This is a poem by the Bengali poet, Rabindranath Tagore, as part of Arianna Scott’s public poetry project. Please feel free to comment below a few sentences or even a few words that describe any initial reactions–how the poem makes you feel, what it makes you think of. Always remember to think fearlessly and let your “words come out from the depth of truth.”
Where the Mind Is without Fear:
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 toward 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
Comments
4 responses to “Rabindranath Tagore: Where the Mind Is without Fear”
I love the prayerful nature of the poem. I put the bookmark up in the meditation corner of my desk.
My favorite Line is “Where the clear stream of reason has not lost its way.” I’m looking for that stream. Does one drink from it? Swim in it? Paddle its eddies and turbulence? Beautiful poem.
The beauty of Tagore’s poem, which is perhaps a sentiment applicable to poetry in general, is how timeless and relevant the message still is today. I especially love the “clear stream of reason [which] has not lost its way” that lends itelf to “ever-widening thought and action.” Thanks for sharing, Arianna, and for the bookmarks!
Thank you for sharing the poem and the bookmark. “Where the mind is without fear”, one can dare to be different and witness in one’s life “the depth of truth”. Thus dare to awaken minds and hearts not just on a personal level, but societal/global as well. Dare…