# LXXI explained — Gitanjali

> Chapter companion for Gitanjali by Rabindranath Tagore.

## What happens

The poet reflects on the divine's self-separation into the individual self, describing life as a play of maya where the divine hides and seeks within creation, with all existence vibrating with the tune of 'thee and me'.

## Themes in this chapter

### The Pain of Separation and Longing

The divine's self-separation creates a poignant song of tears, smiles, alarms, and hopes, with all ages passing in hiding and seeking.

### Divine Love and Devotion

The poet sees himself as the divine's own defeat of self, with the great pageant of 'thee and me' overspreading the sky.

## Character check-ins

### The Poet

The speaker who contemplates the divine's maya and his own role as the severed self.

### The Divine

The one who sets a barrier in its own being and calls the severed self in myriad notes.

## Key lines

> That I should make much of myself and turn it on all sides, thus casting coloured shadows on thy radiance⁠—such is thy maya.

The divine's illusion (maya) causes me to focus on myself and project colorful distortions onto your pure light.

_The poet explains that self-importance and ego are part of the divine's playful illusion._

> In me is thy own defeat of self.

Through me, the divine experiences its own self-limitation or surrender.

_The individual self is seen as the divine's chosen form of self-restriction._

## Links

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