Celebrating 150th Birth Anniversary of Gurudev Rabindranath Tagore IIT Patna

Where the mind is without fear and the head is held high Where knowledge is free Where the world has not been broken up into fragments By narrow domestic walls Where words come out from the depth 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 my country awake.

Rabindranath Tagore, born on 9th May 1861

Tagore beyond cult

Composer of our National anthem First Indian to win Nobel Prize
Novelist Poet Playwright Choreographer Painter Teacher Administrator Educationalist Rural Planner Religious Reformer Statesman Philanthropist Political Visionary Entrepreneur Economic Reformer Philosopher Linguist Activist

Debate with Bapu

Formerly, in Europe, people ploughed their lands mainly by manual labor. Now, one man can plough a vast tract by means of steam engines and can thus amass great wealth. Formerly, when people wanted to fight with one another, they measured between them their bodily strength; now it is possible to take away thousands of lives by one man working behind a gun from a hill This civilization is irreligion, and it has taken such a hold on the people in Europe that those who are in it appear to be half mad. According to the teaching of Mohammed this would be considered a Satanic Civilization. Hinduism calls it a Black Age. It must be shunned. Hind Swaraj Independence is not merely for producing ones own cloth. To eradicate the root of captivity from our mind we need knowledge, we need science. I do not want my house to be walled in on all sides and my windows to be stuffed. to call upon man to make the easiest of offerings to the smallest of gods is the greatest of insults to his manhood. To ask all the millions of our people to spin the Charkha is as bad as offering the tomato to Jagannath. Religion or politics cannot replace economics as they cannot feed people or give them a better livelihood. European civilization has promoted all aspects of freedom wealth and power but neglected human dignity. The Call of Truth

self-sufficient village based economy minimal use of modern technology limiting our needs

co-operative economic movement understanding the technology and using it with dignity endless quest for knowledge

Drama Muktadhara - Politics of Big Dams

State of Uttarakut ruled over people of Shivatarai Uttarkut restricted trade of Shivatarai by putting wall on Nandisankata pass River Muktadhara connected Shivatarai with Uttarakut on which Uttarakut built a Dam Shivatarai people destroyed the wall and started free exchange of trade and labour with outer world Uttarakut king decided to dry up Shivatarai by controlling flow of Muktadhara Uttarakut prince joined Shivatarai people and demolished the dam Tagore praised great Vibhuti of human innovation Advocated for free exchange of trade and labor But asserted that life and environment is gift of god and human cannot take that away from others

AchalayatanAchalayatan- Brahminical Accumulation of Knowledge

An academy that practices learning without understanding knowledge without application Access restricted for commoners, burocratic hierarchy in education Training minds as per kings order. Guru came with an army of labors and peasants destroyed the hierarchy Guru ordered the academy to open for commoners as it is the doer who needs this knowledge primarily Tagores philosophy was deep routed in Upanishada where quest for knowledge is the sole drive for human action. Knowledge is immortality. Knowledge cannot be acquired without action and application

RaktakarabiRaktakarabi- Conflicts within Capitalism

Denounces a system where the sole motivation is profit Exploitation comes not only in terms of underpayment and oppression but also from disrespect to human identity: treating man as machine, uprooting man from nature Labours protest, king came out and joind the to rebels Burocracy opposed the king, opposed the changes- king utters: My machines do not obey me
I have no doubt in my mind that the West owes its true greatness, not so much to its marvellous training of intellect, as to its spirit of service devoted to the welfare of man. Therefore I speak with a personal feeling of pain and sadness about the collective power which is guiding the helm of Western civilisation. It is a passion, not an ideal. The more success it has brought to Europe, the more costly it will prove to her at last, when the accounts have to be rendered. The civilisation appears to me as sandwiching mankind by stones up and bottom. Though it appears shining from outside, natures own laws are being neglected and once nature will come out with its own justice and take revenge. East and West

Blessings of a Technological World

In Asia, Japan was first to realize that to confront the mighty Europe they also have to be equal in technical power. They assimilated European technology but not mimicked it.
In Japan I have come to my last pilgrimage. I heard about enormous difficulties for them but I have seen them overcoming difficulties. They progressed with advancement in technologies and distributed the fruit among many. The arid lands of far places like Turkmenistan is chosen for industrialization and they sent unskilled local labors to big industries for advanced training. They are spending huge money for overall education and also looking after complete development of human being. I saw so many schools and dispensaries in Moscow. And every thing is possible as profit is not their main motif. Letters from Russia Introduction of small scale industries in Sreeniketan Agro-engineering Gandhiji on IISC Inauguration Ceremony: Just as some of the experiments in your laboratories go on for twenty-four hours, let the big corner in your heart remain perpetually warm for the benefit of the poor millions. I tell you, you can devise a far greater wireless instrument, which does not require external research ,but internal and all research will be useless if it is not allied to internal research, which can link your hearts with those of the millions.

So, great minds think alike