Odyssey of the Enlightened — 41: Pilgrimage to Shantiniketan
After walking a distance of about one mile from Bolpur station, the soothing and enchanting vibrations of Shantiniketan could be easily felt — charming greenery all around, chirping birds, bubbling springs, playful quadrupeds and freely roaming people.
A message in Sanskrit was written on the board at the main entrance to Shantiniketan Campus: Yatra vishvam bhavatyekam needam — meaning, 'a place which is home to all humanity.' This message used to stir the emotions of every passerby. Shriram's heart too was stirred by it. This land had been the Tapsthali of Maharshi Debendranath Thakur, father of Rabindranath Tagore, for about fifty years; and hence each and every particle of it was filled with spiritual vibrations. Maharshi Debendranath left his ancestral home in the year 1861 and made this place his Ashram. He was a renowned scholar, social worker and a spiritual leader of Brahmo Samaj. He favored integration of the best in western culture with the spiritual revelations of Upanishads to eradicate superstitions and outmoded customs from the Hindu society.
Maharshi Laid the Foundation
Debendranath Thakur, due to his upright character and spiritual knowledge, was called Maharshi (great seer) by the people. He laid emphasis on education and opened a number of educational institutions in Bengal. In order to accomplish his spiritual mission, he acquired twenty bighas of land near Bolpur in the year 1861. He constructed a small mansion there called 'Sadhana Kutir.' The place was called 'Shantiniketan.'
It was a sheer coincidence that Rabindranath was born in the same year (1861) in which the land for Shantiniketan was acquired. In 1901, Rabindranath Tagore started teaching in Shantiniketan with five students on rolls. This small beginning was made keeping in mind the basic aims of Gurukuls of ancient times with necessary modifications to make it relevant to the needs of the twentieth century.
Gurudev Gave the Expansion
Shantiniketan, which Shriram saw in 1933, was a grand expansion of the humble beginning made thirty-two years back. A multi-faculty university had been established there twelve years back. Students used to study in the open or under the shade of trees. It was a co-educational institute. The natural and simple environment of the place deeply fascinated Shriram. Apart from imparting formal education to the students, attention was also paid towards their inner growth. There was a rich library on the premises, containing literature of various spiritual traditions of humanity.
No Assistance Taken from the Government
Amiya Roy, an officer of the university, told Shriram: "Had we taken the help of government, we would have to submit to its pressures too. Gurudev Rabindranath won't have been able to give it an independent character." In 1919, when General Dyer's troops fired on an unarmed gathering at Jalianwala Bagh in Amritsar, Gurudev returned his title of 'Sir.'
Rabindranath Tagore wrote a letter to Lord Chelmsford, the Viceroy, renouncing his Knighthood in protest against Jalianwala Bagh mass killings. In the letter he wrote: "The time has come when badges of honour make our shame glaring in the incongruous context of humiliation, and I for my part, wish to stand, shorn of all special distinctions, by the side of those of my countrymen who, for their so-called insignificance, are liable to suffer degradation not fit for human beings."
A Revolutionary Wanderer
Tagore traveled from Calcutta to Peshawar in a bullock cart to organize village panchayats and motivate them to solve the problems of ailing villages and remove poverty. About eighty village panchayats were established during this period. It is Mahatma Gandhi who was impressed by his work and philosophy and addressed him respectfully as 'Gurudev.'
After taking the round of Shantiniketan, Amiya Roy took Shriram to Sriniketan — about three kilometers from the residence of Gurudev. There, vocational education and training had already begun with an eye on the future. Tagore was of the view that villages must be self-dependent.
Shriram asked Amiya Roy: "You don't take any grant from government; there also do not seem to be any special resources. Then how are the expenses of the institution met?" Roy replied: "Whatever royalty accrues from Tagore's books goes to Shantiniketan. The guardians of students also bear partly the cost of education. The fact is that the need of taking assistance from the government was never felt."
Shriram's mind was filled with the memories of Kashi Hindu Vishwa Vidyalaya. In the context of new perception at Shantiniketan combined with those memories, Shriram's mind started making a resolve for establishing a similar institution.
"Education is simply the soul of a society as it passes from one generation to another." — Gilbert K. Chesterton
"What sculpture is to a block of marble, education is to the soul." — Joseph Addison