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Shantiniketan : the Bolpur School of Rabindranath Tagore
This volume is from 1916.
Some excerpts from the book:
The greatest teachers in ancient India, whose names are still remembered, were forest dwellers. By the shady border of some sacred river or Himalayan lake they built their altar of fire,
grazed their cattle, harvested wild rice and fruits for their food, lived with their wives and children in the bosom of primeval nature, meditated upon the deepest problems of the soul and made it their object of life to grow in sympathy with all creation and in communion with the Supreme Being. There students flocked round them and had their lessons of immortal life in
the atmosphere of truth, peace and freedom of the spirit.
..............................................................................
Shantiniketan was originally a bare spot in the middle of open country, and was notorious for being the haunt of dacoits. It was to this spot that Maharshi Devendranath came on one of his journeys, and he was so deeply attracted to the place that he pitched his tent under three trees, which were the only trees then to be seen there, and for weeks at a time would live there
spending his time in meditation and prayer. These trees are still to be seen, with the wide open plain stretching out before them to the Western horizon, and on the marble slab which marks the place of his meditation can be seen the words which filled his mind as the Maharshi meditated upon God.
"He is the repose of my life
the joy of my heart,
the peace of my spirit
...............................................................................
To the Western eye the outward aspect of the School would suggest poverty, but this is due to the ideal which has always been followed in India wherever true education has been the end
and purpose in view. The emphasis on efficient and expensive equipment which is a characteristic feature of institutions of learning in the West has never been accepted in India where
simplicity of living is regarded as one of the most important factors in true education.
...............................................................................
Who was Rabindranath Tagore?
Rabindranath Tagore (Bengali:1861 – 1941)] was a Bengali polymath. As a poet, novelist, musician, and playwright, he reshaped Bengali literature and music in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. As author of Gitanjali and its "profoundly sensitive, fresh and beautiful verse" being the first non-European to win the 1913 Nobel Prize in Literature], Tagore was perhaps the most important literary figure of Bengali literature and a mesmerising representative of the Indian culture whose influence and popularity internationally perhaps could only be compared to that of Gandhi whom Tagore named 'Mahatma' out of his deep admiration for him.
A Pirali Brahmin from Calcutta, Tagore wrote poems at age eight. At age sixteen, he published his first substantial poetry under the pseudonym Bhanushingho ("Sun Lion") and wrote his first short stories and dramas in 1877. Tagore denounced the British Raj and supported independence. His efforts endure in his vast canon and in the institution he founded, Visva-Bharati University.
Tagore modernised Bengali art by spurning rigid classical forms. His novels, stories, songs, dance-dramas, and essays spoke to political and personal topics. Gitanjali (Song Offerings), Gora (Fair-Faced), and Ghare-Baire (The Home and the World) are his best-known works, and his verse, short stories, and novels were acclaimed for their lyricism, colloquialism, naturalism, and contemplation. Tagore was perhaps the only litterateur who penned anthems of two countries: Bangladesh and India: Amar Shonar Bangla and Jana Gana Mana.
Some excerpts from the book:
The greatest teachers in ancient India, whose names are still remembered, were forest dwellers. By the shady border of some sacred river or Himalayan lake they built their altar of fire,
grazed their cattle, harvested wild rice and fruits for their food, lived with their wives and children in the bosom of primeval nature, meditated upon the deepest problems of the soul and made it their object of life to grow in sympathy with all creation and in communion with the Supreme Being. There students flocked round them and had their lessons of immortal life in
the atmosphere of truth, peace and freedom of the spirit.
..............................................................................
Shantiniketan was originally a bare spot in the middle of open country, and was notorious for being the haunt of dacoits. It was to this spot that Maharshi Devendranath came on one of his journeys, and he was so deeply attracted to the place that he pitched his tent under three trees, which were the only trees then to be seen there, and for weeks at a time would live there
spending his time in meditation and prayer. These trees are still to be seen, with the wide open plain stretching out before them to the Western horizon, and on the marble slab which marks the place of his meditation can be seen the words which filled his mind as the Maharshi meditated upon God.
"He is the repose of my life
the joy of my heart,
the peace of my spirit
...............................................................................
To the Western eye the outward aspect of the School would suggest poverty, but this is due to the ideal which has always been followed in India wherever true education has been the end
and purpose in view. The emphasis on efficient and expensive equipment which is a characteristic feature of institutions of learning in the West has never been accepted in India where
simplicity of living is regarded as one of the most important factors in true education.
...............................................................................
Who was Rabindranath Tagore?
Rabindranath Tagore (Bengali:1861 – 1941)] was a Bengali polymath. As a poet, novelist, musician, and playwright, he reshaped Bengali literature and music in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. As author of Gitanjali and its "profoundly sensitive, fresh and beautiful verse" being the first non-European to win the 1913 Nobel Prize in Literature], Tagore was perhaps the most important literary figure of Bengali literature and a mesmerising representative of the Indian culture whose influence and popularity internationally perhaps could only be compared to that of Gandhi whom Tagore named 'Mahatma' out of his deep admiration for him.
A Pirali Brahmin from Calcutta, Tagore wrote poems at age eight. At age sixteen, he published his first substantial poetry under the pseudonym Bhanushingho ("Sun Lion") and wrote his first short stories and dramas in 1877. Tagore denounced the British Raj and supported independence. His efforts endure in his vast canon and in the institution he founded, Visva-Bharati University.
Tagore modernised Bengali art by spurning rigid classical forms. His novels, stories, songs, dance-dramas, and essays spoke to political and personal topics. Gitanjali (Song Offerings), Gora (Fair-Faced), and Ghare-Baire (The Home and the World) are his best-known works, and his verse, short stories, and novels were acclaimed for their lyricism, colloquialism, naturalism, and contemplation. Tagore was perhaps the only litterateur who penned anthems of two countries: Bangladesh and India: Amar Shonar Bangla and Jana Gana Mana.
126 pages, Kindle Edition
First published January 1, 1999
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March 15, 2022
«Las obras del hombre tienen el estigma de muerte que tienen, porque la mayor parte de nuestras actividades carecen de sentido y porque nuestras enerjías las empleamos en abastecernos de cosas y placeres sin eternidad en el fondo. Por eso intentamos dar a todo, a fuerza de añadiduras, un aspecto de permanencia. El hombre, ansioso de prolongar el placer, intenta sólo sumar, y tememos detenernos por miedo de que algún día todo termine».
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