I HAVE always been fascinated with the wisdom of India and there's no better person to reflect this than the late poet/philosopher Rabindranath Tagore.
I don't know what drew me to Tagore. I guess it must have been during my teenage years. I happened to come across a picture of this man with a long white beard. His appearance is one of a man who has seen and experienced much.
In his eyes, I saw the wisdom of the ages. In later years, I discovered the wonder and mysteries of his Nobel Prize winning poem, Gitanjali. Upon reading the poem of epic proportions, I discovered to my delight that it lived up to expectations after hearing and reading about the lavish praise heaped on it by Tagore's contemporaries.
Personally, I feel Gitanjali would be better appreciated in its native language, Bengali. If the reader or fan of Tagore is familiar with Bengali. Very often, excellent works are seen digested in its original medium. For example, War and Peace (Russian) by Tolstoy.
There's an excellent book on Tagore entitled Tagore - The Myriad Minded Man. It is one of the better books available on Tagore's life.
Tagore has also written a series of books on love. The depth of his understanding on this much loved universal subject must be read to be appreciated in full.
Rabindranath Tagore is a rare gem on India's crown. Such a person comes every hundred years or so. India is privileged to have Tagore as one of its illustrious sons. His name and fame live on decades after his demise.
Fortunately for all of us who admire his works, his legacy remains intact in the form of books and other writings.
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