Gitanjali · Theme
Poverty and Humility
How Gitanjali develops Poverty and Humility.
Spiritual wealth is found in simplicity and humility; the poet embraces poverty as a dowry and finds God among the poorest, lowliest, and lost, rejecting material pride and finery.
Where it surfaces
- III
The poet sits like a beggar maid, drawing her skirt over her face, embodying humility and poverty of spirit.
- VIII
The 'healthful dust of the earth' and the 'great fair of common human life' are valued over the isolating luxury of princely robes.
- IX
The imagery of the beggar at his own door and the rejection of desire's unclean gifts underscores humility.
- The Footstool of the Divine
The divine is found among the poorest, lowliest, and lost, and pride cannot approach that depth.
- XXXVI
The prayer begins with a plea to strike at the root of penury in the heart and includes a resolve never to disown the poor.
- XLI
The poet embraces poverty as her dowry, sitting like a beggar maid, drawing her skirt over her face in humility and shame.
- XLIX
The poet sings in a corner of a humble cottage, and the Divine chooses this simple setting over the grand hall, highlighting the value of humility.
- The Beggar's Gift
The poet's beggarly state and the divine's request highlight the virtue of giving from one's poverty.