In Tagore, religion and poetry are unified. He once said in a speech: "My religion is entirely the religion of poets. It moves me through invisible channels. , as it inspired my music, my religious life, like my poetic life, moved along the same magical lines, and they somehow came together, without my knowing it. There was a long engagement ceremony. Then, suddenly one day, I learned about their combination. "If you exchange the positions of the words "poetry" and "religion" in this sentence, and then reverse the whole sentence. Let me start with "My poems are completely religious poems" and recount them again. I think we can use them as a passport for our thoughts and calmly enter the chanting of Rabindranath Tagore's 47th "Gitanjali" :
"1. I waited all night for him to disappear, and I was afraid that he would suddenly come to my door in the morning while I fell asleep. Oh, my friend, leave a door open for him - don't stop him .
2. If the sound of his footsteps does not disturb me, please do not wake me. I do not want the noisy chorus of birds and the gust of morning light to disturb my sleep. In front of my door, let me sleep undisturbed.
3. Oh, my sleep, precious sleep, is only waiting for his touch to dispel it. Open when he smiles, when he stands before me, like a dream emerging from a deep sleep.
4. Let him appear before my eyes as the original light and image. The first joy in my awakened soul. Let my return to myself be an immediate surrender to Him.”
Like other poems in Gitanjali, No. 47 is not long. 4 bars, but its spiritual length is probably a complete life of a soul - a life of pursuit, confusion, wavering and return. I identified it as a hymn for spiritual awakening and return to Brahma, but my love for it was somewhat accidental.
The first "Gitanjali" I read was a translation by Mr. Wu Yan more than 10 years ago. It was a thin volume with 103 poems. I remember that I read it in one breath like a novel. over. I have no idea about No. 47. I can only use a blue pen to underline the last paragraph to show that I have some understanding. But this kind of enlightenment may soon be submerged in the hazy reading of the entire collection of poems, and the memory has been blown away by the wind in the shortest possible time.
Two months ago, I saw Mr. Lin Zhihao’s new English-Chinese bilingual volume in an elegant little bookstore. I was so moved by its elegant decoration that I couldn’t help but pick it up. After flipping through it, this poem - No. 47 - appeared in front of me. Moreover, at this time it already had a subtitle: "His Appearance". My eyes were quickly caught firmly. At the same time, my soul felt a strong shock, and my heart was immediately moved by the third The knot opened, and I groaned out unconsciously: "Oh, my sleep, precious sleep, is just waiting for his touch to dispel it. Oh, my closed eyes only opened when he smiled, when he stood In front of me, it was like a dream emerging from a deep sleep." As I chanted, my heart suddenly became bright. I immediately concluded that this was a chapter of divine revelation, and it pierced through me like a ray of light. So, I bought the entire book of poems without hesitation.
Compared with Wu’s translation, Lin’s translation is more concise, the language is cleaner, and it is more attractive to me. Ouyang Jianghe, a poet of misty poetry, once expressed such prophetic words: "All revelations are the same revelation, and all destinations are the same destination." The inspiration given to me by this poem is the same as the inspiration given to Rabindranath Tagore by the God of Poetry. Belief also comes from the same revelation.
I once imagined a certain moment of enlightenment in my life, and then my life entered the ultimate state of beauty. This is an illusion brought to me by the enlightenment of Zen monks in Chinese history. I only call it an "illusion" now because of the 47th poem of "Gitanjali": How subtle and unpredictable human free will is! And how many spiritual roads need to be traversed to achieve ultimate enlightenment! The length of this search, I now believe, will not be shorter than a lifetime at least!
Okay, let’s start the first verse now:
“I waited all night for him to disappear, and I was afraid that he would suddenly come to my door in the morning while I fell asleep. Oh, friend, leave a door open for him - don't stop him... "Wait all night for him to disappear...", all night long for the arrival of the mysterious thing, but never saw it. In the darkness of the night, he is looking forward with bright eyes. Obviously, this is a person who can stay awake at night. For those who can keep their spirit and look forward to it in the dim twilight of the times, the world is nothing, as long as God and his heart are as expected. Arrival. However, this person who pursues mysterious things may be too tired. He is distracted and ignores another secret path in his heart. So, when the world is rejoicing and daylight falls, he quietly falls into sleep—— This is the common fate of all spiritual pursuers. They always run counter to the world, and they always rely on their own beliefs to fight against the giant spirit of reality and the current of the world.
"I'm afraid that he will suddenly come to my door in the early morning..."
God's will is always unpredictable, and it is difficult to infer it based on human shallow rationality. His arrival is always unexpected: He can arrive as scheduled in the dark of night, or he can shine like the sun.
"I will come like a thief", yes, "thief" is an accident, and accident is a "thief". Only vigilant people can take such thorough care. The world and physical sleep cannot corrupt their spiritual perception.
Someone once asked Gandhi that meditation should go back to the cave. How can a person like you, who is running around for the whole world, maintain peace of mind and persist in meditation? Gandhi said, I carry the cave with me, but some meditators, on the contrary, carry a noisy society with them in the cave. In fact, what is really important is not the environment, but the soul.
"Ah, friend, leave a door for him - don't stop him...."
Even when you sleep, your spirit is open. Even if your heart is tired, you must keep your spirit open. , even in the daytime, we must remain vigilant at night, "Don't block him", "He" is boundless and overwhelming. Only people who are dead in their hearts will block the path of mysterious fragrance, but the human soul is How weak, and the fatigue is so profound:
"If his footsteps don't alarm me, please don't wake me up. I don't want the noisy chorus of birds and the strong wind celebrating the morning light to disturb me. My sleep. Even if my Lord suddenly appears at my door, let me sleep undisturbed..."
Sleep, like silence, is a kind of compromise with the world, a kind of physiological rest. , is another act of hiding the spiritual flame. Moreover, everyone has only one way to reach God. This is the fate of time, so - "I don't want the noisy chorus of birds and the strong wind celebrating the morning light to disturb It ruined my sleep..."
Originally, people with a rich soul do not need external assistance. But human strength is so weak, inner fatigue is so unimaginable, and human rationality is so humble in the face of all mysterious things, so he was quickly covered by sleep and lost himself:
“Even if my Lord suddenly appears in front of my door, let me sleep undisturbed.…”
Perhaps what I should be waiting for at this time is God’s gentle call: “ "Where are you?"
According to the "Bible? Genesis", after the fall of Adam and Eve, the first voice of God that reached their ears was-"Where are you?" What is this? O cry of mercy!
When you lose your nature and change beyond recognition, God will ask: "Where are you?" "Are you still there?" Yes, are you still there? Are you where you are, or are you where you are not? Have you ever left yourself? Have you ever been divided by the world? God's Word echoes abidingly, beneath every rock and leaf.
India was originally a country with strong pantheistic ideas, and pantheism is the form of belief that is most consistent with human reason. However, Tagore obviously respected the philosophical spirit and mystery in the Vedas and the Upanishads. Thought: The origin of the universe of Brahman.
And in "Gitanjali", Tagore directly gave "Brahma" a personality. Participate in people’s awakening in the face of the Personality of God; provide assistance and assistance with the touch and smile of love.
"Oh, my sleep, precious sleep, is just waiting for his touch to dispel it. Oh, my closed eyes only open when he smiles, when he stands in front of me, Like a dream emerging from a deep sleep..."
God's arrival is like a dream emerging from the darkness of sleep, and his touch is like a rich electric current that shatters the covering of sleep. His smile was like a secret hint, causing his hazy eyes to begin to imprint the light of God. All confusion will disappear! All foolishness will be wiped out!
Yes, because at this time the inner beauty has arrived:
“Let him appear before my eyes as the original light and image. Let his gaze become The original joy of my awakened soul. Let the return of my self be an immediate surrender to Him."
"Let Him appear to me as the original light and image. The initial joy in my awakened soul. "This unexpected surprise, this arrival outside of sleep, this arrival that has nothing to do with the world, completely awakened my initial heart and soul:
"Let me The return of self becomes a direct surrender to Him.”
Here, the divine revelation has been fully revealed: Man can only find the way to God through himself!
The "Upanishads" and "Vedas" pursue the following: Brahman and I are the same - the spirit of the supreme Brahman can be reached through the heart. The ancient Indians believed in the isomorphism of the universe and the mind, the identity of spirit and existence. They are convinced that the process of moving from division to wholeness is the process of moving toward self and God; or conversely, the process of moving toward self and God is the process of moving from division to wholeness. But we need to be vigilant: human free will may betray the complete self from time to time!
It makes sense for the Indian mysticism master Osho to believe in Pythagoras and that Jesus visited the East, because both ancient Greek philosophy and Christian faith have the same qualities as India: the self is not only It is the complete self, and it is the participation of the infinite; and returning to the self means returning to the infinite, returning to God.
There was a mysterious motto circulated in ancient Judaism: "A person understands the universe when he is in his mother's body, but he forgets the universe when he leaves his mother's body."
"Plato once regarded the birth of human beings as the process of division between human body and mind and soul. The world began to block the memory of the soul. As a result, a person's entire life fell into a state of constant "recollection": recalling the predecessor, Recalling the original whole self is the bottom line of Plato's philosophical thinking.
The French Christian Pascal also has a classic saying: "Man is a deposed king." It is the process of walking on the road of returning to the throne and returning to oneself. This road of return is also the road of regaining glory.
So "Gitanjali" 47 says:
“Let my return to myself be a direct conversion to Him. "
So "Gitanjali" No. 103 also said:
"When I worship you, let all my poems gather different tones and merge into a torrent. , into the silent sea.
As I worship you, let my whole life set off back to its eternal home, like a flock of nostalgic cranes flying back to their mountain nests day and night.
”