specially those written in his later life, reflect his philosophy of Humanism by pointing out the divinity in man. The same view can be seen in some of his stories and articles. In 1930 he was invited to deliver the Hubert lectures by the University of Oxford. The main theme of his lectures was ‘Divinity in Man’. These lectures were later complied in his book, ‘The Religion of Man’. In this book the poet has clearly stated “Religion inevitably concentrates itself on humanity, which illumines our reason, inspires out wisdom, stimulates our love, claims our intelligent service”. Religion was the very basis of his life and his religion was poet’s religion. As he said, “My religion is essentially a poet’s religion. Its touch comes to me through the same unseen trackless channels as does the inspiration of my music. My religious life follows the same mysterious line of growth as has my poetical life. His spiritualistic philosophy was established through diverse experiences of life. Rabindranath declared that self can be realized through self-struggle. From individual body to community to universe, from universe to infinity—this is the soul’s normal progress.

He was not at all excited at the prospect of the realization of some transcendent God, as he believed that it is more logical to make contact with God through man. For him the people are not negligible multiplicity—but they are incarnations of God. Therefore he emphatically stated that is it meaningless to search for God in the temples—rather he can be found in the common man.

The Existentialists also believed in the supremacy of man and they asserted that man’s destiny lies in his own hands and he has to determine his own path. Humanism implies that man himself has to develop his intrinsic power to its fullest extent. Kierkegaard had remarked that philosophy should deal with the process of getting liberation from personal problems of complexity instead of attempting to solve the mysteries of the universe. Rabindranath too searched for the means to free himself from life’s turmoils. But for him the anxiety and fear are not the fundamental feature of humanity—as was stated by the Existentialists. He believed that in life there is always a gleam of light, and this light reflects the process of man’s unity with the Infinite, but it does not mean that the personal being should be discarded. Therefore, without discarding the personal ‘I’ one should search for the infinite in himself.