quotes on nationalism by rabindranath tagore

Nationalism is a great menace. In trying to avoid collisions she set up boundaries of immovable walls, thus giving to her numerous races the negative benefit of peace and order but not the positive opportunity of expansion and movement.

This problem of race unity which we have been trying to solve for so many years has likewise to be faced by you here in America. And we are content in India to suffer for such a great cause. Patriotism refers to the love which one has for his or her nation. It must be remembered that at the beginning of the British rule in India our industries were suppressed and since then we have not met with any real help or encouragement to enable us to make a stand against the monster commercial organizations of the world. The temptation which is fatal for the strong is still more so for the weak. It is the extinguishing of the flame because day is come.

For you have not got over your attitude of caste toward them. By this device the people which loves freedom perpetuates slavery in a large portion of the world with the comfortable feeling of pride of having done its duty; men who are naturally just can be cruelly unjust both in their act and their thought, accompanied by a feeling that they are helping the world in receiving its deserts; men who are honest can blindly go on robbing others of their human rights for self-aggrandizement, all the while abusing the deprived for not deserving better treatment. It is like a man whose legs have become shrivelled and useless, trying to delude himself that these limbs have grown still because they have attained their ultimate salvation, and all that is wrong about him is the shortness of his sticks. Politics in the West have dominated Western ideals, and we in India are trying to imitate you. What he spoke almost eight decades ago with so much confidence is still a risky topic to write on. India is no beggar of the West.

"Even though from childhood I had been taught that idolatry of the Nation is almost better than reverence for God and humanity, I believe I have outgrown that teaching, and it is my conviction that my countrymen will truly gain their India by fighting against the education which teaches them that a country is greater than the ideals of humanity.

It is an extremely natural instinct and it is practically impossible to shake off that attachment. The same thing happened where she tried to ward off the collisions of trade interests. A mind all logic is like a knife all blade.

The passions which are unbridled in them are creating huge organizations of slavery in the disguise of freedom.

Those who are enamoured of their political power and gloat over their extension of dominion over foreign races gradually surrender their own freedom and humanity to the organizations necessary for holding other peoples in slavery. In this work we must take all risks and go on doing our duties which by right are ours, though in the teeth of persecution; winning moral victory at every step, by our failure, and suffering. In this day and age, when not standing up when the national anthem (ironically, the composition of none other than Tagore himself) is played can invite censure and even violence, Tagore's writings can make us realize the dangers of assertive nationalism, provided we have the patience to read his writings and the common sense to think about them.

Death is not extinguishing the light; it is only putting out the lamp because the dawn has come. How could Tagore, a believer in humanity above any nation, support such an ideology?

Four years after Tagore's death, Japan suffered the worst of its disasters in recorded history. Be it said to the credit of India that this diversity was not her own creation; she has had to accept it as a fact from the beginning of her history.

It is just the opposite of what Europe truly is, namely one country made into many. You are the country of expectation, desiring something else than what is. Thus Europe in its culture and growth has had the advantage of the strength of the many, as well as the strength of the one. It would be mischievous if the gifts we wish for were granted to us right now, and I have told my countrymen, time and time again, to combine for the work of creating opportunities to give vent to our spirit of self-sacrifice, and not for the purpose of begging.

This is why she is growing incapable of imparting to the East what is best in herself, and of accepting in a right spirit the wisdom that the East has stored for centuries.

And yet I will persist in believing that there is such a thing as the harmony of completeness in humanity, where poverty does not take away his riches, where defeat may lead him to victory, death to immortality, and in the compensation of Eternal Justice those who are the last may yet have their insult transmuted into a golden triumph. The social habit of mind which impels us to make the life of our fellow-beings a burden to them where they differ from us even in such a thing as their choice of food is sure to persist in our political organization and result in creating engines of coercion to crush every rational difference which, is the sign of life.

But India tolerated difference of races from the first, and that spirit of toleration has acted all through her history. We must remember whatever weakness we cherish in our society will become the source of danger in politics.

India, on the contrary, being naturally many, yet adventitiously one has all along suffered from the looseness of its diversity and the feebleness of its unity. She treated life in all truth where it is manifold, but insulted it where it is ever moving. Now they have become imaginary lines of tradition divested of the qualities of real obstacles. An automobile does not create freedom of movement, because it is a mere machine.

If he is lured by them he is lost. This attitude of apathy and contempt is natural where the relationship is abnormal and founded upon national selfishness and pride. I do not believe in an exclusive political interest. This is the reason why we think that our one task is to build a political miracle of freedom upon the quicksand of social slavery.

The swimmer who is an expert does not exhibit his muscular force by violent movements, but exhibits some power which is invisible and which shows itself in perfect grace and reposefulness.

Many people in this country ask me what is happening as to the caste distinctions in India.

This community is called the 'nation' which is bound together by a common history as well as a united government and all other distinctions of religion, race, caste, etc. They had no sympathy with the special problems of India. Must-read essay: What Rabindranath Tagore really thought of nationalism Getty Images. Anyhow our ideals have been evolved through our own history and even if we wished we could only make poor fireworks of them, because their materials are different from yours, as is also their moral purpose. In finding the solution of our problem we shall have helped to solve the world problem as well. But let us not for that provocation be precipitate in our desire to dismiss our lamps. It is completely against their nature to do so. Therefore they think that all their energies need their only scope in the political field.

To have perfect combination among themselves and a watchful attitude of animosity against others was taken as the solution of their problems. And can a civilization ignore the law of moral health and go on in its endless process of inflation by gorging upon material things?

And this is the reason why the educated community of India has become insensible of her social needs. If you have any questions or concerns regarding any content published here, feel free to contact us using the Contact link below. They wish to gain autonomy as far as possible. No HTML formatting and links to other web sites are allowed. Then again we must give full recognition to this fact that our social restrictions are still tyrannical, so much so as to make men cowards.

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