Tuesday, August 14, 2007

That heaven of freedom

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
This has been one of favorite poems ever since I was a kid.
And this is my prayer as we celebrate 60 years of independence...

12 comments:

SandyCarlson said...

How beautiful, Bungi. I first came across Tagore when I lived in Ireland. I read the play The Post Office and came across a copy of Gitanjali that became my daily reading. I just posted a YouTube video with his words "the butterfly has not months to live but moments, and it is enough." Beautiful. Such wisdom!

Happy anniversary!

Unknown said...

Hey i love this poem as well... was going to post the same on my blog when i thought i wil pay a visit to your blog!!

hope you are doing well!

Anonymous said...

It's a nice poem. If more country leaders try to follow these ideals, then the world would be a better place.

Anonymous said...

its an unanswered prayer?
a lovely prayer though.. spent time on each and every single line.. he has written this in pain...

Anonymous said...

I really loved this Bungi. Thanks for sharing something so original. I will defintely be coming back for a few more reads of it. Or you know, I could actually just write it down.

That Squirrel said...

Tagore wrote Gitanjali. I haven't even read that yet :p

Bungz said...

Sandy - I really like Tagore's stories. And this portion of the Gitanjali was part of our English reading. I really loved it then and i still love it.

Krithi - Beat you to it! :P I am well. How are you?

Adino - I think a number of them when they aspire to be leaders have good ideals, but i suppose it gets lost in the mundane. Hopefully, i will write a post on that someday.

Chris - It is a lovely prayer indeed. Perhaps the answer is in the hands of the people. I don't know...

Brandy - I am glad you liked it! You can write it down or you can print it too. :P

Anju - Oh, by the way, this is a portion from Gitanjali. I hope you are inspired enough to read it now. :P And actually, i haven't read it either.

Vadapoche said...

I sang this song in our church on Aug 15th, it is a difficult song because each verse has a different tune. But it is an amazing song.

SandyCarlson said...

Stopping by to say hello and see the other feedback. Again, thanks for bringing this great work to the surface again. God bless.

Clover said...

the only gitanjali i know is my sister..
anyway this is nice..
write something soon

Bungz said...

Jollyroger - I didn't know this had a tune to it! Wow! Awesome...

Sandy - Hello, Sandy. I am posting something again. I liked your 'blog your blessing' post.

Gitu - Yes, ma'm. Something on the way. I should hop over to your blog and check it out.

That Squirrel said...

That last line is on a board in Stella right now!