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Rabindranath Tagore and I Compare Schools

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Brief overview

Yogananda and Tagore compare schools and agree education must draw out inner wisdom, not cram it in.

  1. Schools built on drawing out, not pumping inTagore held that true education can never be crammed from without but must bring the wisdom within spontaneously to the surface.
  2. Two unorthodox schools, many identical featuresRanchi and Santiniketan both taught outdoors and simply; Santiniketan added song and silence, Ranchi added yoga concentration techniques.
  3. The Nobel Prize paid for the schoolTagore began with ten boys in 1901 on his father's land and put all 8,000 pounds of prize money into upkeep.
Executive Summary AI
  • At his Ranchi school Yogananda compliments Bola Nath, a bright fourteen-year-old, on his melodious outbursts, and the boy answers that Rabindranath Tagore taught the children to sing as naturally as birds.
  • Yogananda explains why he was drawn to Tagore: Bengali scholars flayed the poet for mixing colloquial and classical expressions, and one influential critic called him a pigeon poet who sold his cooings in print for a rupee.
  • After Gitanjali was translated into English and won the Nobel Prize for Literature, a trainload of pundits, including his former critics, travelled to Santiniketan, where Tagore heard their praise in stoic silence before asking whether their suddenly acute powers of appreciation had any connection with his award.
  • Invited back about two years after founding Ranchi, Yogananda finds the two unorthodox schools share outdoor instruction, simplicity and scope for the child's creative spirit, while Santiniketan stresses literature, poetry, music and periods of silence and Ranchi teaches the energizing yogoda exercises and yoga concentration techniques.
  • Tagore recounts fleeing school after the fifth grade, starting his experiment on his father Devendranath's land in 1901 with only ten boys, and spending the entire 8,000 pounds of Nobel Prize money on the school's upkeep, which by Yogananda's farewell had grown into the international university Visva Bharati.
Key Quote
“Rabindranath Tagor taught us to sing as a natural form of self-expression, like the birds.”
— Bola Nath
Key Quote
“I am still the same poet who displeased you when I first offered my humble flowers at the shrine of Bengal.”
— Rabindranath Tagore
Key Quote
“I fled from school after the fifth grade”
— Rabindranath Tagore

Transcript

0:00 CHAPTER XXIX. AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF A YOGI.
0:05 This is a LibriVox recording. All LibriVox recordings are in the public domain.
0:11 For more information, or to volunteer, please visit LibriVox.org.
0:17 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF A YOGI by Paramhansa Yogananda
0:20 Rabindranath Tagore and I compare schools. NANANDA. RABIN DRANATH TAGOR AND I COMPARE SCHOOLS.
0:32 Rabindranath Tagor taught us to sing as a natural form of self-expression, like the birds.
0:38 Bola Nath, a bright fourteen-year-old lad at my ranchi school, gave me this explanation after I had complimented him one morning on his melodious outbursts. With or without provocation the boy poured forth a
0:46 tuneful stream. He had previously attended the famous Tagore school of Santi Niketan,
0:53 haven of peace, at Bhopur. The songs of Rabindranath have been on my lips since early youth,
1:00 I told my companion, while Bengal, even the unlettered peasants delight in his lofty verse bolla and i sang together a few refrains from tagore who has set to music thousands of indian poems some original and others of hoary antiquity a Nobel Prize for Literature, I remarked after our vocalizing. I was drawn to visit him because
1:26 I admired his undiplomatic courage in disposing of his literary critics. I chuckled. Bolo curiously
1:33 inquired the story. The scholars severely flayed Tagore for introducing a new style into Bengali
1:40 poetry, I began. He mixed colloquial and classical expressions, ignoring all the prescribed
1:47 limitations near to the pundit's hearts. His songs embodied deep philosophic truth in emotionally
1:53 appealing terms, with little regard for the accepted literary forms. One influential critic
1:59 slightly referred to Rabindranath as a pigeon poet who sold his cooings in print for a rupee.
2:06 But Tagore's revenge was at hand. The whole western world paid homage at his feet soon
2:12 after he translated into English his Gitanjali song offerings. A trainload of pundits,
2:18 including his one-time critics, went to Santiniketatan to offer their congratulations rabindranath received his guests only after an intentionally long delay and then heard their praise in stoic silence finally he turned against them their own habitual weapons of criticism here bestow are incongruously mingled with the putrid orders of your past contempt. Is there
2:46 possibly any connection between my award of the Nobel Prize and your suddenly acute powers of
2:53 appreciation? I am still the same poet who displeased you when I first offered my humble
2:58 flowers at the shrine of Bengal. The newspapers published an account of the bold chastisement given by tagore i admired the outspoken words of a man unhypnotized by flattery i went on i was introduced to rabindranath in calcutta by his secretary mr c f andrews
3:17 footnote the english writer and publicist close friend of mahatma gandhi mr andrews is is honored in India for his many services to his adopted land.
3:27 End of footnote. Who was simply attired in a Bengali dhoti, he referred lovingly to Tagore
3:33 as his Guru Deva. Rabindranath received me graciously. He emanated a soothing aura of
3:39 charm, culture, and courtliness. Replying to my question about his literary background,
3:46 Tagore told me that one ancient source of his inspiration, besides our religious epics, had been the classical poet
3:51 Vidyapati. Inspired by these memories, I began to sing Tagore's version of an old Bengali song,
3:58 Light the Lamp of Thy Love. Bola and I chanted joyously as we strolled over the Vidyalaya grounds. About two
4:07 years after founding the Ranchi school, I received an invitation from Rabindranath to visit him at
4:13 Santiniketan in order to discuss our educational ideals. I went gladly. The poet was seated in his
4:20 study when I entered. I thought then, as at our first meeting, that he was as striking a model of
4:25 superb manhood as any painter could desire. His beautifully chiseled face, nobly patrician,
4:32 was framed in long hair and flowing beard, large melting eyes, an angelic smile, and a voice of
4:39 flute-like quality which was literally enchanting. Stalirt, tall and grave, he combined an almost womanly
4:46 tenderness with the delightful spontaneity of a child. No idealized conception of a poet could
4:52 find more suitable embodiment than in this gentle singer. Tagore and I were soon deep in a comparative
4:59 study of our schools, both founded along unorthodox lines we discovered many identical features outdoor instruction simplicity ample scope for the child's creative spirit
5:11 rabindranath however laid considerable stress on the study of literature and poetry and the self-expression through music and song which i had already noted in the case of bola the santiniketan children observed periods of silence, but were given no special yoga
5:26 training. The poet listened with flattering attention to my description of the energizing

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