# LXX explained — Gitanjali

> Chapter companion for Gitanjali by Rabindranath Tagore.

## What happens

The chapter celebrates the relentless, joyful rhythm of existence, urging surrender to the fearless joy of constant motion, change, and dissolution.

## Themes in this chapter

### Surrender and Egolessness

The call to be 'tossed and lost and broken' in the whirl of joy reflects surrender to divine rhythm.

### Beauty of the Ordinary and Nature

Seasons, colors, tunes, and perfumes cascade in endless joy, celebrating the natural world's transient beauty.

## Character check-ins

### The Poet

The voice that questions and invites participation in the rhythm of joy.

### The Divine

Implied as the source of the rhythm and fearful joy that drives all things.

## Key lines

> Is it beyond thee to be glad with the gladness of this rhythm? to be tossed and lost and broken in the whirl of this fearful joy?

Can you not share in the joy of this rhythm, allowing yourself to be swept up and undone by its overwhelming delight?

_Invitation to embrace ecstatic surrender._

> All things rush on, they stop not, they look not behind, no power can hold them back, they rush on.

Everything moves forward without pause or regret, unstoppable in its momentum.

_Description of the relentless flow of existence._

> Keeping steps with that restless, rapid music, seasons come dancing and pass away—colours, tunes, and perfumes pour in endless cascades in the abounding joy that scatters and gives up and dies every moment.

In time with that swift, unceasing melody, seasons arrive and depart in dance, while colors, sounds, and scents flow in infinite streams within a joy that constantly disperses, releases, and perishes.

_Illustration of nature's rhythmic, joyful transience._

## Links

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