Summary of the poem, "Govinda's Disciple" by Rabindranath Tagore, ISCE, CLASS 6.

     Here Govinda teaches Ragunath material pleasure and spiritual pleasure can not go together. We have to choose any one of them. However, before going to the direct poem, we should know about Govinda. Govinda Singh was one of the founders of Sikh Religion. He had many pupils whom he gave the knowledge of spiritualism and salvation.

        In the very beginning of the poem, the poet gives the description of the nature. These natural images transform the readers' mind from the worldly surrounding to the core of nature. Rabindranath describes that the river Ganga is flowing whose water is crystal clear, it looks transparent. The bank of the river is marked with the jutted rocksf which it seems like the river bank is set into a perpetual frown. The hill  is looking completely dark because of the thick forest which was also marked by the small streams which were flowing here and there through it.

        Govinda was reading scriptures sitting on the rock in the side of the river bank. Ragunath came with a pair of Bangles as a gift to his master. The master was not satisfied with it and he wanted to give him a lesson. He let one of the bangles to roll down into the river. Swing it, Ragunath desperately jumped into the river to find it out. But Govinda looked unbothered, with no time he started reading his scriptures again. Just like Govinda, the water of the river looked unworried and it continued to hide it away and moved in its own wish. 

        After a long search, Ragunath came to his master and asked him to say where the bangles were. But suddenly to Ragunath's shock, Govinda threw the other bangle into the water and said, " Here it is". This is how the poem ends.

         This is how he teaches a lesson to his disciple. The true quality of a teacher is to show the right path to his disciples. Here in this poem it is shown very clearly. Govinda taught Ragunath that we should leave the attraction for material pleasure and then only we can feel the spirituality. The poem ends in a very abrupt manner which gives us a strong and powerful message.