Where the Mind is without Fear
(Gitanjali; Poem No. 35)
Rabindranath Tagore
How does Rabindranath Tagore show his devotion to God. Give your answer in the light of his poem "Where the mind is without fear” from the Gitanjali.
Answer: Where the mind is without fear is one of Rabindranath Tagore's best known poems. It was originally written in Bengali under the title 'Parthona', which means prayer. This poem was published in 1901 in a volume called Naivedya. Tagore composed this poem when India was under British rule. He composed this poem to revive the countrymen, to instill heroic qualities and to instill morale in their souls and minds.
In this poem, published in the days before independence, the poet skillfully writes about a happy paradise where all the people of his country will be free from prejudice and prejudice and will not be broken by narrow walls. He painted a moving picture of the nation. He wants India to be a nation in the fraternity, a nation without fear and oppression. The poem reflects the poet’s ultimate faith in God to whom he asks to guide his countrymen.
The poem, "Where the mind is without fear" is a short lyric taken from the "Gitanjali". Here the poet prays to God to awaken his country from darkness and slavery to the ideal state of freedom. The poet laments the plight of the Indians and somehow expresses the plight of the people now. They were in the grip of brutal British rule. Tagore matched his dream about the features of a magnificent country which in a way is his utopia. He advocates spiritual freedom, freedom of mind, expression, belief, method and thought as well as political freedom. He wants to expose the futility of blind faith and superstition and make a lot of comments about the role of logical reasoning in the prosperity of our country.
In this inspirational poem, the poet prays to God for the spiritual liberation of his country and countrymen. True freedom lies in living a full and fulfilling life. The poet therefore prays to God that his countrymen may be fearless, truthful, rational, God-fearing, polite and generous. Knowledge should be free and there should be no division of caste, caste and nationality.
The poet prays to God for the fulfillment of those who work hard to achieve perfection without rest. Rabindranath Tagore prayed to God for his countrymen to follow the path of rational thinking and not to indulge their minds towards ancient and old customs and traditions. According to Rabindranath Tagore, old customs and traditions blocked the way to progress. So his countrymen should leave all the old customs and traditions behind and fill their minds with logical thoughts to guide themselves on the path of progress.
Rabindranath Tagore prayed to God that his countrymen should follow the path of divine progress and they must be involved in right action and thinking. His countrymen should have a universal mind and should be behind narrow thinking. Their minds should be free from all narrow thinking and take a broad view. Note that the "paradise of freedom" for which the poet prays is not a paradise of political and economic freedom but a spiritual freedom from fear, narrow-mindedness and evil desires. The poem "Where the mind is without fear" is originally written in Bengali from the Gitanjali's "Collection of Poems". Rabindranath himself translated this poem into English. This is a beautiful song. He was awarded the Nobel Prize for the Gitanjali in 1913. He was the first Indian to be awarded the prestigious Prize for Literature. The lyric ‘Where the mind is without fear’ is a devotional poem, where Rabindranath Tagore prays to God to free his countrymen from many ancient rituals that ignore the progress of his nation. He prays to God to develop the habit of rational thinking and to free them from the mentality of ritual slavery.
He wants complete freedom, a political and spiritual freedom. Where the mind is fearless and the head is high; Where knowledge is free; Where the earth was not torn to pieces by a narrow domestic wall; Where words come out from the depths of truth; Where indefatigable effort extends his hand to perfection; Where the obvious rational flow could not penetrate the clear desert sands of dead practice; Where the mind leads you to the ever-expanding thoughts and actions - my Father, awaken my country to that heaven of freedom.
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