Rabindranath Tagore Poem Explanation - A king begging to beggar

“I had gone a-begging from door to door in the village path, when thy golden chariot appeared in the distance like a gorgeous dream and I wondered who was this King of all kings!

My hopes rose high and me thought my evil days were at an end, and I stood waiting for alms to be given unasked and for wealth scattered on all sides in the dust.

The chariot stopped where I stood. Thy glance fell on me and thou camest down with a smile. I felt that the luck of my life had come at last. Then of a sudden thou didst hold out thy right hand and say `What hast thou to give to me?’

Ah, what a kingly jest was it to open thy palm to a beggar to beg! I was confused and stood undecided, and then from my wallet I slowly took out the least little grain of corn and gave it to thee.

But how great my surprise when at the day’s end I emptied my bag on the floor to find a least little gram of gold among the poor heap. I bitterly wept and wished that I had had the heart to give thee my all.”
― Rabindranath Tagore, Gitanjali

My Thoughts

In Spiritual context.

1. Here beggar signifies as we people who don’t have anything ours as such.
   We dont have any spiritual power, our brain doesn’t work with full extent, body is also not ours it’s rented, all material things that we possess or own is not created by us, everything is provided by nature and one day it will be taken away from us within no time.
2. Here king signifies as Satguru Sahib who has everything, who is source of spiritual energy and has power to give anything.
3. If we keep the relationship with Satguru(True Guru) transactional we might get what we need maybe it can help in attaining some material things.
   But if we surrender ourselves to him he will not only keep us prosperous(Samrudh/समृद्ध) in this world but he will liberate(Moksha) us from this Bhavsagar(the ocean of worldly life) and we will always live in peace because he will take care of us 24*7.
4. The poem also signifies that in greed we loose more then we gain anything -> The Beggar only gave small amount of grain thinking he might loose them but he forgot the grain is not his own he has got this grain from someone else and end up getting same amount of gold.
5. In bhakti a person who has surrendered itself gains everything.
6. The poem also signifies that

A person who has everything will never ask for anything, if he is asking he is taking your test.

In this situation give everything, you wont loose anything much atleast you will gain his trust.