In an age when our interaction with nature is usually at a transactional or mental level, it is instructive and fascinating to see the kind of communion the great poet Rabindranath Tagore had with nature. Tagore, through his soulful and emotive poetry, would share his intimate feelings with many inhabitants of nature – animate or inanimate – be it rains, winds, clouds, rains, flowers, birds, plants, forests, rivers or even stars in the skies. In this glorious companionship with nature, he felt in tune with its varied forms and rhythms. In a way, nature was a powerful source of his creative and spiritual energy.

Nature, according to Tagore, reveals to us the inner unity of the world. Through its beauty and transience, it enables us to dissolve the focus on our narrow self, opening the path for us to develop as a universal man. Through most of his songs, he spoke of a deep spiritual presence in nature’s balance and harmony amidst the diverse moods of the seasons. With the prevalence of Upanishadic spirituality permeating his family, Tagore’s poetry could naturally explore the streams of oneness of all life. The poet strongly believed that the perfection of man is attained through the enlargement of personality. This expansion of self leads him to seek an empathy with the entire universe which also encompasses human society.

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This deep appreciation and realization can give us joy and perfect bliss, since it binds the soul with the soul. The unity of man and nature, he felt, share a common origin in the One or the Absolute and so the Spirit and Nature are twin aspects of the Absolute. With the help of intellect, Tagore could grasp the idea of the One All-Pervading Ultimate Reality which lies as the immanent regulatory power of the Universe and as such, indistinguishable from the Universe itself. Indeed, Tagore developed a personal relationship with the Universal Consciousness.

Often using “universe” “world” or “earth” in a synonymous tune with “Nature”, he explored the beauty and splendour of nature, and longed for a spiritual companionship with nature itself, for a more holistic sense of identity with it. In Sanchayita (Prabhat Utsav, p32) he pours out: “O’ my heart gets wide opened to the unmixed pleasure that surrounds the nature; I feel the warmth of love that the entire universe bestows upon me…” Strongly believing that children learn many things by absorbing them unconsciously, Tagore shifted the focus, in Santiniketan, from teaching the “content” to creating the “conditions” that help intensify a child’s connection with nature and the world.

“This religion of spiritual harmony is not a theological doctrine to be taught”, he said, “it can only be made possible by making provision for students to live in infinite touch with nature, daily to grow in an atmosphere of service offered to all creatures, tending trees, feeding birds and animals, learning to feel the immense mystery of the soil and water and air. …In such an atmosphere students would learn to understand that humanity is a divine harp of many strings, waiting for its one grand music”.

To celebrate nature with all its manifestations, he organised several festivals in Santiniketan and composed songs especially for them, such as Basant Utsav (for spring), Barsha Mangal (for the monsoons), Sharad Utsav (for autumn) and Ritu Ranga (for all the seasons). He also introduced the festival of tree planting (Briksha ropan). Young girls, colourfully dressed, sang songs and blew on conch shells while accompanying tree saplings in procession. Halakarshan was organised to celebrate agricultural fields being ploughed and harvests being reaped. Many Santhal tribals who lived around the village were invited to be part of these celebrations.

Yet during his lifetime, Tagore was pained to sense the adversarial relationship brewing between humans and nature. His words of caution sound so prophetic today as he, during one of his visits to England, had foretold, “Before long, the sky over the human world, the East and West, will be smudged with factory smoke and the green of the living nature will be licked grey by the demon of the utilitarian spirit.” The triple planetary crises of pollution, climate change and biodiversity loss are a telling reminder that we must reset our bond with nature on priority, learning and sourcing inspiration from Tagore.

(The writer, a former bank executive, is presently on the boards of public entities.)