Heart of God: Prayers of Rabindranath Tagore

By Rabindranath Tagore and Herbert F. Vetter

Awarded the Noble Prize for Literature in 1913, Rabindranath Tagore (1861-- 1941) is considered the most important poet of modern-day India. He was also a distinguished author, educator, social reformer, and philosopher. Today, Tagore along with Mahatma Gandhi is prized as a foremost intellectual and spiritual advocate of India's liberation from imperial rule.

This inspiring collection of Tagore's poetry represents his "simple prayers of common life." Each of the seventy-seven prayers is an eloquent affirmation of the divine in the face of both joy and sorrow. Like the Psalms of David, they transcend time and speak directly to the human heart.

The spirit of this collection may be best symbolized by a single sentence by Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan, the renowned philosopher and statesman who served as president of India: "Rabindranath Tagore was one of the few representatives of the universal person to whom the future of the world belongs."

• Language: English
• Publisher: Tuttle Publishing
• Release date: Dec 10, 2011
• ISBN: 9781462903542

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The Heart of God

Published by Tuttle Publishing, an imprint of Periplus Editions (HK) Ltd.

www.tuttlepublishing.com

Expanded Edition Copyright © 2022 Periplus Editions (HK) LTD

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or utilized in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without prior written permission from the publisher.

The text on pages xx was taken from Indian Thought and Its Development, by Albert Schweitzer, copyright © 1936 by the Beacon Press.

The photograph on the frontispiece is by LLAMAS, Boston.

Library of Congress Control Number: 2022936146

ISBN 978-0-8048-5548-8; ISBN 978-1-4629-0354-2(Ebook)

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Contents

Foreword by Bashabi Fraser

Preface by Albert Schweitzer

Introduction by Herbert F. Vetter

PRAYERS

Companion of the Companionless

Accept Me

A Question to God

In Your Eyes

Why?

Notes from the Other Shore

Trees

My Greetings

Face to Face?

The Last Song

Death

Hold My Hand

Deliverance

This Is My Prayer

The Rebel

By All Means

Time to Sit Quietly

Are You Abroad on this Stormy Night?

Traveler, Must You Go?

The Least Grain of Corn

My Friend

My Polar Star

Not Altogether Lost

Wisdom

Where Do You Hurry?

Your Presence

Treasures

Dweller in My Endless Dreams

My Voyage

Our Master

Your Name

You Are There

My Heart Is on Fire

Beyond Despair

Forgive My Languor, O Lord

My Song

Salutation

The Solitary Wayfarer

Sleep

My Journey Is Long

Mother Earth

Abounding Joy

Worker of the Universe

The Song that I Came to Sing

My Last Song

The Grasp of Your Hand

Let My Song Be Simple

My All

My Country

My Last Word

The Secret of Your Heart

Your Love

Life of My Life

Light

If You Could Have It So

The Fullness of Peace

Obstinate Are the Shackles

Lost Time

The Infinity of Your Love

God and the Devil

I Want You, Only You

The Immortal

Rain

Darkness and Light

The Stream of Life

Strike at the Root

The Lake

Thanksgiving

Take, O Take

Time

The Trees and Grass

Tears of the Earth

The Stars

What Divine Drink

The Music of Love

No Night of Ease

O World

The Cloud

Playtime

When the Heart Is Hard

Ocean of Things

Singing

When You Save Me

Let My Country Awake

In the Silence of My Heart

Nothing But Your Love

The Sky and the Nest

Now in the Evening

I Threw Away My Heart

Gifts

You Have Made Me Endless

Friends Whom I Knew Not

You Hide Yourself

Freed at Last!

Eternal Traveler

Yours

Worship

The Perfect Union

Your Light, My Light

Your Sunbeams

A Ray of Morning Sun

A Hundred Years from Now

Foreword

Leave out my name from the gift

if it be a burden,

but keep my song.

—Fireflies, No. 14

Rabindranath Tagore (1861–1941), the Indian writer, educator and environmentalist, was brought to the world’s attention when he was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature in November 1913, making the Prize truly international as he was the first non-Westerner to win it. It was a unique moment as Tagore’s work—literary, educational and socio-economic — was celebrated by this recognition when he was still the subject of a subject nation. When Tagore received the Nobel, he was already a household word in his native Bengal and a much respected voice across India. Henceforth, he would simply be referred to as the Poet by many of