The poem “Gitanjali” by
Rabindranath Tagore is a collection of devotional songs in praise of God. It is
an allegorical poem because beneath its surface meaning there is another
meaning-a deep spiritual significance. In the song 50, the beggar is Everyman,
while the king of all kings is God. God is not only the giver, he is also a
beggar. What God demands from man is complete self-surrender. Man must make the
supreme sacrifice of his complete self to God.
One day the poet-beggar
was begging from door to door in the village path. Suddenly he saw at a distance
a golden chariot coming towards him with the king of all kings seated in it.
The king came down from the chariot and looked at the poet-beggar with a
smiling face. Then the poet-beggar felt that the luck of his life had come at
last.
But contrary to his
expectation the king himself held out his hand asking for alms. The poet-beggar
was utterly confused. He could not make out how a king could beg from a beggar.
He took it for a kingly jest. Then he took out the smallest grain of corn from
his bag and offered it to the king reluctantly.
At the end of day, the
poet-beggar returned home and emptied his bag on the floor. To his great
surprise, he found a little grain of gold in the heap of alms. Then he realized
his foolishness. He wished that he had had the heart to give his all to the
king. Because in that case, he would have back his all in gold.
God sometimes comes down
on earth in the guise of a poor beggar to test a man if he is ready to
sacrifice his all to God. So it was not really a kingly jest.
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