Sudip Sarkar
In the lonely moments of an idle afternoon, if, all on a sudden, I see in the sky an exuberance of deep, dark clouds emitting a soft magnanimity of cool shadows with a gentle breeze as escort, a feeling comes within me that leads me to remember Tagore instantly, because as I visualise this nature's visage, I feel like being overwhelmed with his touch of aesthetics sweeping across his innumerable creations particularly his poems and songs. This is where I embrace Tagore and his aesthetics that go on to make human life insightful, vibrant, resonant and poignant with intense, buoyant yet scerene feelings.
Indeed, nature is the fountain-head of Tagore's visualization as also his expression of aesthetics which is actually a philosophical study of human existence resonating, in spite of many stresses, troubles and difficulties, with essential beauty and refined taste intimately linked to unfolding of art that is derived from the mysteries and bounties of nature. Of course, there are interpretations of the concept of aesthetics in more ways than one. Edmund Burke, (1757) for example, attempted to draw a distinction between the sublime and the beautiful while interpreting the idea of aesthetics. Immanuel Kant (1790) located the distinctive features of aesthetics in the faculty of "judgement" with the prognosis that the key to the aesthetic realm lay in a certain "disinterested" attitude.Philosophers like Friedrich Hegel and Ludwig Wittgenstein expressed notions of "aesthetic attitude" and "aesthetic experience" in other ways based on developments in philosophical psychology. It is said of Kant that his aesthetics represents the crowing phase of his philosophy. A study of Tagore's reveals that Tagore was not in favour of introducing aesthetics into his world-view in order to complete or systematize his ideas. Tagore allowed his deepest thoughts on metaphysical and ethical question to be soaked and permeated by his aesthetic approach, because for Tagore aesthetics is the very foundation of his philosophy.
D R Bhandarkar said of Tagore:"Everywhere in his poems and songs, you see sunshine, still nights and various aspects of nature. His is a mind most responsive to nature."
Another eminent writer, Lim Boon Keng from the University of Amoy, China wrote: "His (Tagore's) soul seems at once to vibrate in full harmony with the orchestra of melodies and echoes reflected from the soul of rushing waters, from the songs of birds, from the rustling of leaves."
Let us now sample Tagore's own words ( in Amitabha Chaudhury's English translation ): "When the weightless clouds after the last rain of the month of autumn float breezily in the sky without any purpose and the rays of the setting sun reflect on these, our eyes are dazzled by the riot of colour. But the dark clouds of the rainy season moving so slowly by the weight of rain like a pregnant cow do not have any fickleness of the varieties of colours in its piles of wetness, but it fills our mind so fully that there is no void. The mind is tender with the feeling of peace of coolness of the world, the end of barrenness of field in cropping, and the promise to end dryness of the rivers and ponds; it remains speechless in the grace of fulfillment of good".
Nature is integral to Tagore's works.The mundane world, with its myriad problems, that we live in must have to be integrated with the splendours of nature if we want to feast on Tagore's aesthetics. For his deep insightfulness, compassionate empathy, human sensibilities, philosophical quest that are manifest in his literary creations Tagore stands out with spectacular majesty. We can enrich ourselves if we try to comprehend, discern and soak in Tagore's aesthetics.
About Writer
Sudip Sarkar is a member of Rabindramela Berhampore
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