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Saturday, July 24, 2010

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 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."

- Gurudev Rabindranath Tagore, Noble Laureate, Literature, 1913

Tagore's poem is a prayer of universal appeal. It is also a vision and a mission.

It is a vision, a mission and a prayer not only for my country, but for all mankind, especially in these times of conflict all over the world; replace the 'my country' with 'me' and it is a vision, a mission and a prayer for each one of us.