SACRIFICE- Rabindranath Tagore

SACRIFICE –By Rabindranath Tagore-
 Book Review

Throughout his stories I find his love for humanity, reasoning and his firm stand against orthodoxy. In these days of spreading of religious bigotry, I think his writings are more relevant. I read it second time recently & thought to share with you all.

First Play: SANYASI

-        On seeing people busy on roads – They seem always afraid of missing something, _ the something that never comes to their hands

-        The ants, when they begin to grow wings, perish

-        Difference between subtle & gross: Which is original subtle or the gross?

The origin is the end, and the end is the origin. It is a circle, _ The distinction between the subtle and the gross is your ignorance.

-      About people discussing on unnecessary things: These birds are word-peckers. When they pick up some wriggling nonsense, which can fill their mouth, they are happy.

-        When the garlands are ready, the necks will not be wanting.

-      When Vasanti is called a pollution due to her caste: “They roll in the dust of existence. Only he is pure who has washed away the world from his mind”.

-        About shelter: Shelter there is nowhere, my son, but in the depth of one’s self, - Seek that: hold to it fast, if you would be saved.

-      For they have been brought up in illusions, and they must have illusions to console them

-        To me, things that are beautiful are the keys to all that I have not seen and known.

The bird flies in the sky, not to fly away into the emptiness, but to come back again to this great earth.

Second Play: MALINI

When Brahmins insist for banishment of Malini for opposing their faith, king & Queen says

-        You think that, by the force of numbers, you will determine truth, and drown reason by your united shouts?

-       The insolence is not mine but theirs who shape their scripture to fit their own narrow hearts.

-        I never admit that truth sides with the shrillest voice.

-        Of all things the blind certitude of stupidity is the hardest to bear

-        Truth and love are the body and soul of religion.

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     The God, who belongs to the multitude, and the God of the books are not my own God. These never answered my questions and never consoled me. But at last, I have found the divine breathing and alive in the living world of men

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-        Those countless stars of the sky, do they fight for the mastery of the One? Cannot faiths hold their separate lights in peace for the separate worlds of minds that need them?

-      Words, mere words. To let falsehood and truth live side by side in amity, the infinite world is not wide enough. That the corn ripening for the food of man should make room for thorny weeds, love is not so hatefully all-loving.

Third Play: SACRIFICE

-        Does pity only belong to weak mortals, and not to gods?

-        Help must come from man, when it is denied from gods.

-     God’s words are ever ringing in the world, and he who is willfully deaf cannot hear them.

-        The force of arms only reveals man’s weakness.

-        Deeds are better, however cruel they may be, than the hell of thinking and doubting.

-     Who says that the world’s ways are difficult? Anyhow we reach the end – the end where all laws and rules are no more, where the errors and hurts of life are forgotten, where is rest, eternal rest.

-        For a man loses his humanity when it concerns his gods.

-       Those who are weak in this world are helpless, and those who are strong are so cruel. Greed is pitiless, ignorance blind, and pride takes no heed when it crushes the small under its foot.

-        Is there any need of God in this little world of ours? Let us be fearlessly godless and come closer to each other.

-        Words do not flow when the heart is full.

-      So long as the purpose remains in the mind, it looms large and fearful. In action it becomes small.

-      The earthen lamp can be replenished and lighted again and again, but the star once extinguished is lost forever.

Fourth Play: THE KING AND THE QUEEN

-        Love me truly; by not making your love extravagant; for truth can afford to be simple.

-        Respite from duty is a part of duty.

-     Those who are too feeble to protect themselves are the most thoughtless in causing disasters to others.

-        Bravery ceases to be bravery at a certain point, and becomes mere foolhardiness.

-      You undermined the river banks, and now, when the water overflows, you piously pray that it might irrigate your fields, and then tamely go back.

-        Love and death are not too careful in their choice of victims. They are impartial.