"Stream of Life" is a Bengali poem written by Indian Nobel Laureate Rabindranath Tagore and translated by him into English. It first appeared in the collection Gitanjali , where it is numbered #69 out of the 157 poems; [1] Tagore received the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1913 for its English translation, Song Offerings .
The poem consists of five sentences, with the first phrase — "The same stream of life..." — providing the English title. Tagore repeats the phrase "the same life" as he likens the life within him (the blood in his veins) to the sap in grass and flowers, to the ebb and flow of "the ocean-cradle," to the rhythms in music and dancing, and to the flowing stream of time. [1]
Poetry scholars discuss his use of Nature in symbol and imagery. "Nature occupies a central place in Tagore's poetry, serving as a source of inspiration, solace, and spiritual renewal," writes Anupamratanshanker Nagar, continuing,
Tagore's deep reverence for the natural world is evident in poems such as "The Stream of Life," where he celebrates the cyclical rhythms of nature and the interconnectedness of all living beings:
- The same stream of life that runs through my veins night and day
- runs through the world and dances in rhythmic measures.
- It is the same life that shoots in joy through the dust of the earth
- in numberless blades of grass and breaks into tumultuous waves of leaves and flowers.
Here, Tagore evokes the image of life as an eternal stream, flowing through the landscape of the earth and nourishing all living things, transcending the boundaries of individual existence. [2]
In another article, Nagar sees the maternal part of Mother Nature in Tagore's poetry: "The 'stream of life' is a recurring feminine symbol that signifies vitality and continuity. This universal connection emphasizes the shared humanity and equal worth of all individuals, regardless of gender." [3] Literary critic Dhanjyoti Gogoi uses the word "eco-mystical" to describe the poem and describes "a minute observation of the components of nature with individual involvement in it." Like Nagar, Gogoi also quotes the first two lines to illustrate how Tagore "elevated the trivial to the eternal." [4] Professor Kiran Miglani identifies "the note of self-suffering mystic experience" in the poem's penultimate line, "I feel my limbs are made glorious by the touch of this world of life." [5]
Retitled "Praan" for a song version, which was set to music composed by Garry Schyman and sung by Palbasha Siddique, the poem gained worldwide fame as the lyrics for the score of Matt Harding's viral "Where the Hell is Matt? 2008" video. The Minnesota online news site MinnPost reported at the time, "The video was downloaded to the web on Saturday, June 20, 2008. By Sunday, it had 1 million hits." [6] The song went on to be among the top ten of Amazon's soundtrack downloads over a week and was also in the top 100 of all of its MP3 downloads in 2009. [7]
The lyrics, which are in Bengali, run:
| Bengali | English transliteration | Word for Word translation |
|---|---|---|
| প্রাণ ভুলবো না আর সহজেতে সেই প্রাণে মন উঠবে মেতে মৃত্যু মাঝে ঢাকা আছে যে অন্তহীন প্রাণ বজ্রে তোমার বাজে বাঁশি সেকি সহজ গান সেই সুরেতে জাগবো আমি সেই ঝড় যেন সই আনন্দে চিত্তবীণার তারে সপ্তসিন্ধু দশ দিগন্ত নাচাও যে ঝঙ্কারে বজ্রে তোমার বাজে বাঁশি সেকি সহজ গান সেই সুরেতে জাগবো আমি | Praan Bhulbona ar shohojete Shei praan e mon uthbe mete Mrittu majhe dhaka ache je ontohin praan Bojre tomar baje bashi She ki shohoj gaan Shei shurete jagbo ami Shei jhor jeno shoi anonde Chittobinar taare Shopto-Shindhu dosh digonto Nachao je jhonkare! | Life I shall not ever easily forget, My heart shall fill up with life, Even in death, lies hidden That endless life In the lightning and thunder, your flute plays, But that is no ordinary tune, I shall wake up to that tune. X2 In the lightning and thunder, your flute plays, But that is no ordinary tune, Let me have, that very tune. May I happily weather that storm, Even on the verge of lifelessness, Across 7 rivers, in 10 directions, Make us dance with your tune. |
In 2013, Canadian journalist Amitava Kar wrote a feature story about Harding, Schyman, Siddique, and "Praan" for The Daily Star in Bangladesh. [8] When Harding received commercial backing for his "Dancing 2008" video, he needed original music and contacted Schyman. Harding had been a video game designer, and Schyman had composed for video games, but, he told Kar, "I almost said no because I did not understand the concept. Besides, I am an orchestra composer. I am not a song writer or a lyricist."
Since Harding wanted "a non-English approach," Schyman suggested a Tagore poem. Harding read Gitanjali and chose "Stream of Life." Schyman explained, "I actually wrote the melody and chord changes before setting it to Tagore's poem." The score was performed by a 25-piece orchestra.
Harding's girlfriend searched online videos for someone who could sing in Bangla, the Bengali language, and saw Siddique. When they heard her demo, Kar wrotes, "everyone was blown away. She kind of ignored his melody and did her own improvisation over it. Now they had hit the jackpot," and in retrospect everyone saw it as serendipity. Harding told Kar, "I knew the poem in English, but had no idea how it would sound in Bangla. Palbasha did the work of fitting the poem to the music Garry had written and it came together perfectly in the recording. I did very little to make Praan happen. I chose talented people to work with and then got out of their way." [8]
Kar noted another example of the popularity of "Praan": after Barack Obama won the 2008 United States presidential election, American political satirist Jon Stewart played the video in the background in an episode of The Daily Show . [8]
'It's crazy,' said Siddique, who lives in Northeast Minneapolis with her mother and brother. 'Right now it's number one on amazon.com in the soundtrack [category], and number six overall, so that's a really big accomplishment, because even American Idol is number nine right now. I just never knew this would turn out so incredible. People are making ringtones out of it. Everyone on Facebook is adding me, and I had no idea there are so many Bengalis in our community, and they have all heard the song.'
