I Cast My Net into The Sea.
Rabindranath Tagore
In the morning I cast my net into the sea.
I dragged up from the dark abyss things of
strange aspect and strange beauty —
some shone like a smile, some glistened like tears,
and some were flushed like the cheeks of a bride.
When with the day’s burden I went home,
my love was sitting in the garden idly
tearing the leaves of a flower.
I hesitated for a moment, and then
placed at her feet all that I had dragged up,
and stood silent.
She glanced at them and said,
‘What strange things are these?
I know not of what use they are!’
I bowed my head in shame and thought,
‘I have not fought for these,
I did not buy them in the market;
they are not fit gifts for her.’
Then the whole night through
I flung them one by one into the street.
In the morning travellers came;
they picked them up and carried them into far countries.
Introduction : " I Cast My Net into The Sea " is taken from "The Gardener" of Rabindranath Tagore. This poem is obviously a religious and allegorical poem having the metaphorical implication. It is a religious poem as 'God' or 'Jeevan Debata' is at the center of the poem. The poem is allegorical in the sense that it bears two meanings - one is the literal meaning and the other is allegorical meaning or inner meaning. The poem is a prose-poem as it suffers from the lack of metrical structure and stanza pattern. Now let us take a peep into the poem and its theme.
Interpretation : In the very first line of the poem we find the first person 'I' : " In the morning I cast my net into the sea". The pronoun "I" is a representative character as it denotes not only the poet, but every human being of this world. The poem sounds like an ordinary story of a couple - the speaker and his beloved. The speaker has cast his net into the sea in the morning with an intention to have a good collection. When he drags the net from the deep water, the dark abyss, he finds that the things of strange appearance and strange beauty are in his net. The things are no doubt very attractive- some are shining like a 'smile', some are bright like 'tears' and some are flushing like the 'cheeks of a bride' . He comes home with this 'precious burden' gladly to share with his beloved who is found "sitting in the garden idly tearing the leaves of a flower".He offers all things and stands silently. The beloved of the speaker glances at them (the rare collection) and rejects them commenting that all these things are of no utility. Shame for this rejection makes him bow. He thinks that these things can not be fit gifts for beloved one as there is no struggle , there is no sacrifice, in procuring these things. Being dejected the speaker throws all of thing one by one into the street through the whole night. When day breaks travellers come, pick them up and carry them to far countries.
On the face value it sounds like an ordinary story of a couple related to some domestic matter , related to the liking or disliking of a lady, the beloved of the speaker. The subject matter of this poem seems to be realistic and worldly. But a mindful reading brings another layer of meaning, hints a deeper meaning underneath. The theme of the story in the poem is obviously philosophical and religious one , spiritual rather. In few lines of this poem the poet has captured the life of a human being and his purpose of coming to this world. Tagore has allegorically painted the story of this casting of net and collection. The life of human being has metaphorically been projected in the poem " I Cast My Net into The Sea".
Contrast and comparison are the two prominent elements of this devotional poem. The contrast between the world of 'materialism' and that of 'spiritualism' is the pivotal theme. The allegorical and metaphorical matters emanate from this contrasting point. From the symbolic point of view the speaker's 'love' represents 'God' and the 'sea' where the net is cast is nothing but the human life and world of "Maya' . It is 'Maya' which makes us oblivious about our origin and our original duty. Coming to this world we are so absorbed with the sense-objects and sensuality that we forget about our 'Parampita" or God. Occasion comes to remember him, to pay offerings to him. Then we try to make him please,like the speaker of this poem, with all beautiful but transient things which are smeared with 'smile' and 'tears' or 'joy and woe' and 'cheeks of a bride' or sensuality. God can not be please with this material objects. If we can not realize this, we lose God's grace.
God's grace is not a trifle thing, it can not be achieved easily. The speaker of this poem can realize it and for this he bows his head in shame and thinks deeply. The expression ‘I have not fought for these' means that the speaker makes no struggle for collecting the gifts. Actually, we get material things by merely taking it or by deceiving others. The speaker says that he has not buy the gifts from the market that means he has not sacrificed even a single penny for it. Our 'First Love' wants such gifts which are earned by our toil after sacrificing our 'self'. Such a thing is called 'Devotion' which can be achieved through the path of 'total surrender, to God.
To have 'Devotion' we have to exercise much throughout our life. In this poem such exercise of the speaker begins when he starts flinging the mundane collections one by one. Material things are, of course, necessary for running our life , but we should not be the victim of the 'Moha'(attachment). We must denounce the unnecessary things which obstruct the gate-way of spiritualism; which make a gap between man an God, between human spirit and super power i.e. Atma and Param Atma. There are so many travellers in this world who are ready to pick up those rejected things and carry them far lands. As they go far, the 'Moha' or the attachment with those things is gone and we are blessed to live in a bright world, the world full of divine light, the world of spiritualism.
In Tagore's poem the speaker meets his 'love' in the garden. It is the garden of paradise where one can meet with God. He is tearing the leaves of flower one by one that means God is subtracting one year after another from our life which has bloomed in the earthly heaven. The persons who meet the 'love' (the grace of God) early ,before losing a lot of petals , are lucky enough as they can be gifted with the divine guidance. The speaker flings the sense-objects for the whole night and whenever all such objects rejected from mind the morning came. How long such things are with him, it is darkness in his life, without these he is in divine "Good-morrow". The unlucky and blind ones are very much happy picking these things and they are still in the 'dark abyss', entrapped in this mundane existance.
