Prothom Alo: We know that you have your adverse views on western modernism. You even refuse to call yourself a 'modern poet'. Why?
Ranajit Das: Let me make one thing clear. I am definitely a modern poet but not a modernist poet. There lies the crucial difference. A modernist poet believes in the western doctrine of modernism, which is based on the views that man is always alone and helpless in this hostile world, and that self is superior to society. I consider both these views utterly wrong. The world sustains our lives at every moment with its air, water and food like a mother. How can I say that this world is hostile, and I am alienated from it? That's a gross scientific error. Secondly, I am of the firm view that society sustains the individual, and not the other way round. So I think these basic notions of alienation and individualism of existential philosophy are intellectually and emotionally wrong. They are nothing but the expressions of hyper-narcissistic sentiments of modern man. On the opposite end of this existentialism, stands the classic worldview that the individual self is an integral part of the cosmos and is in harmony with it. Otherwise life could not have survived even for a single moment in real time. And I believe that the basis of our existence is a feeling of cosmic joy and not of despair. This doctrine of cosmic joy is a peerless gift of the ancient Indian philosophy to the world. This doctrine is so memorably enshrined in this famous verse of the Upanishad:
It is from joy (Ananda) that all that exist are born.
And it is to joy that all depart and are withdrawn.
Our own Tagore said with the same conviction, I am invited to the Festival of Joy in this universe. So which camp do you wish to belong to? Bleak western existentialism or joyous eastern spiritualism? I have joined the camp of universal joy long ago. I know that there is no end of joy and wonder in this world. And this feeling leads us to imagine that this creation must be sublime. We think of God! The pure feeling of happiness that we get on embracing a friend or entering a garden of flowers makes us imagine that there might be a benevolent cosmic consciousness behind all creation. Here comes the sense of religion in man. This sense emanates from the realization of the three basic ontological values of Truth, Beauty and Goodness. And on the strength of these values, religion creates the basis for human morality. That's why, in spite of being an atheist myself, I have deep respect for this religious feeling in man. And, to my mind, great human works of art evoke almost the same feeling in us, like Michelangelo' s Pieta. Art is the religion of the secular, there is no doubt about it. But I am strongly critical of the institutionalized religions like Hinduism, Islam, Christianity etc. because they bear in them the dark seeds of religious fanaticism which bring extreme hatred, conflict, and violence to human societies divided by religions. It seems these religions themselves are cursed to bear these monstrous seeds of human evil. And this evil of extreme religious terrorism has become the darkest enemy of today’s world. In this hour of civilizational crisis, art has a great role to play in freeing the human mind from the curse of religious fanaticism, and from the gloom of extreme individualism.
[The above excerpts have been revised and translated into English by the poet himself]
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