Creative Spirituality: Entering the World of Tagore's Jivan Devata

Abstract Rabindranath Tagore has been hailed as a deeply spiritual poet, an identity that is abundantly revealed in the Gitanjali poems where we see a spirituality that is almost stripped of all embellishment and trappings and we see Tagore absorbed in surrender to the Supreme Being. Tagore conceived Jivan Devata in quite a different way. This concept has been variously interpreted by scholars and critics – many have argued that Jivan Devata is another name for the poetic muse while there are some who have argued that Jivan Devata is sublimated spirituality. However, it has come to be accepted as an important link in the understanding of Tagore's creativity given the extent and intensity of Tagore's engagement with the concept over a long period of his life. This paper argues that there is enough room for more nuanced understanding of Jivan Devata through which we may reach a ‘more complete’ understanding of Tagore's creativity. The paper attempts to develop the trope of ‘creative spirituality’ founded on reciprocity between the self and creative energy as a satisfactory explanation of Jivan Devata.