The Manifestations of Sound of Silence in R.N. Tagore’s Gitanjali and the Power of Soundless Words in Sri Aurobindo’s Savitri: A Comparative Study

Abstract

This paper foregrounds the effective use of the theme of silence in the two Indian literary masterpieces viz. Tagore’s Gitanjali and Sri Aurobindo’s Savitri. Firstly, it makes a critical discussion on the philosophical notions of silence quoting Kierkegaard as he says it is essentially a spiritual state that helps establishing relationship between God and human being. Then, the Hindu philosophical views have been focused critically quoting lines from the Gita, the Upanishads, and the writings of both Adishankara and Raman Maharshi that advocate silence to be the state of trance providing eternal happiness obtained after profound introspection, meditation, ultimate realization and gaining spiritual attainment or enlightenment. Both Tagore and Aurobindo have vividly used the tenets of silence very much attributed to their characters as well as the narrative perspectives of their writings. Silence is apparent in them in terms of the value of both the ethereal as well as spiritual forms. It is noticed that they carry on the threads of their writings by making us realize the silence of five categories and concepts. They are the silence of the natural elements like the forest, sea, hills, valleys, etc.; five ethereal elements like earth, water, air, fire, and the sky; the silence of cosmic elements like darkness, light, the stars, the planets, and the space; the silence of personal elements like heart and mind, tolerance, efforts, thoughts, intuitions, and looks. What is more, they philosophize the silence of soul and the glorification of the supreme soul—the absolute and the relative; and the silence of the mystics and the mysteries that abounds the matrix of the communion between the Creator and the creation. Finally, lines from William Wordsworth’s “Address to Silence” have been quoted to examine the uniformity of thoughts and approaches towards the theme of silence.