Universality of Tagore- Souvenir of a Symposium on Rabindranath Tagore (An Old and Rare Book)

Email

Whatsapp

Facebook

Pinterest

Twitter

Copy link

Some sixty years ago, while commenting on Rabindranath CE. Andrews once wrote: 'Where the forces of racial rivalry and religious division are so strong, it is indeed no small blessing to humanity when a generous voice can be clearly heard. above the discordant tumult of the times, which the whole world welcomes as a messenger and revealer of peace and good will to mankind. Andrews recognized this voice in the thoughts and words of Tagore. And not only he, there were other contemporary intellectuals the world over who thought that Tagore had emerged as a symbol of peace and beauty. Our recent experiences suggest that the 'racial rivalry' and 'religious division of which Andrews had warned us, have brought the world to the brink of disaster feelings of hatred and greed have reached such an extreme that the world is now enmeshed in an upsurge of fratricide. Did Tagore's voice and thought then have no relevance in his own times? Do they never play any role at all, anywhere? Are the utterances of visionaries mere bubbles adorning the vacuum? Or maybe did we not try to realize the significance of their vision? "The key to creation seems to be malice', wrote Jibananda Das, one of our modern poets. And now, when we await every moment an impending nuclear holocaust, should we conclude that the final word of creation is also malice?

Confronted with these questions, conscious people are once again being forced to look back to those visionaries who were able to dream and say, "I want just a small place where I shall try to build up a community of men and women who will recognize no geographical boundaries. They will know one country, and that country will comprise the entire human race. No doubt dreams engendered these words. But at times of distress dreams are the only source of our strength."