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But such an integration is not easy to compass. It requires an austere inner discipline, tapasya, as the Poet would say. An artist is not a self-willed irresponsible creature. He is one who controls his appetites and ambitions. A person who is drunk, for instance, can never observe, far less appreciate truly, the beauty of a flower. He has not "the third eye" with which to see it - "the third eye" which is opened by transcending the pairs of opposites like love and hatred, joy and sorrow, mine and thine. This inner discipline is indicated and evolved by withdrawing oneself daily for some time from the world of outer forms and phenomena. Hence the poet's deep faith in the power and purifying processes of Silence and Meditation. Not a single day in his long span of life did he miss his tryst with Truth, the Eternal. Hence his unending prayer and petition for Light more Light..
Most of us are, alas! indeed blind to the Eternal verities and values. And so poets like Rabindranath Tagore have to proclaim to us that the Light of the Eternal exists and through their songs invite us to open ourselves to its. impact and influence and operation. Their call assumes the aspect of a prayer for blind and benighted humanity. To quote one of his own songs :
They stand with uplifted eyes thirsty after light
Lead them to light, My Lord ! They cannot see the paths
in the twilight dark while the night of despair gathers
before them.
Those that are lost to themselves, Seeking for the load-star
hidden in the depth of night, bring back their sight
to the world of forms, to the paths of the celestial light,
My Lord !
GURDIAL MALLIK
(Gurdial Mallikji: Born : 7-5-1896 : Passed away : 14-4-1970)
Courtesy :
1.
"Visvabharati News" - Santiniketan, June 1960.
The Aryan Path, August 1960.
3.
Gurdial Mallikji - Chachaji - himself, who sent with Love this article for me with his signature on 7-10-1961.