Part five — Stories

//Sri Chinmoy was a wonderful storyteller who greatly enjoyed narrating stories about Indian luminaries. The following stories are drawn from Tagore's life. A number of them are recorded only in Bengali books about the poet, and Sri Chinmoy has re-created them in English for the first time. These stories offer a blend of enlightenment and entertainment.//

1. Tagore sings

There was once a little boy who was very beautiful to look at and very smart, with many talents. He was talented even at a tender age. His father was very rich and well respected; he owned vast plots of land and had many, many servants. The little boy used to spend most of his time with the servants. He was the youngest in the family, and they all adored him.

One day, the boy was singing a song that he had composed himself. The song expressed the idea that “The eye cannot see You, although You are inside the eye. The heart cannot know You, although You are inside the heart.” He was singing it most soulfully, and the tune was simply excellent.

The father heard him singing from another room and was deeply moved. He asked his servants to go and bring the little boy to him. Then the father said to his youngest son, “Can you sing the song for me again?”

The boy did not often get the opportunity to come to his father, because the father was so great and very busy. He could not approach his father any time he wanted to. Although it was a great honour that his father had called him, he was also afraid of his father and he felt shy. The father said, “I am your father. Please do not feel shy. Just sing the song that you were singing before, my child.”

The boy sang a few times and the father was so deeply moved that he entered into trance. When his trance ended, the father went into his office and wrote the boy a cheque for 500 rupees. In those days, 500 rupees for a child was really something. When he gave it to the boy he said, “In the past, the Moghul Emperors used to honour talented people with great gifts. Now the Moghul Emperors are no more. But your talent is so remarkable that I know you rightfully deserve honour from the king. Unfortunately, there is no king here to honour you. But I am your father and I am giving you 500 rupees.”

The son was so excited and delighted. He ran with the cheque and showed it to the servants. The servants lifted him up into the air. They were so proud that their little hero had become such a great poet.

Indeed, this heroic soul became the poet of poets. He became India’s greatest poet ever and won the Nobel Prize. Many people have received the Nobel Prize and many poets have been honoured, but in India he remains matchless. He composed about 2,200 songs, many of which are sung all over India, including India’s national anthem Jana Gana Mana. Truly, Rabindranath Tagore was a creative genius who excelled in every field of the arts. In the latter part of his life, he even took up painting. As a poet, singer and playwright, he won love and respect not only in India but all over the world. He remains in the vanguard of poets for his lyrics, songs, plays and stories. India’s Tagore will eternally remain unique. In 1961 on his birthday, the whole world observed his centenary.⁶³