The worshipping of personal God is a traditional religious practice in India since medieval period. The devotees use poetry, song dedicated to her/his God to worship the Almighty instead of the sacred Vedic hymns. This tradition was seen in songs (Bhajan) written by Mirabai, Tulsidas, Surdas and many more. This tradition was later carried on by various other Indian poet, lyricists and musicians. The great poet Rabindranath Tagore in his songs and poetries also followed the tradition of portrayal of his own personal concept of God.
In this paper I would like to analyze Tagore’s idea of personal God by analyzing the songs and poetries. Then I would like to do a comparative analysis between Tagore’s idea of personal God and the concept of Brahman in Upanisads. In order to do so I would refer to the poems written in Gitanjali and some of the songs from Gitabitan written by Tagore and refer to some of the Shlokas (hymns) from Brihadaranyaka Upanisad, Kathopanisad and Chandogya Upanisad. In the conclusion I would try to show how Upanisadic Brahman has evolved into Tagore’s personal God.

Authors:
Sanhita Ghosh, Lalbaba College; University of Calcutta, India

About the Presenter(s)
Ms. Sanhita Ghosh, Assistant Professor, Department of Philosophy, Lalbaba College, University of Calcutta, Kolkata West Bengal, India.

See this presentation on the full schedule – Monday Schedule

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