Rabindranath Tagore (1861–1941), at about the start of the nineteenth century, was advocat‐ ing that the study about religion has to be included in university‐level education in the East. The university he envisioned and founded (Visva‐Bharati) included in its curriculum such a study. Shortly a er India’s regaining independence in 1947 and becoming a secular state, that institution was inaugurated as a central university with an advanced institute for philosophy and the study of religion. This essay answers whether his (...) understanding of studying religion would accommodate the approach to the academic study of religion associated with the mod‐ ern Western research university. It also inquires the extent that the curriculum for the study of religion at Visva‐Bharati evidences such an approach. The answers it advances draw primarily on his two essays, Eastern University and Hindu University, which o er his vision of univer‐ sity level education; on commissioned reports for higher level education in the new India as a secular state; on developments in the academic study of religion in the West, especially the United States; on the relatively recent revised curriculum for such a study at Visva‐Bharati University; and on ideas of social imaginary and the comparative study of religion articulated by Western scholars. (shrink)

Study of religion describes, analyzes and compares how certain human beings do in fact express their faith in terms of particular scriptures, religious figures, sacred rituals, community solidarity, etc. — and how all these explicitly religious phenomena may relate to other aspects of people’s lives. It also aspires and addresses the questions to be even-handed, objective, based on evidence that may be checked by any competent inquirer, and non-committal on claims to divine revelation and authority. It is in principle comparative, (...) not in a judgmental evaluative sense, but in terms of describing and analysing comparable elements or phenomena from various religious traditions, using the same criteria in each case. The paper begins with a brief report on the study of religion in the context of India and presents in detail Rabindranath Tagore’s (1861–1941) views on the need, an objective and philosophy behind the comparative study of religion. As Tagore observes, when studying religion one usually chooses among two alternative approaches: to do research on the secret text or to study the rituals. Tagore accepts fully none of them and instead suggests to rediscover how human aspiration for transcendence works in practice, how it sustains the individual — often marginalized by the power of institutionalised religion — and society, and how it generates new cultural forms. For Tagore, the essence of religion lies is the will to transcend the limit of the self-cantered being towards an ideal of perfection — which he calls divinity of Man. His understanding of the “religion of Man”, as he puts it, is discussed in the major part of the paper. (shrink)

in this article I tried to show the present scenario of educational structure of India which is far away from the vision of Tagorean Brahmacharyasram.

Rabindranath Tagore (1861–1941), one of the greatest contemporary Indian thinkers, discussed the problem of religion and faith on the ground of global pluralism and religious diversity. He presented his views in numerous poetical works (including Gitanjali, a collection of Song offerings translated into English, for which he was awarded with the Noble Prize in literature in 1913), but he also delivered many speeches, mostly addressed to the Western audience (e.g. The religion of Man). In his writing, Tagore often (...) uses the terms “religion” and dharma interchangeably. This article focuses on both key terms and on the question whether they may be seen as equivalent according to him. Does he really equalize both terms? or, How was his understanding of “religion” and dharma influenced by his cultural background? The article opens with the analyse of the dictionary definitions of both key terms. Next, at the basis of dictionary explanation the main question is raised: whether “religion” and dharma could be treated as equivalents in their whole range of meanings or should their understanding be limited to a chosen definition or definitions? In the following section, Tagore’s concept of the so called “Man the Eternal” and “Divinity in Man” is briefly described. Final comments include some remarks on both terms explained in the light of Tagore’s view on comparative methodology. He claims that “religion” and dharma are close in meaning, since they both stand for the rational description of the individual experience of divinity. Therefore, they may ultimately lead to the common end, regardless their different cultural roots and various circumstances in which both concepts developed. Tagore argues for freedom as the preliminary condition for understanding of the phenomenon of transcendence of human nature towards the experience of divinity. He understands freedom as perfect harmony realized in this world but not merely through our response to it in knowing but in being. Only when such an approach is accepted the experience of “Man the Eternal” can be achieved. In this respect all human beings may meet, regardless they come from Western or Eastern culture. Such an exposition of the core of religious experience allows us to use the terms of “religion” and dharma interchangeably, and thus contribute to the comparative methodology in religious studies. (shrink)

The following discourse is a brief yet appealing comparative analysis of two viewpoints on the same subject of Karma Yoga (detached 'witness–consciousness' through action) written separately by two stalwarts of Indian philosophy: Rabindranath Tagore (1915) and Swami Vivekananda (1896).

Here in this article I tried to compare between the educational theories of Sri Aurobindo and Rabindranath Tagore.

This book is about the coming together of two great polyglot geniuses who were also autodidacts, who were concerned with the other’s nation, but though glorified in their own countries, remain relatively unknown in the nations of the other. Their friendship is, in many ways, a representation of the friendship of the East and the West, albeit more of a conceptual exchange than cultural. The nineteenth and twentieth centuries were witness to the interchange of ideas among the East and West (...) at various levels and at an enormous magnitude. Rabindranath Tagore and Patrick Geddes are great representatives of that era. Their interaction led to an influence on their works, even outside of the topics they discussed. Geddes influenced Tagore’s writings and Tagore influenced Geddes’s architecture, both subjects, which they did not discuss among them, at least not in depth. (shrink)

This is a review of Guh'as magnum opus which honestly problematises Tagore's Mussolini episode.

In this book the author has equated Swaraj with Mahatma Gandhi’s ‘self-rule’, Bal Gangadhar Tilak’s ‘birthright for freedom’, Aurobindo’s ‘Sanatana Dharma’, Raja Rammohun Roy’s ‘individual liberty’, Rabindranath Tagore’s ‘humanity’, and Swami Vivekananda’s ‘love of the motherland’.

This is my first book from Partridge International In Association with Penguin Random House in 2018. I wanted to enrich self through my creativity on selected topics as far as a Google Scholar.

This is a reading of Spivak as an heir to Sri Avinavagupta and Sri Ramakrishna. We ignore the fact that Spivak is a Shakta in her corpus. This review corrects/revises our understanding of Spivak and reinstates her as she really deserves to be read: she is within the traditions of Tantra. Spivak, in her own writings and interviews, has long spoken of her Tantric roots. This review in Prabuddha Bharata, which is the mouthpiece of the Ramakrishna Mission whose disciple Spivak (...) is, published this review because it carries on, as it were, the cultural work of analysing the precomprehensible in Spivak. There is a typo in the review since nothing in this world is or can be, perfect! (shrink)

Bashabi Fraser is known the world over as a Scottish-Bengali aka diasporic writer. Further she has also been slotted as a feminist scholar with a huge corpus on Tagore. This essay proves the fallacy of such pigeon-holeing of Fraser and shows that she is as mainstream as Yeats and even before that, like unto Blake. The essay also makes a point for rejecting every other mode of poetry except the Romantic mode. It established the Vedantic nature of the poetic (...) genius. The endnotes are copious and comment on how/why/(what of) Fraser should compulsory reading at which age. The essay speaks at length on the nature of poetry. It stresses the value of Vedanta in assessing true poetry written even in English. This essay is also valuable since it has within it acute observations on Fraser as a Tagore scholar. (shrink)

Mahatma Gandhi’s name is familiar to such a degree that there is hardly any person who does not consider him to be a friend of mankind. There can be hardly found any aspects of human life, where Gandhi did not contribute. His thought and activities aimed at fostering courage and fearlessness among the people against any injustice. He was a mystic and religious man in personal life, a great social reformer, one of the greatest political activist, an educationist, etc. Millions (...) of people around this world have found in this many-splendor life a ‘spiritual power’, that has given the masses not only their unity, power to awaken themselves, but also the majesty that has made Gandhi a ‘Mahātmā’, the great soul (the name given by the great poet Rabindranath Tagore). This exceptional status is attributed to him due to the fact that he combined in himself some exceptional social, political, spiritual virtues. In this paper, my attempt would be to highlight some of these virtues of Gandhi’s life and activities, through which he has become popular as ‘Mahātmā’ in this world. I have also pointed out the relevance of Gandhian thought in the present materialistic world. -/- Keywords: Mahatma, Truth, Non-violence, Sarvodaya, Satyagraha. (shrink)

Twenty first century is posing unprecedented challenges for the human existence and development. This era has witnessed awesome economic & technological growth, increased connectedness but great poverty, malnutrition, anxiety, mental stress and environmental degradation. Thus, this time depicts great contradiction, uncertainty, and risk. Accordingly, in this era a holistic education system has to deal with the challenges such as population growth, terrorism, environmental degradation, hegemony of machines, mental stress, cultivating creativity, bridging the skill and wisdom gap, and expanding human potential (...) etc. To find a sustainable solution to such challenges, we need to develop a holistic education system which acknowledges various dimension of human being. For this task, this paper will try to highlight some philosophical themes which are commonly suggested by various prominent thinkers such as M.K. Gandhi, R.N. Tagore, J. Krishnamurti, S. Radhakrishnan etc. in India, and J. Dewey, I. Illich, and B. Russell etc. in the west. They have put forward their philosophy to discuss the aims of education which are relevant to this century. In this paper, we will analyze their views from the perspective of the challenges that the twenty-first century world is going to face. Our investigation will analyze agreements and disagreements among the approaches taken by these educators. However, the focus will be on the commonalities, so that we can identify some philosophical themes which can work as the solid foundation for holistic model of education. (shrink)

Most of the people say, Tagore’s ‘Shesher Kabita’ is the story of Amit Roy. The question arise, who is this Amit Roy? Is Rabindranath Tagore’s Shesher Kabita’ realy a just story of Amit Roy? We know, this Amit Roy and his revolutionary theory of devine love is note of admiration till now. There has been a lot of debate regarding its acceptability of new theory of love. As a male character, so far priority was given to Amit Roy, (...) whether the similar importance was given to female characters? The present paper attempts to explore the answer of these questions and review the novel with analyzing various characters. (shrink)

This book documents the sublime and deep thoughts of great people worldwide on Sri Ramakrishna and Swami Vivekananda. While some had the privilege of meeting these divine personages, others have been deeply influenced by their life and teachings. A revised edition of the earlier book, this volume contains much new material like facsimiles of the tributes of Mahatma Gandhi and Rabindranath Tagore.