Rabindranath Tagore

Where the Mind is Without Fear

“Where the mind is Without Fear” by Rabindranath Tagore is one of his vastly read and discuss poems. It was originally composed in Bengali possibly in 1900 under the title “Prarthana”, meaning prayer. ... The poem is written in the form of a prayer to the God, the Almighty for a true freedom for his country.

This poem in this selection has been taken from his English ‘Gitanjali’. Tagore had deep religious roots and his work reflects profound humanism. He was both a patriot and a global citizen. In the poem, ‘Where the Mind Is without Fear’, Tagore sketches a moving picture of the nation he would like India to be.

His poem “Where the Mind is Without Fear” perhaps best sums up his ideas:

Where the mind is without fear and the head is held high

Where knowledge is freedom.

Where the world has not been broken up into fragments

By narrow domestic walls

Where words come out from the depths of truth.

Where tireless striving stretches its arms towards perfection.

Where the clear stream of reason has not lost its way

Into the dreary desert sand of dead habit.

Where the mind is led forward by thee

Into ever-widening thought and action.

Into that heaven of freedom, my Father, let me awake

Into that heaven of freedom, my Father, let us all awake.

(Gitanjali, poem 35 [3]).

 - Guru Rabindranath Tagore

जहाँ मन भय से मुक्त हो

जहाँ मन भय से मुक्त हो और मस्तक सम्मान से उठा हो।

जहाँ ज्ञान स्वतन्त्र हो। जहाँ सन्सार संकीर्ण घरेलू दीवरों से टुक्डों में ना तोडा गया हो।

जहाँ विचार सच्चाई की गहराई से उपजतें हों।

जहाँ अथक प्रयास अपनी बाहें पूर्णता की ओर बढातें हो।

जहाँ विवेक की निर्मल धारा अन्ध-विश्वासों के मरुथल की नकारात्मक रेत में ना खो गयी हो।

जहाँ मन आपसे प्रेरित हो कर निरन्तर-प्रगतिशील विचारों और कर्मठता की ओर बढता हो।

उस स्वतन्त्रता के स्वर्ग में, हे परमपिता ! मेरे देश को जागृत कर दें।

                                                                                                    गुरू रवीन्द्रनाथ टैगोर

About the Poet

Rabindranath Tagore is to Indians what Shakespeare is to the English.

He founded Shanti Niketan which promotes a different philosophy of teaching. A few of his famous works are Geetanjali, Kabuliwala, etc. He won Nobel Prize for Literature for his work “Geetanjali”.