Rabindranath Tagore: A Great Guru in Ideological Sense

We live in the world when we love it.”

“Universities are factories for making great men and teachers are the artisans who make them.”

      Kabi Guru Rabindranath Tagore

Rabindranath Tagore was a multi-faceted genius. He was a true nationalist also. His philosophy of life was as broad as that of the ancient sages. He believed in the oneness of mankind. He saw unity among the external diversities of the world. He believed that God is the eternal ideal of perfection and man is the process of achieving that perfection.

He was a philosopher and educationist who founded a university that challenged conventional education. He was a painter who played an important role in modernizing Bengali art. Rabindranath Tagore is known fondly by the sobriquet Gurudev. He was a poet, visual artist, playwright, novelist, educationist, social reformer, nationalist, business manager, and composer whose works reshaped Bengali literature and music in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Tagore was a great guru in an ideological sense too as he always advocated for unfettered learning.

He was known as "Kabi Guru" because he was a renowned poet and a spiritual leader from India. The title "Kabi Guru" signifies his exceptional skills as a poet and his influential role as a teacher or guide in the world of literature and culture. As soon as one hears the name of Rabindranath Tagore, a sense of respect, awe and inspiration arises in the mind of the Indians. Also, the curiosity to know more about his versatility increases.

Although his achievements remain countless, yet there are some of his unique works that will keep inspiring us forever, which the new generation of our country must be aware of:

•  Rabindranath Tagore was the thirteenth child of his parents. As a child, he was affectionately called 'Rabi'. At the age of eight, he wrote his first poem, and at the age of sixteen, he started writing stories and plays.
• He was the visionary who breathed new life into Indian cultural consciousness through Bengali literature. 
• In 1913, he was the first non-European and first Asian to win the Nobel Prize in Literature. He was awarded the Nobel Prize  for composing the world-famous epic Gitanjali. 
• Apart from literature, Tagore, who also specializes in the field of painting and music, has many highly known works including Gitanjali, Chokher Bali, Gora, Ghare Baire, Kabuliwala, and Char Adhyay.
• There is a Bengali patriotic song written by Rabindranath Tagore in 1905, known as Ekla Chalo Re. It means "If no one comes to hear your call, go alone". It was a slogan of Rabindranath Tagore.  
• Not only this, Rabindranath Tagore was a lover of music and he composed around 2,230 songs in his lifetime. Apart from this, he composed Bengali culture and Hindustani classical music in the thumri style. A philosopher, painter, poet, humanist, storyteller, and novelist, his talent was unmatched. 
• He renounced his knighthood to protest British policies in colonial India after the Jallianwala Bagh massacre. And he stood with the sufferings of Indians. Thus, Rabindranath Tagore also provided political leadership to the country.
• In an effort to challenge traditional methods of classroom education, Tagore founded an entirely new kind of educational institution called Santiniketan where he wanted the study of humanity to be conducted "somewhere beyond the boundaries of nation and geography". Many classes are still held under trees in the open fields.                                                                                                                                                            
•  Later on, Rabindranath Tagore founded Visva-Bharati University in 1921 at Santiniketan in the Birbhum district of Bengal. For him, Visva-Bharati, means the communion of the world with India. It was declared a Central University in May 1951, for the establishment of which Tagore used the cash received from the Nobel Prize and collected money from all over the world.
• He made Visva-Bharati University a meeting place of all cultures. He wanted to take human beings out of their petty confines and imbue them with the spirit of 'Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam'. Santiniketan became a meeting place of cultures from all over the world where anyone could get an education with respect without distinction of religion, country, or culture.
• There are four fundamental principles in Tagore's educational philosophy; naturalism, humanism, internationalism, and idealism. Shantiniketan and Visva Bharathi are both based on these very principles. He insisted that education should be imparted in natural surroundings.

v  Most people know that Tagore wrote the national anthems of India and Bangladesh – 'Jana Gana Mana' and 'Amar Sonar Bangla' respectively. But, few people know that the national anthem of Sri Lanka was originally based on a Bengali song written by Tagore in 1938. It was translated into Sinhala and adopted as the national anthem in 1951. It was translated by Ananda Samarkun, one of Tagore's students at Visva-Bharati University. Thus, Tagore is the only person who has composed the national anthems of three countries.

 Tagore befriended many Jews, but his friendship remained with Albert Einstein and his friendship made massive international headlines. It was Tagore's dialogue with him that was widely written about. Both Einstein and Tagore believed that the existence of beauty is not possible without an admirer, and requires the sense of value attached to it by man. In this regard, Tagore perpetrated: "Beauty is in the ideal of perfect harmony which is in the Universal Being; Truth the perfect comprehension of the Universal Mind.

 

v  According to a New York Times report, Tagore wrote about Einstein after their first meeting: "There was nothing rigid in him – there was no intellectual separation. He seemed to me someone who valued human relationships and showed genuine interest and understanding towards me." 

v  It was Tagore who conferred the title of 'Mahatma' on Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi in 1915. Experts say that although Tagore admired Mahatma Gandhi immensely and repeatedly expressed his admiration for his leadership, he had a profound difference of opinion with him.

v  Human compassion occupied an important place in Tagore's philosophy of life. He was deeply moved by the poverty of Indians. It massively influenced his vision of life. Rabindranath Tagore wanted a revival of Indian village life and culture. Explaining the cause of India's poverty and how to eliminate it, he laid the greatest emphasis on education – not only the education of children but also of adults. He explored possibilities and paved the way.

By becoming the voice of New India, Rabindranath Tagore was at the forefront of improving the educational standard in the country.

 Rashtrabhakti (patriotism) was not his spiritual refuge. His refuge was humanity. He said, “I wouldn't buy glass in exchange for diamonds. As long as I am alive, I will never allow patriotism to prevail over humanity.”

 A French writer Prof. Fabien Chartier said, 'Tagore is like a legacy for me. I have grown up reading many of his works including Gitanjali since childhood and this is why Rabindranath Tagore is very close to me. This inspired me to research about his works and write a book. Appraising Tagore's philosophy of education as a whole, Dr. H.B. Mukherjee has written – “Tagore was the prophet of modern India's educational resurgence.”

Tagore's contribution to Indian nationalism cannot be forgotten. He was a firm believer in the power of education. He believed that the individual and society could be transformed through the power of education. He was an environmental pioneer and sought harmony between progress and preservation. Rabindranath Tagore's life, achievements, contributions, and teachings have left a deep imprint on the world.

 

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