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Rabindranath Tagore
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Something Rich and Strange: Rabindranath Tagore (1861-1941 ... smuralis.wordpress.com Apr 16, 2012 51 facts
claimIn his 1941 lecture 'Crisis in Civilization', Rabindranath Tagore distinguished between opposing Western imperialism and rejecting Western civilization.
claimMaharshi Debendranath, the father of Rabindranath Tagore, served as a significant leader within the Brahmo Samaj.
perspectiveRabindranath Tagore and Sri Aurobindo are described as having aestheticized their political and ideological wills, leaving their work as an invitation for readers to experience their personal travails and traumas.
claimRabindranath Tagore and Sri Aurobindo viewed education as a framework for the active seeker to discover an essential self that is cosmic and universal.
claimBoth Rabindranath Tagore and Sri Aurobindo advocated for a synthetic vision of human unity, moving from nationalism and patriotism toward internationalism and liberal humanism.
claimAmartya Sen noted that Rabindranath Tagore admired Mahatma Gandhi but disagreed with him on topics including nationalism, patriotism, cultural exchange, the role of rationality and science, and the nature of economic and social development.
accountKalpana Bardhan translated a number of Rabindranath Tagore's songs, categorizing them under the headings: Love, Nature, and Devotion.
perspectiveRabindranath Tagore and Sri Aurobindo did not consider themselves to be academic or systematic philosophers and would not accept the label of 'philosopher'.
perspectiveThe author argues that the life and works of Rabindranath Tagore and Sri Aurobindo remain relevant in the current era of market capitalism because of their capacity to be sensitive to strong feelings and internalize them into profound poetic experiences.
claimRabindranath Tagore's educational philosophy combines Platonic and European Renaissance models but is primarily grounded in Upanishadic ideals.
claimRabindranath Tagore's vision is characterized by what John Keats termed 'negative capability,' defined as the ability to extinguish one's self and reappear in the other.
claimPrince Dwarakanath, the grandfather of Rabindranath Tagore, was a close associate of Raja Ram Mohan Roy.
referenceKathleen M. O’Connell authored the work 'Rabindranath Tagore on Education,' which is available at the infed.org website.
referenceKalpana Bardhan notes that in Rabindranath Tagore's songs, words are not secondary to melody, but are of equal or greater significance, serving as verbal, subtle delineations of complex emotions.
accountRabindranath Tagore frequently returned to Santiniketan to regather himself as a poet and recluse.
claimRabindranath Tagore and Sri Aurobindo were both poets who maintained their poetic spirits throughout their lives and believed that the diversities of the world could only be resolved through poetic experience.
claimRabindranath Tagore and Sri Aurobindo were both essentially poets whose unique poetic sensibilities provided them with a visionary eye for philosophizing.
quoteRabindranath Tagore stated: "I was brought up in an atmosphere of aspiration, aspiration for the expansion of the human spirit. We in our home sought freedom of power in our language, freedom of imagination in our literature, freedom of soul in our religious creeds and that of mind in our social environment. Such an opportunity has given me confidence in the power of education which is one with life and only which can give us real freedom, the highest that is claimed for man, his freedom of moral communion in the human world…."
quoteRabindranath Tagore dictated the following lines about a week before his death: "The first day’s sun had asked / at the manifestation of new being– who are you? / No answer came. / Year after year went by / The last sun of the day the last question utters / on the western sea shores / in the silent evening – / Who are you? / He gets no answer."
claimRabindranath Tagore (1861-1941) and Sri Aurobindo (1872-1950) were significant figures in the Indian Renaissance who contributed to Indian literary and aesthetic spheres.
claimRabindranath Tagore and Sri Aurobindo, despite perceiving life from unique angles and writing differently, shared a common desire for harmonious, virtuous, and beautiful perfection, which guided them along diverse paths in the same direction.
claimRabindranath Tagore's songs and poems address the immediate present while reaching toward the transcendental, whereas Sri Aurobindo's work traces the immanence of the eternal and spiritual within the present.
referenceKathleen M. O'Connell notes that Rabindranath Tagore's educational theory at Santiniketan was defined by his goal to create a poem 'in a medium other than words,' resulting in an inclusive educational scheme focused on nature and creative self-expression.
claimRabindranath Tagore's educational philosophy is rooted in the soul's aspiration and its urge toward human freedom and expansion, which serves as the inspiration for rebuilding educational systems.
claimRabindranath Tagore invited thinkers and scholars from foreign lands to his institution to demonstrate the ease of realizing common fellowship and to discourage the creation of barriers between people.
claimIn the poetry of Rabindranath Tagore, smaller aspects of life, simple things, and ordinary joys and sorrows are transformed into something rich and strange.
claimRabindranath Tagore stated that India was 'smothered under the dead weight of British administration' while acknowledging that India benefited from exposure to Shakespeare's drama, Byron's poetry, and nineteenth-century English liberalism.
claimIn Rabindranath Tagore's work, the concept of transcendence is characterized as elusive and enduring, likened to the Dark God Krishna dancing with a million Gopis.
claimRabindranath Tagore defines the meaning and object of education as achieving freedom from ignorance regarding the laws of the universe and freedom from passion and prejudice in human communication.
referenceRabindranath Tagore wrote 'Ideals of Education' in The Visva-Bharati Quarterly, published in April-July 1929, pages 73-74.
claimRabindranath Tagore explored various artistic forms including song, short fiction, novels, drama, and visual arts, but his essential self revolved around the poetic.
claimRabindranath Tagore drew inspiration from folk and rural sources, while Sri Aurobindo drew inspiration from Vedic and Puranic sources for myth, metaphor, and substance.
claimRabindranath Tagore and Sri Aurobindo were both raised in an atmosphere of colonial opulence, though their specific educational experiences differed due to their family backgrounds.
claimThe philosophical vision of Rabindranath Tagore and Sri Aurobindo is rooted in the lineage of the Vedas and Upanishads, characterized as simple, sensitive, impassioned, natural, and non-intellectual.
claimRabindranath Tagore was primarily a lyric poet, whereas Sri Aurobindo wrote 'Savitri,' which is described as the longest epic in the English language.
perspectiveThe author contends that while Rabindranath Tagore and Sri Aurobindo pursued various vocations, they were fundamentally poets, and their major vision is essentially poetic.
perspectiveRabindranath Tagore and Sri Aurobindo believed that nationalist politics represented only a small part of human experience, while the larger portion was the desire for a transcendental, ideal selfhood.
referenceKalpana Bardhan authored 'Of Love, Nature, and Devotion: Selected Songs of Rabindranath Tagore,' published in New Delhi by Oxford University Press in 2008.
accountRabindranath Tagore received home tuition and grew up in a creative environment within a sprawling family villa.
accountRabindranath Tagore was a poet and painter who left regular schooling early in life and later founded an alternative school based on his philosophy of creative freedom.
claimRabindranath Tagore and Sri Aurobindo were acutely sensitive to the dangerous ideologies of their respective times, which they believed were leading the world toward crisis and catastrophe.
accountRabindranath Tagore and Sri Aurobindo expressed their anxiety about the state of the world through various forms of creative and intellectual work, including songs, sonnets, poems, letters, fiction, drama, speeches, and treatises.
claimRabindranath Tagore and Sri Aurobindo differed in their working methods; Tagore worked alongside people, while Sri Aurobindo worked in isolation in an Ashram, though he continued to publish his work for the public.
quoteRabindranath Tagore stated: “We must recognize that it is providential that the West has come to India, and yet someone must show the East to the West, and convince the West that the East has her contribution to make to the history of civilization. India is no beggar to the West. And yet even though the West may think she is, I am not for thrusting off Western civilization and becoming segregated in our independence. Let us have a deep association.”
claimThe thematic focus of both Rabindranath Tagore and Sri Aurobindo's work centered on the triad of beauty, love, and truth.
claimRabindranath Tagore and Sri Aurobindo both exhibited a 'double voice' in their work, which is recognizable in their treatment of themes, narrative approaches, and semantic and stylistic choices.
claimRabindranath Tagore's vision is universal, and in Sanskrit aesthetic terms, this process is known as sadharanikarana, or universalisation.
claimRabindranath Tagore attempted to create an atmosphere of naturalness and hospitality in relationships with strangers within his educational institution.
quoteRabindranath Tagore stated: "while the child 'hungers for the Epic we supply him with chronicles of facts and dates.'"
perspectiveRabindranath Tagore and Sri Aurobindo desired to build a world where harmony and understanding reigned over hatred and hostility.
claimRabindranath Tagore's legacy is integrated with the rural, the folk, the commonsensical, and the imaginative, while Sri Aurobindo's vision encompasses a universe conceived in poetic meaning and imaginative aspiration.