# CIII explained — Gitanjali

> Chapter companion for Gitanjali by Rabindranath Tagore.

## What happens

The poet offers a final, unified salutation to the Divine, calling for all senses, mind, songs, and life to converge in a single act of devotion and return to their eternal home.

## Themes in this chapter

### Divine Love and Devotion

The entire chapter is a single, intense act of salutation and devotion to God.

### Spiritual Journey and Self-Realization

The poet's life is depicted as a voyage to its eternal home, symbolizing the soul's journey toward the Divine.

## Character check-ins

### The Poet

The speaker who offers a unified salutation to God.

### The Divine

The recipient of the poet's salutation, addressed as 'thee' and 'thy'.

## Key lines

> In one salutation to thee, my God, let all my senses spread out and touch this world at thy feet.

In a single greeting to you, my God, may all my senses extend and reach this world at your feet.

_The poet desires a unified, sensory devotion._

> Like a rain-cloud of July hung low with its burden of unshed showers let all my mind bend down at thy door in one salutation to thee.

Like a July rain-cloud heavy with unspent rain, may my entire mind bow at your door in one greeting.

_The mind is compared to a cloud full of potential, bowing in humility._

> Let all my songs gather together their diverse strains into a single current and flow to a sea of silence in one salutation to thee.

May all my songs combine their varied melodies into one stream and flow into a sea of silence in one greeting to you.

_The poet's creative expressions merge into a silent, unified offering._

> Like a flock of homesick cranes flying night and day back to their mountain nests let all my life take its voyage to its eternal home in one salutation to thee.

Like a flock of cranes longing for home, flying day and night to their mountain nests, may my entire life journey to its eternal home in one greeting to you.

_Life is a homesick voyage returning to the Divine, its eternal home._

## Links

- HTML: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/gitanjali_se/chapters/ciii
- Book: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/gitanjali_se
- All chapters: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/gitanjali_se/chapters