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 THE LIBRARY

The Ontario Institute

for Studies in Education

Toronto, Canada
 LIBRARY
THE ONTARIO INSTITUTE
FOR STUDIES IN EDUCATION
TORONTO. CANADA
MAY 1

fi£N*LL fooKSHQ
SHANTINIKETAN
THE BOLPUR SCHOOL OF
RABINDRANATH TAGORE
 THE MACMILLAN COMPANY
TXBYT YORK BOSTON CHICAGO • DALLAS
• •

ATLANTA SAN FRANCISCO

•

MACMILLAN & CO., Limited

LONDON •
BOMBAY CALCUTTA
•

MELBOURNE
THE MACMILLAN CO. OF CANADA, Ltd.
TORONTO
SHANTINIKETAN
THE
BOLPUR SCHOOL
OF

RABINDRANATH TAGORE

BY
W. W. PEARSON

ILLUSTRATED BY
MUKUL CHANDRA DEY

ihto gorfe

THE MACMILLAN COMPANY

1916
All Rights Reserved
 Copyright 1916
By THE MACMILLAN COMPANY
Set up and eletrotyped, Published November 1916.
 TO
JADAV
 CONTENTS

The Shantiniketan School Song ... 13

Introduction by Rabindranath Tagore . 17

Shantiniketan by W. W. Pearson ... 27

The Gift to the Guru 81

'
SHANTINIKETAN
THE BOLPUR SCHOOL OF
RABINDRANATH TAGORE
 The Shantiniketan School Song
by rabindranath tagore

Translated from the original Bengali by the author

She is our own, the darling of our hearts, the

Shantiniketan.
Our dreams are rocked in her arms.
Her face is a fresh wonder of love everytime we see

her,
For she is our own, the darling of our heart.

In the shadows of her trees we meet,

In the freedom of her open sky.
Her mornings come and her evenings
Bringing down heaven s kisses,
Making us feel anew that she is our own, the

darling of our heart.

The shades is stirred by the wood-
stillness of her

land whisper;
Her amlaki groves are aquiver with the rapture of
leaves.

She dwells in us and around us however far we

may wander.
She weaves our hearts in a song making us one in
music,
Tuning our strings of love with her own fingers,
And we ever remember that she is our own, the
darling of our heart.
SHANTINIKETAN
INTRODUCTION BY
RABINDRANATH TAGORE
 INTRODUCTION
RABINDRANATH TAGORE

The greatest teachers in ancient India, whose

names are still remembered, were forest dwellers.

By the shady border of some sacred river or

Himalayan lake they built their altar of fire,

grazed their cattle, harvested wild rice and fruits

for their food, lived with their wives and children

in the bosom of primeval nature, meditated
upon the deepest problems of the soul and made
it their object of life to grow in sympathy
with all creation and in communion with the

Supreme Being. There students flocked round

them and had their lessons of immortal life in
the atmosphere of truth, peace and freedom of
the spirit.
18 SHANTINIKETAN
Though in later ages circumstances changed
and numerouskingdoms, great and small,
flourished in wealth and power, and forests

began to give way to towns with multiplication

of luxuries in the homes of the rich, the highest
ideals of civilization in our country ever re-
mained the ideals of those forest sanctuaries.
All our great classic poets in their epic verses
and dramas looked back with reverence upon
that golden daybreak of the awakenment of
India's soul.
In the modern time my turn has also come to
dream of that age towering above all ages of the
subsequent history in the greatness of its sim-
plicity and wisdom of pure life. While spending
a great part of my youth in the riverside solitude

of the sandbanks of the Padma a time came

when I woke up to the call of the spirit of my
country and felt impelled to dedicate my life in

furthering the purpose that lies in the heart of her

history. I seemed choked for breath in the hide-

ous nightmare of our present time, meaningless

 SHANTINIKETAN 19

in its petty ambitions of poverty, and felt

in me the struggle of my motherland for awaken-

ing in spiritual emancipation. Our endeavours

after political agitation seemed to me unreal to
the core and pitifully feeble in their utter help-
lessness. I felt that it is a blessing of providence
that begging should be an unprofitable profes-
sion and that only he who hath to him shall be
given. I said to myself that we must seek for

our own inheritance and with it buy our true

place in the world.

Then came to me a vision of the fulness of the
inner man which was attained in India in the
solemn seclusion of her forests when the rest of

the world was hardly awake. The truth became

clear to me that India had cut her path and
broadened it path that leads to a
for ages, the

life reaching beyond death, rising high above

the idealisation of the political selfishness and

insatiable lust for accumulation of materials.
The voice came to me in the Vedic tongue from
the ashrams, the forest sanctuaries of the past,
20 SHANTINIKETAN
with the — "Come to me the
call as rivers to the

sea, as the days and nights to the completion of

their annual cycle. Let our taking and impart-
ing truth be full of the radiance of light. Let us
never come into conflict with one another. Let
our minds speed towards their supreme good."
My heart responded to that call and I deter-
mined to do what could to bring to the surface,
I

for our daily use and purification the stream of

ideals that originated in the summit of our past,

flowing underground in the depth of India's

soil,
—the ideals of simplicity of life, clarity of

spiritual vision, purity of heart, harmony with

the universe, and consciousness of the infinite

personality in all creation.

I knew that the lessons of the modern schools
and the tendencies of the present time were
aggressively antagonistic to these ideals, but
also I was certain that the ancient teachers of
India were true when they said with a positive
assurance:— "It is an absolute death to depart
 SH ANTINI KETAN 21

from this life without realising the Eternal

Truth of life."

Thus the exclusiveness of my literary life

burst its barriers coming into touch with the

deeper aspirations of my country lying hidden
in her heart. I came to live in the Shantini-

ketan sanctuary founded by my father and

there gradually gathered round me, under the
shades of sal trees, boys from distant homes.
This was the time when Satish Chandra Roy,
the author of the following little story, felt

attracted to me and to my ideas and devoted

himself to building up of the ashram and serving
the boys with living food from the fulness of
his life. barely nineteen, but he was
He was
born with a luminosity of soul. In him the
spirit of renunciation was a natural product of
an extraordinary capacity for enjoyment of
life. All his student days he had been struggling
with poverty— and yet he cheerfully gave up all

chances of worldly prospects when they were

near at hand and took his place in the ashram
22 SHANTINIKETAN
because was truly his by right. He would
it

have needed no recommendation from me, but

unfortunately he died young before he had time
to fulfil his promise, leaving the record of his

greatness only in the memory of his friends.

cannot but conclude this preface of mine with
I

an extract from my lecture about Shantiniketan

where I have described his connection with the
ashram.
"Fortunately for me, Satish Chandra Roy, a
young student of great promise, who was getting
ready for his B. A. degree, became attracted
to my school and devoted his life to carry out

my idea. He was
barely nineteen but he had a
wonderful soul, living in a world of ideas, keenly
responsive to all that was beautiful and great in
the realm of nature and of human mind. He
was a poet who would surely have taken his

place among the immortals of the world-litera-

ture if he had lived, but he died when he was
twenty, thus offering his service to our school
only for the period of one short year. With
 SHANTINIKETAN 23

him boys never felt that they were confined in

the limits of a teaching class, they seemed to
have their access to everywhere. They would
go with him to the forest when in the spring the
sal trees were in full blossom, and he would recite
to them his favourite poems, frenzied with ex-
citement. He
used to read to them Shakespeare
—
and even Browning for he was a great lover of
Browning
—explaining to them in Bengali with
his wonderful power of expression. He never
had any feeling of distrust for the boys' capacity
of understanding; he would talk and read to
them about whatever was the subject in which
he himself was interested. He knew that it
was not at all necessary for the boys to under-
stand literally and accurately but that their
minds should be roused, and in this he was
always successful. He was not like other teach-

ers, a mere vehicle of text books. He made his

teaching personal, he himself was the source of

it, and therefore it was made of life stuff easily

assimilable by the living human nature. The

24 SHANTINIKETAN
real reason of his successes was his intense in-

terest in life, in ideas, in everything around

him, in the boys who came in contact with him.
He had through the medium
his inspiration not

of books but through the direct communication

of his sensitive mind with the world. The sea-
sons had upon him the same effect as they had
upon the plants. He seemed to feel in his

blood the unseen messages of nature that are

always travelling through space, floating in the

air, shimmering in the leaves, tingling in the
roots of the grass under the earth. The litera-
ture that he studied had not the least smell of

the library about it. He had the power to see

ideas before him, as he could see his friends, with
,,
all the distinctness of form and subtlety of life.
SHANTINIKETAN
BY
W. W. PEARSON
 SHANTINIKETAN
W. W. PEARSON

The author of the story that follows was so

intimately connected with the life of Rabin-

dranath Tagore's school at Shantiniketan, Bol-
pur, that in order to understand the spirit of the
story which was written boys of the
for the
ashram and was told them as they sat under the
trees in the moonlight, a short account of the

School itself seems a fitting introduction.

As our first impressions of a place are often
the truest I will begin by an account of my

first visit to Bolpur in 191 2.

28 SHANTINIKETAN
Bolpur is situated about a hundred miles
from Calcutta so that the School is remote from
the distractions of town and yet within easy
life,

reach of the stimulating activities of an in-

tellectual centre. When I arrived at the sta-
tion it was just sunset, the time picturesquely
called in Bengal, the "cow dust" time, for it is

then that the cattle are driven from the fields,

and the sun sets behind a golden mist raised by

the cows as they slowly make their way across
the dusty fields. I was met by one of the

masters and four of the older boys who took all

my luggage from the carriage and carried it to

the cart which was waiting outside the station.

They welcomed me very warmly because I had

just returned from England, where I had seen
their Guru, and as we drove slowly along in the

bullock cart our talk was chiefly about him.

As we approached the School, which stands on
high ground, so that the lights shine out over the
surrounding country, one or two remarks, such
as "That is one of his favourite walks" and
 SHANTINIKETAN 29

"Under those trees he often walks on moonlight

nights," gave me the feeling that I was a pilgrim

visiting the shrine of a saint rather than a visitor

to a School. We became silent then, and no one
spoke again till we reached the balcony of the

guest house. There I was told the poet had

written many of his songs. The evening star
had just risen and a crescent moon was shedding
its faint light over the tops of the trees with
which the school is surrounded. Two of the

boys went with me onto the roof and after sing-

ing one of the poet's songs, left me to spend a

quiet evening with the master who had met me at

the station. He helped me to realize the true

spirit of the place, for he had been one of the

five boys who had read in the school when it

was first After a College course in

started.
America he had come back to devote his life to
the service of the School to which he owed so
much. We talked on about the ideals with
which the poet had started the School. The
sound of the boys' voices, as they came back from
30 SH ANTINI KETAN

THE POETS UPPER ROOM

their evening meal to their dormitories, had
ceased, when in the stillness there arose the
sound of singing. It was a group of boys who,

every evening before they retire to bed, sing

one of the poet's songs. Gradually they
approached the house where we were sitting,
and as they turned away, the sound receded,
getting fainter and fainter until it died out
altogether. Then silence descended like shadows
on a starlit hill, and I realised why the name
"Shantiniketan" had been given to the place.
A House of Peace, it certainly was.
 SH ANTINI KETAN 3i

In the morning before sunrise, the band of

young choristers wakened the sleeping school

boys to the work of the day by another song.

After an early walk to a neighbouring village,
where some of the older students conduct a
night school for the boys of the Santal aboriginal
tribes who are to be found scattered about in

the neighborhood, I attended service in the

temple, a building open to the light and air on

all sides. As I entered, the boys in their col-
oured shawls were seated, some on the steps

THE SAL AVENUE

32 SHANTINIKETAN
outside, and some on the white marble floor in

an attitude of meditation. After an opening

prayer in Bengali, the boys, all together,

chanted
a Sanskrit verse, ending with the words,

"Om, Shanti, Shanti, Shanti." "Om Peace, Peace

Peace."

To hear for the first time a Sanskrit prayer

chanted by the boys of Bolpur is an experience
not easily to be forgotten. I wish it were
possible to preserve the freshness of one's first

impressions, then the very sound of the

for

prayer would be a constant and never failing

inspiration. I cannot describe the thrill which
I felt as I listened to that ascending chant
filling the fresh morning air with its solemn
notes of youthful aspiration.
In the temple there is no image and no altar,
for the Maharshi Devendranath Tagore who
founded the ashram, declared that in Shantini-
ketan no image was to be worshipped and no
 SHANTINIKETAN 33

abuse of any religious faith was to be allowed.

There "the one invisible God is to be wor-
shipped, and such instructions are to be given
as are consistent with the worship, the praise,
and thecontemplation of the Creator and
Maintainer of the world, and as are productive
of good morals, religious life, and universal
"
brotherhood.
The service was short, consisting only of the

prayers and an address given by one of the

teachers, but it was most impressive and devo-
tional in spirit. The clear sunlight streamed
through the screen of trees which surround the
temple, and outside one could hear the chirping
of birds, and distant cooing of doves.

During the day I came to know others of the

teachers, and listened to some of the boys

singing, for the poet's songs occupy a large part

of the school life. The influence of Mr. Dinen-
dranath Tagore, a nephew of the poet's, who
teaches the boys the new songs as they are
composed by the poet, is one the effect of
34 SHANTINIKETAN
which cannot be measured. To be able to

spread the spirit of song is a great gift, but when

together with it one is able to spread the ideals
of a great spiritual teacher then the gift is one
precious beyond words.
In the evening as it was a moonlight night, we
went out, boys and teachers as well, to a wood
about a mile away from the School. We sat
in a circle under the trees and the boys sang.

One of the teachers told a story, and I told them

about mymeeting with the poet in London.
Then we walked back across the open country
which lay still and quiet under the spell of the
Indian moonlight.
The morning I left there was a farewell

ceremony according to the ancient Hindu cus-

tom when a guest leaves an ashram for the
outer world. Iwas garlanded and a handful of
rose petals, together with some grains of paddy
and some grass, symbolic of the plenitude and
fruitfulness of life, was offered to me, and at the
same time one of the teachers pronounced over
 SHANTINIKETAN 35

me the blessing which is found in the Sanskrit

"Sakuntala" and which has been translated by

the poet, "Pleasant be thy path with intervals
of cool lakes green with the spreading leaves of

lotus, and with the shady trees tempering the

glare and heat of the sun — let its dust be gentle

for you even like the pollen of flowers borne by
the calm and friendly breeze let your path be —
auspicious."
That I felt was my dedication to the service
of the ashram, and as I left for the station I

knew that my life work lay in trying to help to

realise the ideals for which the ashram stood.
There I knew was an atmosphere in which self-

realisation was possible and a place where I

could feel the throbbing heart of Bengal, the

land of poetry and imagination.
Since then I have lived in the ashram, I have
got to know the boys and the teachers as my
friends for life, I have felt, even when my own
spirit has been dull and I have not been able to
feel the same inspiration as I hear the boys
36 SHANTINIKETAN
chanting in the early morning or at sunset, that
Shantiniketan is truly an Abode of Peace.
Now that I am away from the ashram for a
time my thoughts constantly turn back to it,
and I know
that under that wide and starry sky,

wandering across the open heath which stretches

to the horizon on all sides so that one feels as if

standing on the roof of the world, there is peace

to be found for the restless spirit of man. On
nights when the full moon sheds a flood of white
peace upon the landscape one can walk for miles
across open country with nothing to obstruct
the view except here and there a neat Santal

village surrounded by its few cultivated fields,

and on the distant horizon a group of
line of the

tall palm trees standing like the

warning fore-
fingers of the guardian spirits of the place, raised

against all thoughtless curiosity of outside in-

trusions. As one lives in this ashram and ab-
sorbs the spirit of its founder, one feels that its

stillnessand peace are but the reflection of the

tranquility which filled the mind of the Maharshi
 BOYS AT AN EXAMINATION

THE SMALL BOY's DORMITORIES

 SHANTINIKETAN 39

Devendranath and is so marked a characteristic

of the poet. In the evenings and early morn-

ings, just at sunset and sunrise, when the school

bell has called the boys to their silent worship,
a silence strangely still and beautiful seems to
surround the place; and in the early hours of the
morning, long before the peep of light in the
east, the stillness is so intense that it seems as if
time has held its breath in the expectation of the

daily wonder of the sunrise.

Does it seem as if this ashram were too remote
and monastic for the training of boys who, when
they leave school, have to struggle in the modern
world ? Can we not say rather, that perhaps
here they may acquire what the modern world
most needs, that wealth of mind's tranquility
which required to give life its balance when
is

it has to march to its goal through the crowd of

distractions? Whatever may be the practical
outcome of this experiment in education, which
strives to combine the best traditions of the old
Hindu system of teaching with the healthiest
4o SHANTINIKETAN
aspects of modern methods, there can be no
doubt that the ideal is a high one. Let me tell

more of what these ideals are and how the boys

and teachers of the school strive to carry them
into practice.
Shantiniketan was originally a bare spot in
the middle of open country, and was notorious
for being the haunt of dacoits. It was to this

spot that Maharshi Devendranath came on one

of his journeys, and he was so deeply attracted
to the place that he pitched his tent under three

trees,which were the only trees then to be seen

there, and for weeks at a time would live there

spending his time in meditation and prayer.

These trees are still to be seen, with the wide

open plain stretching out before them to the

Western horizon, and on the marble slab which
marks the place of his meditation can be seen
the words which filled his mind as the Maharshi
meditated upon God.

"He is the repose of my life

the joy of my heart,
the peace of my spirit."
 SHANTINIKETAN 43

It is under these trees that the boys sometimes

meet when they commemorate the life of the
Maharshi, or others whose lives have bound
them close to the heart of the ashram. I re-

member the last meeting which I attended there.

It was early morning and the boys were all
seated in the shade of the trees which were a
mass of white blossom overhead. The bright
colours of their shawls as the sunlight fell

through the interlacing branches contrasted

with the white flowers above them, and in per-
fect silence they waited for the service to begin.
This custom of holding meetings out of doors
is characteristic of the school, where all the
classes are held under the trees or in the veran-
dahs, excepting during the Rains. The boys
often organise some entertainment in the even-

ings, some performance or small play

circus

composed by the boys themselves, to which the

masters are invited. Just before I left for
America the smaller boys had discovered the
existence of an imaginary hero named Ladam,
44 SHANTINIKETAN
and days the history of Ladam occu-
for several

pied their minds. Pictures were drawn of his

exploits, his heroic deeds, some of them by no

means exemplary, were staged for the benefit
of their teachers, and every tree and hillock in
the neighborhood of the small boys' dormitories
was made the scene of Ladam's fights and vic-
tories. I was shown an ant hill and was told
that it was the fortress of Ladam, and that the
ants were his disciples and followers. Since

my acquaintance of him, whether Ladam

last

has come to an end of his career of reckless and

inconsequential adventures, I know not, but as

long as he lived his friends and discoverers were

never tired of telling of his deeds and describing
with the minutest details his appearance and
character. Perhaps his ghost still haunts the
corners of dormitory and the shadow-
the

chequered path of the Sal avenue.

This characteristic of one side of the school
life is vital to the ideals with which the school
was started. Education consists, not in giving
 SHANTINIKETAN 45

information which the boys will forget as soon

as they conveniently can without danger of

failing in their examinations, but in allowing

the boys to develop their own characters in the

way which is natural to them. The younger the

boys are the more original they show themselves

to be. It is only when the shadow of a Uni-

versity examination begins to loom over them

that they lose their natural freshness and orig-

inality, and become candidates for matricul-

ation. When the small boys take up an
idea and try to put it into practice then there is

always a freshness about it which is spontaneous

and full of the joy of real creation. To see them
give a circus performance would delight the
heart of any man who had not become abso-

lutely blase.
This ideal of allowing the boys to develop
their own characters as much as possible is seen
in another institution of the school, namely the
Courts constituted by the boys for the punish-
ment of minor offences against the laws which
46 SHANTINIKETAN
the boys themselves formulate. Most of the
discipline of the school is managed by these

courts,and although there are doubtless cases of

miscarriage of justice, there is no complaint
amongst the boys about the judgments pro-
nounced against offenders. In this case as in
others, self-government is bettergoodthan
government. The committees which the boys
form are intended to deal with all the aspects of
the school which the boys are themselves
life in

vitally interested. On one occasion the boys

agreed to carry on all the menial work of the
school, cooking and washing up, drawing the
water and buying the stores, with the help of the
teachers. Andalthough the experiment was
only found practicable for about a month, during
that time there were no servants employed to do

any of this heavy work, and many of the boys

worked like Trojans without complaint even
though it was the very hottest time of the year.
There are several magazines published month-
ly by the different sections of the school, most
 SHANTINIKETAN 47

of them in Bengali, which contain stories, poems

and essays written by the boys. These are
illustrated by those of them who show signs of
artistic ability. Though these magazines some-
times languish, and often do not appear for
months together, they quicken into life when the
anniversary of their birth comes round, and
then a grand celebration takes place. One of
the dormitories is taken possession of for the oc-
casion, and decorated with the green branches of
trees, and if it happens to be the season of lotuses,
a profusion of lotus buds and blossoms fills the

meeting place. One of the teachers is elected

chairman for the evening, and a special
to be the
seat of honour prepared for him. Over his
is

head there hang, like the sword of Damocles,

ropes of flowers, so that he looks like a queen of
the May, and round his neck hang garlands as
though he were a lamb prepared for the sacri-
fice. The various committees of management of
these different periodicals vie with each other,
not so much in the quality of their contributions,
48 SHANTINIKETAN
as in the beauty of the decorations and the
garlands which are prepared in honour of these
occasions of birthday celebration. Sometimes if
the anniversary happens to during the hot
fall

weather, light refreshments are served at the

close of the meeting, generally in the shape of

iced sherbet. The meeting itself consists of a

report of the year's progress by the editor, and

the reading of stories, poems and essays by the
contributors. Sometimes pictures which have
been given for illustration are exhibited, and
afterwards the chairman or the poet himself, if
he is present, will criticise the writings which
have been read, suggesting in what way they
might be improved. In certain cases there is a

competition, either for the best picture or the

best story. In this way the boys are encour-

aged to think and write for themselves, and one

or two of thosewho have illustrated these manu-
script magazines have proved to be artists of

real ability.

Occasionally excursions will be planned, either

for the day for the whole school, or for several
 SHANTINIKETAN 49

days to some place of historical interest in which

case only a few selected boys will go accompanied

by two or three of the teachers. In the former

case we go to some place within easy reach of the

ashram, and taking our food with us cook it by

the side of a river or under the trees in a wood.
The whole day spent in the open air, and
is

singing and games form the chief part of the

program though stories are also told by some of
the teachers. On moonlight nights, especially,
many of the boys go out for long walks with the
teachers, and in this way the bond between the
masters and the pupils becomes deep and strong.
The teachers live in the dormitories with the
boys, and are able therefore to help them in their

work and share with them their daily life.

Football the most popular form of sport in

is

the school, and as there is plenty of space round

the buildings, there is enough ground for several

football fields, so that the boys of all ages can

have their own games. Walking is not so popu-

lar, except when, in the rainy season sudden

5o SHANTINIKETAN
storms of rain come deluging the surrounding

country. Then the boys delight in going out

into the midst of the heaviest deluge and getting
thoroughly wet. Classes stopped when
are
these heavy storms come on, and keen delight is
shown by the boys when they see that a dark
and threatening sky offers them the chance of a
cooling shower bath.
The following facts may be of interest to those
who wish to know the more practical details of
the working of the School.
At present there are about 150 boys in the
ashram, some of whom come from other parts
of India, though the majority are from Bengal.
There are about twenty teachers, some living
with their families, resident in the School. The
age of the boys ranges from six to 17 or 18, the
younger ones being under the charge of special
teachers. These younger boys often take their
meals in the homes of the married teachers, the
wife of one of them, for example, having under-
taken to look after ten boys who come to her
 SHANTINIKETAN 51

house for all their meals for a week, allowing

another ten to take their turn.

The boys are of all castes and it is expressly
stated when they are admitted that they are
to be allowed to exercise their own discretion in
the matter of the observation or non-observa-
tion of caste distinctions. Serving at the meals
is undertaken by all the boys in turn which
lightens the burden of the kitchen service.
The fees charged are the same for all the boys,
though in certain cases poor students are al-
lowed free. Each pupil is charged $7 per month
board and lodging, so that the yearly
for tuition,

expense to the parent is less than $100. But

this does not represent the actual expense, as

there is a large yearly deficit which has, up to

the present, been met by the founder of the
School.
One of the reasons which makes it impossible
to make the School a self-supporting institution
is that the number of teachers has to be so
large
in proportion to the number of students in order
52 SHANTINIKETAN
to ensure small classes and individual attention.
To the Western eye the outward aspect of the
School would suggest poverty, but this is due to
the ideal which has always been followed in
India wherever true education has been the end
and purpose in view. The emphasis on efficient
and expensive equipment which is a charac-
teristic feature of institutions of learning in the
West has never been accepted in India where
simplicity of living regarded as one of the most
is

important factors in true education.

The utmost simplicity is found in all the build-
ings which are used by the boys for their own
daily life. The dormitories are merely thatched

cottages, and it is intended to keep them simple

though the present thatched roofs will have to

be changed for a less inflammable material as
soon as funds are available, as the possibility of a
fire which would spread to all the dormitories is

a source of constant anxiety.

We are hoping to erect a new building for a
Hospital, as we have not proper accommodation
 SHANTINIKETAN 53

for our sick boys or suitable quarters for the

segregation of infectious cases. Such a hospital,
when properly endowed, would provide medical
help for the poor of the neighbouring villages.
Several interesting collections of curios from
different parts of theworld have been presented
to the School, and we intend to add a Museum
as an addition to the present library building as
soon as funds are forthcoming.
The daily routine of the School is as follows:
The boys are awakened before sunrise by the
singing of one of the poet's songs by a band of
singers. As soon as they get up they go to their

morning bath which they take by the wells

which have been sunk in different parts of the
grounds. After their bath they have fifteen
minutes setapart for silent worship. The boys
sit out under the trees or on the open fields in
the early morning light and then come together
to chant the Sanskrit verses selected from the

Upanishads by Maharshi Debendranath Tagore.

54 SHANTINIKETAN
After some light food the classes begin at
about seven o'clock. There are no classrooms,
so the classes are held in the open air or on the
verandahs of the buildings.
After a meal at n 130, during the heat of the

day the boys stay in their rooms and work at

their lessons, the teachers sitting with them to

give help if needed. Classes begin in the after-

noon at 2 o'clock and continue till 4:30 or 5
o'clock.
In the cool of the evening football is played,
while some of the boys go for walks. At sunset

they have fifteen minutes for silence and the

chanting of the evening verses. Some of the
boys teach in a night school which has been
started for the servants of the School and the

neighbouring villagers.
Before the evening meal there is an hour which
is devoted to some form of entertainment, such
as story telling by one of the teachers, a lantern

lecture, or some amusement got up by the boys

themselves. The bell for retiring sounds at
 SHANTINIKETAN 55

about nine o'clock, and most of the boys are

by 9:30, except on moonlight nights when
asleep
numbers of the older boys go out for a walk to
neighbouring woods where they sit and sing till

late at night.

There no head master, the school being

is

under the management of an executive com-

mittee elected by the teachers themselves, from

among whom one is elected each year as execu-

tive head. He is entrusted with the practical

management of the institution. In each subject

one of the masters is elected as director of

studies, and he discusses with the other teachers

in that subject the books and methods of teach-
ing to be adopted, but each teacher is left to
work out his own methods in the way he thinks
best.

When himself present he presides

the poet is

at the meetings of the executive committee, and

also teaches in some of the classes, but his in-

fluence is more widely felt in the informal read-

ings of his own writings which he gives in the

evenings during the entertainment period. He
56 SHANTINIKETAN
also teaches the boys, when they take part in his
plays, not only how to act but also how to sing
his songs.

The boys are trusted very largely to look after

their own affairs, and have their own committees
in the different sections of the School, as well as

the general meetings of all the boys in the

ashram when questions affecting the whole
School are brought up for discussion. In their
examinations they are left to themselves and
put on their honour. When an examination
takes place the boys may be seen in all sorts of
positions writing their answers, even in such
inacessible places as the fork of some high tree.

Though occasionally boys take advantage of the

trust thus placed in them it is found that in the

majority of cases trust begets trust, and there

is no question that the relationship between

teacher and pupil is a happier one in consequence.

The old boys of the ashram keep in touch with
the school in different ways. The boys who are
in the ashram know these "old boys" by the
 SHANTINIKETAN 57

title of "Dada," which means elder brother, and

at the annual festival, which takes place in

December on the anniversary of the date on

which the ashram was founded, numbers of the
old boys come to see the performance of one of
the poet's plays. The keenest interest is taken

by all in the football match between Past and

Present Boys. The School is not behind-hand
in Sports as can be seen by its record in the
inter-school Sports of the district in which boys
from our ashram have carried off the chief

prizes for several years in succession. Their

football record also is one to be proud of, so the
education of the boys includes physical culture
as well as culture of the mind.
As I have said, the classes are held in the open
air as much as possible, and there is no need for
elaborate furniture and class rooms. Each boy
brings with him to the various classes his own
square piece of carpet for sitting on, and the
teacher either sits under a tree, or in the ver-
andah of one of the dormitories. This open air
58 SHANTINIKETAN
class work has its great advantages, for it

keeps the minds of the boys fresh in their ap-

preciation of nature. I remember in the middle

of one class I was suddenly interrupted in my

teaching by one of the boys calling my attention

to the song of a bird in the branches overhead.
We stopped the teaching and listened till the
bird had finished. It was spring time and the

boy who had called my attention to the song

said to me, "I don't know why, but somehow I
can't explain what I feel when I hear that bird

singing." I could not enlighten him, but I am

quite sure that my class learnt more from that
bird than it had ever done from my teaching,
and something that they would never forget
in life. For myself my ears were opened and for
several days I was conscious of the songs of the
birds asI had never been before. The boys are
very fond of flowers and some times will get up

long before dawn to be the first to pluck some

new sweet-scented blossoms. These they weave
 SHANTINIKETAN 59

into garlands for their teachers or for the poet

himself.
Sometimes when the class comes at the end of
the day, the boys ask that they may go out to
some neighboring village or the river, and have
the class on the way. When this happens then
they are supremely happy, and we go off to-
gether with no other anxiety than that of getting
back in time for the evening meal.
For the younger boys Nature Study forms
part of their work, and during the whole of one
term one class was kept busy in collecting all

the varieties of leaves and grasses that could be

found in the neighborhood. Sometimes they
would find an unexpected addition to their col-

lection of botanical specimens, by getting a thorn

into their bare feet, for all the boys go about bare-
foot in the ashram. But their feet are so hard-
ened to the gravel and thorny paths which
abound all round the school that it is only the
new boys that find any hardship in such an
experience. Occasionally on a clear night one
6o SHANTINIKETAN
of the teachers gives a simple lesson in as-

tronomy, and shows the moon and stars through

a small telescope, and when lantern slides can
be obtained illustrated lectures are given in the

evenings, sometimes in the open air and some-

times in one of the dormitories. It is always
possible to find one or two of the more practical
boys eager to take charge of the lantern, and fix

up the sheet.

Bengali is the medium of instruction through-

out the School, but English is taught as a
second language.
The direct method of teaching English is
adopted in the lower classes, and when the boys
are beginning to understand, fairy stories or
adventures are told to the boys in simple
English. When the boys are interested in a

story it is what ease they are

surprising with
able to follow. Ihave myself found such stories
as George Macdonald's "The Princess and
Curdle" and "The Princess and the Goblins"
fascinate Bengali boys of thirteen or fourteen,
 SHANTINIKETAN 61

and they have been eager to hear the next

instalment, even though told them in a foreign
language.
One of the things that strikes visitors to the
school is the look of happiness on the boys' faces,
and there is no doubt that there is none of the
usual feeling of dislike for school life which one
finds in institutions where the only object held

before the boys the passing of examinations.

is

Examinations have been abolished in the lower

classes, except once a year when tests of each

boy's progress are made by the teacher who has

been teaching the boy himself.
At the end of each term arrangements are
made for staging one of the poet's plays. The
teachers and boys take the different parts, and
the play staged in Shantiniketan, visitors
is

coming from Calcutta to see it, especially if the

poet is himself taking part. The poet coaches
the actors himself, firstreading the play aloud,
and then reading it over with those who are to
take part. During the days when the play is
62 SHANTINIKETAN
being rehearsed there are not many classes held,
for the boys of the whole school are always
present at the rehearsals. One sees the small
boys peeping windows, and showing
in at the

the keenest appreciation of the humourous and

witty scenes. The final day is a

busy
one for the stage has to be prepared and
there must be a dress rehearsal. To this the

boys are not admitted, as would take away it

the freshness of the play if they were able

to see a too nearly perfect presentation of
it beforehand. But when it begins there is

great enthusiasm amongst visitors and boys

alike, as the songs and dances reveal the spirit

of the play to the delighted audience. In this

way the ideas of the poet are assimilated by the

boys, without their having to make any con-
scious effort. In fact they are being educated
into his thought through the sub-conscious
mind, and this is one of the root principles of
Rabindranath Tagore's method of education.
English plays are also sometimes given, as well
 SHANTINIKETAN 63

as Sanskrit, and it is remarkable to see what

histrionic powers the Bengali boy has, even when
he has to act in a foreign tongue. When the

play is Bengali then they are in their element,

in

and they seem to have such aptitude for acting

that the smaller boys often get up plays of their
own without any assistance from the masters.
At the beginning of this year there was a per-
formance of the poet's new play "A Spring
Festival" in Calcutta, and a number of the

younger boys, aged from eight to ten, took

part in the chorus. They did not have to do
any acting, but merely sang the songs and took
part in the dances, so that they were practically
in the position of spectators on the stage. After
the play was over, and we had all returned to

Shantiniketan, these small boys surprised us by

giving one evening a performance of the whole
play, eachboy taking one of the characters with
such perfect mimicry of those who had taken
the parts in Calcutta that the
performance
was irresistible. Every shade of humour and
64 SHANTINIKETAN
seriousness was reproduced to perfection by
these pigmy actors.
An account of the school would be incom-
plete without some reference to what strike
one as the peculiar characteristics of the Ben-
gali boys as distinguished from English boys.
In the grounds of the school there is a small

Hospital which the boys when ill

building in
reside, and to which outdoor patients from the

surrounding villages come for treatment. There

is a qualified doctor in
charge but the nursing is
done almost entirely by the boys themselves,
who in the case of the serious illness of one of
their schoolfellows, the night up into
divide
watches of two hours each, and look after the
patient all night. They seem to have a natural
which makes them splendid nurses even
instinct
when they have not had any special training.
It not only towards the boys themselves that
is

they show this care, but when necessity arises

for helping some poor villager from the neighbor-

hood they will go to the village, and perhaps

 SHANTINIKETAN 65

carry the patient on a stretcher to the school

hospital in order that he may get proper treat-
ment.
The story of Jadav well illustrates this re-
markable spirit. Jadav was one of the boys in
the lower part of the School. He was only about
eleven years old but he was a brilliant boy and
full of promise. He was taken ill while he was
with us and died in the ashram.
I remember so well his keen interest in Nature
Study, and how he would come running and
panting to my class with his latest addition to
the collections of different kinds of leaves which
the boys were making. His words
smaller

tumbling over each other in his eagerness to

show me what treasures he had found, he would
ask me whether any other boy had got so many
different kinds. All his teachers found in him
the same eager interest in his work, and at meet-

ings of the smaller boys he would sometimes tell

a story in English which was wonderfully good
for so young a pupil.
66 SHANTINIKETAN
When he was first taken ill it was not realised

that was anything serious, but after a week or

it

so he became worse and it was decided to re-

move him to Calcutta as the accommodation in

our small Hospital building was not satisfactory

for cases of serious illness. Many of the older

boys had been taking their turns in sitting up at

night with the little patient, and when the
morning came for himremoved eight or
to be
ten of them took up the stretcher on which he
was to be carried to the station and started off
along the road. As soon as Jadav realised that
he was being taken away to Calcutta his whole

body became restless and instead of lying still

and quiet in his weakness he began to struggle
and cry out, "I don't want to leave the ashram.
Take me back." "I won't go. I want to go
back to the ashram." "Why are you taking
me away?"
The doctor became alarmed and said that it

would be dangerous to take him if he struggled

and cried, so the boys turned back towards the
 SHANTINIKETAN 67

ashram again. The moment he realised that he

was returning to his ashram the little fellow
lay quite still and he was happy again.
He began to get worse however and in spite of
the best medical aid that could be got from
Calcutta it soon became clear that we were to
lose his bright presence. Day after day the boys
took their turns in watching by his side and
carrying out the doctors' instructions and would
sit up all through the night bathing his fevered
body with cool water.
An hour or two before he died I was sitting
by his side and he said in Bengali in a voice

weak and full of pathos, "The flower will not

blossom." I whispered to him, "Don't be
"
afraid, for the flower will blossom.
He was cremated out on the open fields near
the ashram at dawn and as the flames crept
slowly upwards I knew that for us at least his
little life had blossomed and left a fragrance
behind which would never fade.
68 SHANTINIKETAN
Another striking characteristic of the Bengali
boy is his genuine affection for little children.
The average English boy, if told to take charge
of an infant brother would feel completely miser-

able, and if asked to carry his baby sister to the

Annual Prize Giving of his own school would
feel ready to sink through the floor with shame.
But Bengali wherever one goes he is struck by
in

the fact that the boys are devoted to children

and are never tired of nursing them or playing
with them. I have seen boys at Shantiniketan
spend hours wheeling a perambulator with
quite a young child in it mere pleasure
for the
of having a child to entertain. There is no
affectation about it, and this is not a peculiarity
of the boys of our school only. Nothing gives
the boys of the upper classes at Shantiniketan
more pleasure than to be allowed to bring to their
class the grandson of the poet, a little boy of four
who sits through the period quite quietly and
solemnly, with only an occasional diversion if

anything interesting is happening near the tree

 SHANTINIKETAN 69

under which the class is

being held. And I have
often seen one of the biggest boys, on the way
to the football field, hand in hand with the tiny
son of one of the teachers, a little boy of three,
who chatters away to his big companion on all

sorts of subjects.

Bengali boys have also a characteristic atti-

tude of receptivity to spiritual things which
makes it possible to trust to the atmosphere of
the ashram for the development of the spiritual
life. There is, for example, nothing irksome to

the boys in the habit of sitting in silence and

stillness during the morning and evening periods
of silent worship. The result of this is that even
the younger boys of our school often find it

easier to follow the addresses of the poet than

graduate students of Calcutta, who have not
had the opportunity of living in such an en-
vironment. They are like sensitive instruments
which respond to the least influence, and for that

reason unkindness or thoughtlessness in one's

dealings with Bengali students often have

7o SHANTINIKETAN
results apparently far out of proportion to the

actual occasion of the hurt. This has been seen

recently in the effect of an unsympathetic atti-

tude adopted by many professors in Govern-
ment and other Colleges towards the students in
Calcutta. But this very sensitiveness responds
with even greater readiness to kindness and
sympathy. In educational work of any kind
sympathy is the supreme necessity for a success-
ful teacher, but this is truer in Bengal than in

any other country in the world.

Before closing some reference should be made
to the religious atmosphere of the place. I say
religious atmosphere because there is no definite

dogmatic teaching, and for the development of

the spiritual side of the boys' natures the ideal
has always been to leave that to the natural
instinct of each individual boy. In this con-
siderable help is from the personal
expected
influence of the teachers, and in the silent but
constant influence of close touch with Nature
 SHANTINIKETAN 71

herself, which in India is the most wonderful

teacher of spiritual truth.
Shantiniketan was founded by the father of
the poet, Maharshi Devendranath Tagore, as
an ashram, or religious retreat where those in
search of peace might have an opportunity for

quiet and meditation, and when Rabindranath

chose it as the site for his school he knew that
the atmosphere of the place was an ideal one for
the growth of his own ideals. The eldest son of
the Maharshi, Mr. Dwijendranath Tagore has
also chosen this place for the closing years of his

life, and is still living there in his seventy-fifth

year, spending his days in quiet meditation and
writing on religious and philosophical subjects.
On the first day of the New Year, and on other

special occasions, all the boys and teachers go

to pay their reverence to this saint who has now
lived constantly for about twenty years in

Shantiniketan, and is as much a vital part of

the ashram as the boys themselves. One of the
rarest privileges is that of going in the evening
72 SHANTINIKETAN
to his house and in the fading twilight to sit and
talk with him on the deeper things of the spirit.
Mention has been made of the period set apart
in the early morning and evening for meditation.

Each boy takes his piece of carpet out into the

open field or under a tree when the bell for wor-

ship sounds, and sits there for fifteen minutes in

silent contemplation, or perhaps one should say
in silence, for the subject of his thoughts is left

entirely to each boy. There is no instruction

given as to the method of meditation, the direc-
tion of their thoughts being left to the influence
of the idea of silence itself and to the Sanskrit
texts which are repeated by the boys together
at the close of the period of silent meditation.

That many boys form the habit of such daily

silent worship is enough. Apart from this

morning and evening silence there is a service

held in the temple once or twice a week at which

the poet himself, when present, addresses the
boys. When he is away one of the teachers gives
the address, and the boys join in the chanting of
 SHANTINIKETAN 73

certain Sanskrit mantras. The subject of these

addresses varies, and many of them have been
published in a series entitled "Shantiniketan,"
which have been published by the school authori-
ties. As an example I may give the notes I took
of an address given by the poet on the last night

of the old year. The service was held after sun-

set and in the darkness it was only possible to

distinguish the speaker dimly outlined against a
background of white clad figures seated on the
floor all round him.

He began by saying that when a year comes

to its end we sometimes think only of the sad-
ness of ending, but if we can realise that in this

ending there is not emptiness but fulness, then

even the thought of ending itself becomes full of
joy. In this very process of ending we once

again have the leisure to throw off the coverings

and wrappings of habit and custom and thus
emerge into a fuller and more spacious conception
oflife. Even the ending of life in death has this
element of fulness in it when viewed from the
74 SHANTINIKETAN
right standpoint. Death really reveals life to us
and never hides or obscures it except where we
ourselves are wilfully blind. Thus the breaking
of customs and forms which have grown round
us only to choke true life is a matter for joy and
not sorrow. In Europe this war, which is
robbing so many homes by death, is really the
tearing off, on a vast scale, of the wrappings of
dead habits of mind which have been accumu-
lating for so years only to smother the
many
truth of our nature. The currents of life which
had become choked and stagnant will once more
become free to flow in fresh channels.
When death comes to those whom we love,
we seem completeness, but
to see the world in its

without the customary crowd of things which

hide from us the reality underlying the scene.
In death's presence the world becomes like the
darkness which is so full that one feels it can be

pierced with a needle and yet it seems empty of

objects.
 SHANTINIKETAN 75

Thus the message of this end of the year is the

joy of change and its acceptance as the means of
achieving a wider vision and grasp of life.
The address was full of illuminating illustra-
tions as all the poet's addresses are, and I have
only given the barest outline of this one in order
to give some idea of the kind of subjects which
are taken. The fact that some of them seem to
be above the heads of the boys does not seri-

ously matter, for the boys, even without fully

understanding, are all the time unconsciously
absorbing the point of view of the speaker.
In closing I cannot do better than quote in
full a letter written to a Schoolmaster in England
who had written to the poet asking for an account
of the methods he adopts at Shantiniketan. He
writes:
"To give spiritual culture to our boys was
my principal object in starting my school in
Bolpur. Fortunately, in India we have the
model before us in the tradition of our ancient
forest schools where teachers whose aim was to
76 SHANTINIKETAN
realise their lives in God had their homes.
The atmosphere was full of the aspiration for
the infinite, and the students who grew up with
their teachers closely united with them in

spiritual relationship felt the reality of God —

for it was no mere creed imposed upon them or
speculative abstraction.
Having this ideal of a school in my mind
which should be a home and a temple in one,
where teaching should be part of a worshipful
life I away from all distrac-
selected this spot,
tions of town, hallowed by the memory of a
piouslife whose days were passed there in com-
munion with God.
You must not imagine that I have fully real-
ised my ideal —
but the ideal is there working
itselfout through all the obstacles of the hard

prose of modern life. In spiritual matters one

should forget that he must teach others or
achieve results that can be measured, and in my
school here I think it proper to measure our
success by the spiritual growth in the teachers.
 SHANTINIKETAN 77

In these things gain to one's personal self is

gain to all, like lighting a lamp which is lighting

a whole room.
The first help that our boys get here on this
path, is from the cultivation of love of nature
and sympathy with all living creatures. Music
isof very great assistance to them songs being —
not of the ordinary hymn type, dry and didactic,
but as full of lyric joy as the author could put
in them. You can understand how these songs
affect the boys when you know that singing them
is the best enjoyment they choose for them-
selves in their leisure time, in the evening when
the moon is up, in the rainy days when their

classes are closed. Mornings and evenings

fifteen minutes time is given them to sit in an
open space composing their minds for worship.
We never watch them and ask questions about
what they think in those times, but leave it

entirely to themselves, to the spirit of the place

and the time, and the suggestion of the practice
itself. We rely more upon the subconscious
78 SHANTINI KETAN
influence of Nature, of the associations of the

place and the daily life of worship that we live

than on any conscious effort to teach them."

This letter sums up better than I can the
ideals of Shantiniketan and gives expression to
the spirit with which the ashram was started.
THE GIFT TO THE GURU
 THE GIFT TO THE GURU
BY SATISH CHANDRA ROY

Translated by W. W. Pearson

Introduction

This evening I am going to tell you a story

about a boy of long ago.
Forget for a while this lamp that we have
lighted indoors, and think of that flood of moon-
light that pours itself out upon the surrounding
fields. On one side of this open country the
wood is black and indistinct like a
huge python
that has risen from some chasm of the earth
and is
lying asleep in the moonlight, swaying in
82 SHANTINIKETAN
the wind. To-night as we all sit together I
shall speak to you about the night. If it had
been daytime, perhaps I should have talked
—
about the day. But no, I have another rea-
son for describing the night, for night time is the
best time for story-telling. At night time every-
thing seems indistinct and distant objects are
brought near. If it had been daytime, would
you have been able so easily to think that you
were seeing the stars, which, when the sky is

caressed by the shadow of the night, blossom

like flowers and fill the heavens in their multi-
tudes ?
So far I have been describing the night, in

order to carry you in thought out into the

darkness, where the sky is decked with the

moon and stars. Now you must accompany
me in imagination wherever I go.
What journey shall we take together? We
are going to visit a sacred grove of ancient India.
If had been day time, how could you ever
it

have discovered this sacred grove of hundreds of

 SHANTINIKETAN 85

years ago ? If ithad been day time, what should

we have seen in modern India ? We should have
seen cities, railways and factories; we should
have seen forests full of wild beasts, dried-up

rivers, hard rocky mountains, barren parched

deserts and many other things besides. The
sacred grove I am to tell you about no longer
exists.

But it is
night time now —moonlight is falling
and the silence of sleep has come. Now the
mind can take wings and fly in imagination
wherever it wishes. Come then let us forget

everything and all go together to see the Ash-

ram* of the Rishist in that wood of ancient
India. You
BrahmacharisJ and you can
are
for a timego with me and exchange thoughts
with the Brahmacharies of those days.

*
Ashram: A forest school where the teachers and their
families live with the boys in some retired spot.
t Rishis: Saints.

+ Brahmacharis: Students brought up to a life of discipline

in an atmosphere of religion.
 IPX-

CHAPTER I

In olden times boys used to go for purposes

of study to a Brahmachari-ashram. I have

already told you that schools of that kind were

situated in sacred groves. Rishis used to think
that though necessary for groups of men to
it is

build cities in places where there is a great deal

of business and bustle, yet there are other needs
besides these, which human life is meant to fulfil.

If you live only in the busy work and turmoil

of the world, you will not get time to understand,
or even to see properly, all aspects of the world.
The mind will have no peace; and if the mind is

not tranquil, then the real meaning of things

will not be understood, nor will their real beauty

be appreciated.
 SHANTINIKETAN 87

Besides this there was another advantage in

living in a forest, namely, that man felt a kind

of freedom and was able to realise his own
worth. Each one had to do his own work, so
that no false ideas crept in, that such a one was
poor, and therefore unimportant, and such a
one was rich, and therefore great.
It was those forest saints who were really
able to uphold the ideals of India, which made
peace and tranquility the greatest of blessings.
In the solitudes of these forests, and in the
midst of the beauty of these woods, the teaching
given had a deep and penetrating effect. That
was the reason why the students of those days
saw such a wonderful glory in the world.

From the story that I am going to relate, you

willbe able to see what great strength a pupil

gained from his training in a solitary place such

as I have described.
So now I will begin my story.
 CHAPTER II

One day, when it was just dawn in the sacred

grove, Ved the Rishi of the Ashram, having
finished his morning prayer and worship of the
sacred fire from
called his pupils together, fresh

their morning bath, and sat with them at the

foot of an Amloki tree.
The deer have now risen from their sleep in

the courtyard and run into the forest. One of

 SHANTINIKETAN 89

the boys has driven a cow into a meadow luscious

with fresh tender grass. Now as he sits under a
tree the soft rays of the sun, falling through the
cool green network of leaves and branches, light
up his face and he is singing with a sweet low
voice a hymn to the sun. A band of younger
boys with baskets in their hands are filling
them with flowers from the woods. Near by
the wife of their Guru*, as she comes from the

river, pouring a little water from a pitcher

is

on to the roots of each tree and smiles as she

looks with tenderness at the boys.
Thus while the fresh calmness of early morn-
on the scene Ved begins to explain to
ing rests
the boys with a voice full of joy the sacred

mysteries of God. Gazing on the radiant face

of their Guru the boys began to listen attent-

ively. When the morning reading was finished

two or three deer came to the place where they
were, and began to nestle with their warm

*
Guru: Teacher and master.
9o SHANTINIKETAN
breath and soft noses against the boys' bodies.
A few of the students however remained seated
in silent thought quite motionless.
Then one of the older boys, named Utonka,
came up and having bowed before his Guru's
feet said with clasped hands.
"To-day my time of discipline is finished. I

have by your love gained strength. My body

has become strong and my mind bright and

happy. I have seen the glory of the sun and

moon and have felt a Power in the glowing fire.

I have tasted the joys of the six seasons of the

year. The peace and tranquility of the forests
have taken up their abode in me and the fresh
living spirit of the birds and beasts, of the trees
and creepers, has entered my heart. I have
come to understand that the food which we eat
and the wood of the trees which we burn in the

fire are to be deemed sacred because they do us

good. Air, water, sky and light are sacred

also, and all are filled with divine sweetness and

goodness.
 SHANTINIKETAN 91

"Gurudev, I have learnt to understand all this

and now I must go out into the wider world.
In that outer world there are hundreds and
hundreds of men like me and my duty now lies
amongst them, for man cannot live without
human love. By your help, Gurudev, I have
become a Brahmachari. My body is strong;
I am not afraid of difficulties, and when I go
out into the world I shall be able to fulfil my
purpose by your blessing. My Guru, give me
then your blessing, and tell me what offering I

am to bring you. When I have made my offer-

"
ing, I will bid farewell.
While Utonka was speaking, all the other
boys were watching him with sorrowful faces.
Hearing that he was going away their eyes filled
with tears. Gurudev also with tearful, yet
smiling, eyes said,
— "My son the heart of a
Guru always with his disciples, the blessings
is

of a Guru are taken up by the clouds and fall

like rain from heaven. They touch his eyes
mingling with the light of the sun. Like the
92 SHANTINIKETAN
breeze they waft their fragrance around him,

day by day, and dwell in his heart as peace and

tenderness. You need not ask for my blessing:
it is yours
already. Go out into the world and
my blessing be with you. What further offer-
ing can I desire, my son? Go to your mother,
and you can bring anything that she desires,
if

you be free from your debt to your Guru."

will
—
Utonka replied, "Gurudev, I cannot hope
ever to free myself from my
debt to you, but,
I will do as you say, and will go and ask my

mother." Saying this he threw himself at his

Guru's and then slowly went away.
feet

The other pupils remained silent with sorrow

and the Guru also for a little time was silent.

At last he said, "My children, it it now time for

you to go and beg your food." The boys mak-

ing an obeisance to their Guru dispersed in all

directions, tobeg from the village food for

themselves and their Guru. Amongst them
there were the sons of many rich and influential

men but all of them begged without distinction.

 43L.

CHAPTER III

Utonka then went to his teacher's wife who

was sitting in the shade of a tree near the house
weaving grass mats, a deer was lying beside her
while overhead a bird was making a loud noise,
"Tee tee u, Tee tee u" other smaller birds
flyingabout without a care and drinking water
from the pools under the Ashoka trees. It really
seemed as if these birds and beasts were one
with man.
After bowing before his teacher's wife, Utonka
said, "Mother, the time of my training is
finished and I have, by the help of Gurudev,
become a Brahmachari. I have gained strength
and now I must go into the world. Tell me
94 SHANTINIKETAN
now, Mother, what offering I can make you:
for Gurudev told me to ask you."

Quickly putting aside her weaving his teacher's

wife said with tears in her eyes, "What! my child,
are you going to leave us ? Yet why should I be
sad? Go take my blessing with you. How
many of my sons have one after another gone

away like this. But I am not sorrowful; for

from the ashram they go out into the world and

benefit it by their work. Can any one spend all
his life in the seclusion of this forest? But
wherever you go my heart's affection and bless-

ing will surround you all your life."

Then after a short silence she said, "What
you to bring?
offering shall I tell Though we
need nothing, we must observe the usual cus-
tom." Then as if remembering something she
said with a slight smile :

have just remembered something. The

"I

Queen Shubashukla is famous all the world over.

Even the gods respect her virtue. The saints
of the forests sing her praises and even a hard
 SHANTINIKETAN 95

stone would be melted by the love of her gener-

ous heart. No impure person is allowed to look
upon her face. She has some golden ear-rings
which are so valuable that Takshat, the king of
the serpents, himself wants to keep them in his
storehouse in the nether regions. I have a great
desire to see and touch those ear-rings just
once, and I would like to wear them when next
I entertain the Brahmins. So bring me those

ear-rings within three days so that my wish may

be fulfilled. You are a Brahmachari and should
have no difficulty."
Utonka was delighted, and having saluted her
he determined to set off that very day to bring
his offering.

When
he had gone, the Guru's wife sat still

and began to think to herself: "I wonder if I

have done right to send my child Utonka all

alone such a long distance to bring this offering.
But why should I be afraid? Let him see the
glory of a virtuous woman before he enters the
world. Why should one be afraid for a
96 S HA NT NIKE TANI

Brahmachari?" As she thought in this fashion,

she remembered all Utonka's deep devotion and

goodness, and she began to feel sad.

By time the other boys came back, bring-

this

ing the rice and other food they had begged

—
but to-day strange to say, there was none of the
chatter and happy noise which there was on
other days. The Guru's wife seeing the boys
looking so sad went up to them and asked them
the cause. They all cried, "Utonka is going
away." Then she went off towards the kitchen
consoling them as she went.
 CHAPTER IV

Now we must follow Utonka on his journey

to the palace of King Poshya, the husband of the
famous queen. After leaving the fields near the
ashram he entered a thick forest. It was

then midday, and the forest was very beautiful.

Here and there the sun pierced through the dense
shade of the trees. It seemed as though all its
rays were setting up ladders of light and were

descending like thieves to steal flowers from the

dark forest. Birds were peeping out from holes
in the tree trunks, their red and black beaks
looking as if the trees had put on red and black
leaves. In some places, on the huge trunks of
some big trees, it seemed as if a whole village of
98 SHANTINIKETAN
birds were situated in the branches. In other

places rows of tall palms lifted their graceful

heads and with their fronds joined together,
like the wings of birds, made a cool darkness in
the woods. In other places, through breaks in
the forest, sparkling chatim trees looked up to
the sky holding their leaves aloft like beautiful

fingers. Great creepers joined tree to tree like

bridges, and in some places seemed to have pre-
pared swings for the spirits of the wood to play
in. Utonka saw wild boars, some of them dig-
ging up the earth, and some lying in holes. Now
and then he saw two huge curved horns appear
behind the screen of distant trees, and once or
twice a forest deer started suddenly from right
before him. Once he saw on the branch of a
tree a big honeycomb with black bees buzzing
round it.

After some time Utonka entered a large open

plain. In the distance the scorching sunlight

was flickering like tongues of fire. The sky
was deep blue.
 SHANTINIKETAN 99

Before going out into the heat of the sun

Utonka sat down to rest in the shade at the edge
of the forest. Suddenly, as if from nowhere, a
huge black cow appeared in the middle of the

plain. How wonderful! Whence could it have

come? Utonka had no idea that there was such
a large cow anywhere in the world, and he rubbed
his eyes to make sure he was not dreaming.

When he had stopped rubbing his eyes he was

still more astonished for on the back of the cow
;

there was now a tall radiant figure. Utonka

stood up in his astonishment.

Perhaps you are thinking that Utonka ran

away, but if you had been there you would
certainly have stood motionless as he did to see
that huge cow. Fromneck hung fold upon
its

fold of well grown dewlap and on its head were

two shining sharp horns of great length. Its

legs were covered with soft white hair almost to
the ankle and it had a huge tail white in colour

and gradually tapering till it almost touched the

ground.
ioo SHANTINIKETAN
It seemed as if light was coming from its
broad black forehead. On its back was a strong
man with shining bare body. So enchanting
was the beauty of this sight, that Utonka stood
overwhelmed with wonder and astonishment.
As he stood looking at the cow it seemed as
if, an eye, it came right up to
in the twinkling of

him from the place where it had been standing

without apparently moving its limbs. In great
astonishment Utonka looked up at it and saw
two large black and lustrous eyes gazing at
him. On seeing those eyes the whole of
Utonka's body felt a pleasant coolness like that
which one feels on drinking very cool water.
Raising his face a little Utonka saw two
bright eyes looking at him from a face wreathed
in smiles. As he looked into those eyes he

heard, as though in a dream, a voice say to him,

"My child, drink some of the milk of this cow;
for your Guru also has done so." Utonka then
bent down to drink and, as he drank, it tasted
to him like nectar.
 SHANTINIKETAN 101

But when he head after drinking he

lifted his

discovered that the cow and its rider had dis-

appeared and there was no sign of their having

been there at all. The plain was flooded with
the blazing sun-light. Near by was the dense
forest with its shade and from it the sound of
birds and bees could be heard. Squirrels with
their pretty striped bodies were running out
into the open from the shelter of the woods and
they would then peep round and, starting sud-
denly, run back into the safety of the forest.
Utonka feeling much astonished said to him-
self, "Was it then all a dream? Have I been
asleep? It will never do for me to fall asleep
like this and dream on my journey. I have to
bring back that offering. I wonder how far
I am from the king's palace?"
Thus thinking to himself he set off at a great

pace, but all the time he kept saying, "What

have I seen? Has some god shown himself
to me?" And as he questioned thus he
102 SHANTINI KETAN
imperceptibly began to slacken his pace. When,
however, he remembered the offering he hastened
on again.
 CHAPTER V
Utonka arrived at the palace of king Poshya
in the evening and thought he would try to get
the ear-rings and return the same night. So
without any delay he went straight to the king
and told him what he wanted. The king, after
saluting him with deep respect and giving him
water for his tired feet, asked him first to wash
his hands and mouth and rest a little. "Why
areyou in a hurry?" he said. "You can get
what you want by going yourself to the inner

apartments of the Queen."

Utonka replied, "Oh, king, may you live long
and prosper. I wanted to return with the ear-
rings this very night, but if that is not possible,
let me at least ask for them at once. For so
long as I am in doubt I shall have no peace of
mind."
io 4 SHANTINIKETAN
The king laughed slightly and said: "Very
well. Go into the palace. The doorkeeper
will show you the way. I myself am going to
my evening worship and cannot come with
you." Saying this the king bowed low to
Utonka and turned away. Utonka was over-
joyed and raising his two hands in blessing
turned to follow the doorkeeper into the inner

apartments.
In every room of the palace lamps were
twinkling in the dusk of evening. On the altar,
in the fire temple, was seated the fire god wearing

a glowing crown of flame, while chanting was

heard to the accompaniment of the evening
bells. On entering the inner palace Utonka
saw a large Bokul tree in a courtyard round
which the darkness was gathering, — on all sides

from the windows of the palace the light of

lamps was falling and making the leaves seem
black and shining in the distance. At the
foot of this tree a large cow was standing, its

body a beautiful pale red, looking dark in the

 SHANTINIKETAN 105

evening gloom. On her forehead was a white

crescent moon and the white dust near her feet
looked very beautiful. From the body of the
cow came a sweet scent which seemed to fill the
air with peace, while in front were seated several
girls dressed in red silk and burning incense by
the light of lamps.
In one of the rooms the doorkeeper stopped
and said: "Brahmachari, wait a little in this
room, while I go to call the Queen. She will

make her obeisance to you in the next room."

Saying which, the doorkeeper went towards the
cow, while Utonka sat down and waited.
As he was waiting it seemed to Utonka that
there was on all sides a calm and blessed

peace pervading the atmosphere. He saw the

Queen's attendants moving about in the court-
yard from place to place with lamps in their
hands and dressed in red silk. By the light of
the lamps their faces appeared bright and beauti-

ful, full of joy and peace. At last the door-

keeper came and called him. Utonka, following
106 SHANTINIKETAN
slowly, entered a room in the middle of which
a clear bright light was burning. A soft scent

came from the sweet smelling oil. On all sides

incense —
was rising but in the room itself there
was nothing; it was absolutely empty.
When he entered, Utonka could see no one,
but the doorkeeper pointed to a seat inlaid with
mother-of-pearl for him to sit on. As he took
his seat he asked the doorkeeper, "Has the
queen not come yet?"
The doorkeeper replied with evident astonish-
ment, "Why there she is sitting on that shell-
covered seat wearing a red dress. Can't you
see her?"

Although Utonka looked hard he could see

nothing whatever, and he exclaimed, "What do
you say? Are you joking with me? Where
is the queen sitting? I can see nothing."
The old doorkeeper laughed and said,
"Brahmachari, do not be angry with me; but
you must, I suppose, be impure and that is why
you cannot see the Queen."
 SHANTINIKETAN 107

Then the Brahmachari recollected his vision

at the edge of the forest and said to himself,
"Then that was not really a dream after all.
Everything was real and because I have not
washed my mouth after drinking that milk,
therefore I am
impure and cannot see the queen.
But I thought the whole thing was a dream.
How wonderful the glory of this queen must be."
So Utonka rose quickly and went away to
wash. Having washed his hands and mouth
the Brahmachari returned and the glory of the

Queen was revealed to him. She was seated on

a seat which was decorated with exquisite

pearls. Her dress was made of red silk. Her

face was so radiant that the very gold of her

ear-rings appeared dull in comparison, and the

beauty of her smile was like a flower or a star.
Gazing at her it seemed to Utonka that his brow
had been cooled with dewdrops and he was not
able to take his eyes off her. He thought that
the palace in which such a woman lived must
indeed be a habitation fit for the gods.
io8 SHANTINIKETAN
Meanwhile the Queen had come down from
her seat and was makingher obeisance toUtonka.

Just as blossoms are shaken from the Shal tree

by passing breezes, so it seemed as if blessings
were showered from Utonka's heart. He said,

"May eternal good fortune attend you.

Mother,
I request one gift from your generous hands.
"
Give me your ear-rings. Queen Shubashukla
laughing gently, removed the ear-rings with a
graceful gesture, bending her head as she did so.
Just then, a companion of the queen entered the
room with a tray on which were honey, curds,
sandal paste, paddy and a cluster of Bokul
leaves.* The Queen taking this tray from her
companion's hands placed the two ear-rings on
it and laid it Utonka making an
at the feet of

obeisance as she did so. Utonka accepting the

offering lifted up the two ear-rings to look at

them. Then the Queen said in a sweet voice,

"Brahmachari, take care of them, for the king

*
These are given as a sign of respect to an honoured guest.
 SH ANTINI KETAN in

of the snakes has shown a great desire to pos-

sess them."
"Very well," said Utonka as he stood up and
blessed the Queen. peace be with you
"May
and waft its unseen breezes to cool your heart."
Full of joy Utonka left the inner apartments
with the doorkeeper, whereupon Shubashukla
embracing her companion said laughing, "To-
day my companion I am very happy; for by
giving these worthless gold ear-rings to this

Brahmachari I have been made holier." At

which her companion laughed and said, "We
also share your happiness, but
hope that
I

Takshat will not cause any trouble to him on

the road."
Shubashukla replied: "Even if any accident
happens, who would hurt the Brahmachari?
The gods would conspire together to return the
ear-rings to him, if they were lost or stolen."

In the meantime Utonka, taking the ear-rings

with him, wondered, as he went out, at the
beauty and grace of the palace. On his way he
ii2 SH ANTINI KETAN
met the king who was returning from his evening
prayers carrying some flowers in his hands.

Seeing the Brahmachari he greeted him by

scattering flowers over him.
Utonka addressing him said: "My prayer,
oh king, has been granted. I have obtained the
"
gift and must now bid farewell.
The king replied: "But I cannot bid farewell
"
so soon. Stay at least to-night. So Utonka
stayed that night in the palace.
All the noise of birds and beasts and men
was stilled and in the depth of the night Utonka
began to think about the splendour of the royal

palace. seemed to him that heavenly mes-

It

sengers were descending through the moon-

ligh and were standing all round the palace

singing sacred chants in soft tones. Then

again he remembered with wonder his vision
of that cow. Then his mind turned to thoughts
of his Guru's wife and of his fellow students all

of whom he was so soon to leave. All the

hundreds of events that had happened to him

 SH ANTINI KETAN n3

since his childhood in the ashram came before

him and so he kept on thinking till it struck

midnight. Then keeping tight hold of the ear-

rings, and uttering the name of his Guru,

Utonka turned over and went to sleep.
 CHAPTER VI

In the fields there is neither man nor beast.

Overhead is the intense burning sun. But a
strong wind has sprung up and is raising a white
dust in the eyes of the sun. Look in the distance
and you will see that all the leaves and branches
of the forest are dancing like mad elephants
striking their trunks against each other's bodies,
while all the time a hissing panting sound can
be heard. Along the fields storms of dust, like

hordes of white frenzied ghosts, are tearing

along, sometimes turning round and round and
sometimes rising high in gigantic forms.
There seems to be not a cloud in the sky.

Only under those trees the sky in the distance

is dark and lowering and all the time the mad

breeze blows strongly.

 SH ANTINI KETAN 115

Who is this who

speeds along with scarf flying
in the wind, like the wings of a bird as it strug-

gles for its life with all its might against the

storm? Who but our Utonka returning to the

ashram with the ear-rings ?
Utonka having left the open fields is taking
shelter behind a tree. Take care, Utonka, be
careful of your precious ear-rings! For this is
the very field where that mysterious cow ap-
peared to you and made you drink its milk
—
all sorts of unearthly things happen here. It

seemed as though Utonka realised his danger;

for he sat down carefully and said, "I will see

whether I can discover the meaning of what
happened to me yesterday."
For a long time he looked steadfastly in the

direction of the dusty field but he could see

nothing. On
looking behind him however he
saw a curious sight. He saw, at a height of two
or three feet from the ground, a tall beggar with
shaven head, ugly and almost naked, coming
towards him. His face was clean shaven and
u6 SH ANTINI KETAN
his cheeks wrinkled, while on his forehead were
three or four dreadful black lines, and as he

approached he kept making hideous grimaces.

Crouching down, he beat his hands all the time
against his hollow sides. It almost seemed as
if a dust-storm, vexed by the wind was trying
to drag this object along in its clutches.
Utonka began to wonder whatever was the
matter, but at that very moment the beggar

disappeared. Utonka burst out laughing at

having been deceived by such a curious image
and illusion. But he was again surprised
when that half-naked, shaven-headed image
appeared floating in the sky, only to disappear
again in the twinkling of an eye.
Utonka laughed to himself and thought:
"The next time the beggar comes, he will stand

right on my head and I shall be able to make

"
Mr. Juggler a captive. Laughing at this

thought Utonka stood up suddenly, but the

beggar was nowhere to be seen. Instead,
Utonka saw the powerful Takshat emerge sud-
denly like a flash of lightning from a hole five
 SH ANTINI KETAN 117

feet away. Darting to Utonka's feet he seized

the box containing the ear-rings and leapt back
into the hole.
When Utonka realized the clever cunning of
the wicked serpent king, he fell into a frenzy of

despair. But when he had managed to calm

his mind, he began to pray to Indra saying,
"Oh, mighty Indra, whose thunderbolt can
shatter a rock to atoms and can burn the whole
world to ashes, now help this poor helpless
Brahmachari. Oh, Indra, whose clouds afford
a grateful shade to the hotand weary traveller
and give water to the thirsty, and abundant
crops to your worshippers, help this poor and
"
helpless Brahmachari.

Looking up to heaven Utonka prayed thus

with folded hands, and as he gazed into the sky
a cloud descended and floated just above his
head. A little later Utonka felt a gentle rain

falling and then a rainbow appeared, and from

one side of the cloud to the other bright flashes
sparkled and danced. Utonka saw some one
n8 SH ANTINI KETAN
sitting in the middle of that dark cloud who
encouraged him with loving smiles. He gazed
steadfastly and, as he gazed, the cloud de-
scended still lower with a gentle patter of rain,
and at last, drenching Utonka with its dew, it
entered the earth. The ground opened as

though struck by Sitting on the

a thunder-bolt.

rainbow, in the middle of that dark cloud,

Utonka descended into the nether regions. As
he entered the womb of the earth he saw sus-

pended on all sides of his cloudy chariot the

tops of many sweet-scented trees with crowds

of bright coloured insects fluttering in their
branches. Seated on the cloud he felt a pleasing
coolness until suddenly he ceased to move.
 CHAPTER VII

The nether regions are merely a pleasing fancy

of the poets. For the nourishment of a tree, air
and light are needed outside, while inside is

needed the cool sap drawn from the dark regions

underground. So, also, this vast earth needs
sap, as the tree does, to give it strength.
When the minds and imaginations of the poets
were with the beauty, immensity and power
filled

of the world and the stars and planets, then in

the joy of that power and energy they tried to

express the rhythmic movement of the spirit of

the universe and the idea of this inner energy
in many varied images.
The nether regions were to them a bottomless
storehouse from which the world, standing like
120 SHANTINIKETAN
a huge branching tree, draws its nourishment.
Just as the roots of a tree are in the ground,
from which it draws cool sap, so the roots of the
world descend into the lower regions. That
energy which you see expressed in the world in
light and in flashes of lightning has also been

gathered up and stored in the hidden chambers

of the nether regions. And those changing

pictures of the seasons which you see as the

years pass over the world are but the reflection
of original paintings which are there also; while
the ever new days and nights in the world are
but the play of a power hidden there.
In this storehouse many wonderful things are
kept. Therefore these regions are full of terror.
No one dare enter them alone. Fearful serpents
—
go round and round hissing fiercely, sentinels
keep guard over great heaps of jewels and pearls.
Over these there always hangs a thick gloomy
haze like a cloud, from which every now
and then in the stillness there darts a sudden
flash of lightning. Here the wind blows keenly
/

SHANTINIKETAN 121

and is not restless like our breezes. It blows

silentlyand constantly with a piercing chill.

Deep echoes like thousands of conch shells

blown together sound on all sides.

Arriving at the entrance to these regions
Utonka heard, as he came to a standstill, a
sound like the roar of the mighty sea. He
was astounded and you can understand how
alert his mind was at that moment. The dark-
ness and that roaring sound filled his mind with
fear and doubt, but after remaining for a long
time motionless with fear he began to concen-
trate his mind and sat down to meditate on
Indra.
You must remember that if you have the
power of deep concentration and can meditate,
you can realize God's presence at any time; for
He is present at all times and in all places.
Utonka was a true Brahmachari so he had
acquired considerable power of concentration.
While he was plunged in deep meditation a
dreadful sound pierced the darkness a little to
122 SHANTINIKETAN
Utonka's right, as if the light of a flaming fire
had suddenly been revealed and with a solemn
note a sweet voice sounded in his ear saying,

"Utonka, enter this room."

As Utonka got up he saw a bright and beauti-
ful flaming light and he started with surprise.
Then his mind was with intense joy.
filled

Often in the darkness of the night-time he had

risen to adore the blazing fire; and to-day in
the darkness of the nether regions his life had

in a moment become full of power through the

radiance of this great blazing light.
Utonka began to advance towards this light

uttering a chant of adoration as he did so. But

on getting closer to it he found that it was not
a fire huge golden door that shone
at all but a

with intense brightness. He thought with a

certain amount of shame, "Alas I have been
worshipping a mere door of gold as if it were
fire. But perhaps I shall find the god of fire
within this room/' Then he approached the
door and no sooner had he touched it than it
 SHANTINIKETAN 123

was blown open by a strong gust of wind. On

entering he saw a wonderful sight. A huge
room filled with white light in the middle of
which, glowing like a blazing fire, stood a
horse with large wide open eyes. By its side a

strong man was standing, while, surrounding it

on all sides were

beautifully dressed boys
six

dancing wildly and every moment throwing off

one dress and putting on a new one. Sitting a
little distance away were two exquisitely beauti-
ful damsels on golden thrones busily weaving
cloth upon a loom with threads of two colours,
one bright like the golden colour of their bodies,
the other jet black like their hair. They were

every moment throwing the cloth on to the

bodies of the boys who, laughing merrily, kept

picking up this cloth and putting it on. On one

side two guards were standing motionless.
"
Utonka became more and more astonished
as he lookedupon this scene. These two guards
seemed so strong that it looked as if they could
easily overpower that radiant horse of fire.
i2 4 SHANTINIKETAN
Their bodies were so upright and full of energy
and their arms were so straight that it seemed
as if they could at any moment overcome the
most powerful lionand yet from the look on
their faces they appeared to be tranquil and

smiling angels.
Utonka now turned to look at the man who
was standing beside the horse. On examining
him closely he recognised him as the same man
who had shown himself seated on the cow which
had appeared to him on the plain. Then the
man said with a gentle smile, "My child take

this horse outside, breathe once in his nostrils

and you back the ear-rings." Utonka
will get

stupified with wonder took the horse out and in

accordance with the man's command he blew
strongly in the horse's nostrils. As he did so
the hair of the horse'sbody stood on end and
gradually from every hair fire came out. With-
out any sound the fire consumed the whole of
the nether regions in a moment of time so that
 SHANTINIKETAN 125

there was not a trace of them left. But curi-

ously enough the fire did not touch Utonka's

body at all. He called out in a loud voice

"Now my worship of the fire has borne some
fruit. Oh, powerful Fire, I salute thee. Oh,
beautiful Fire, I salute thee. Oh, mighty Fire,
take me in a golden chariot to the foundations of
the earth. Oh, god of Fire, now I understand
that your throne that is spread in these
it is

mysterious lower regions and to thee, oh glori-

ous one, I bow."
After this joyful salutation Utonka looked in
front of him, his face bright with the rays of the
brilliant fire which spread on all sides, quiver-
ing and scarlet like the blossoms of a Dhah tree.
There in front of him he sawTakshat who, driven
mad by the dreadful heat of the flames, was in
full having thrown down in his haste
retreat,
those ear-rings which lay like golden flowers at
Utonka's feet. As soon as he had disappeared
the fire gathered itself together and entered the
horse's body again.
126 SHANTINIKETAN
Utonka having picked up the ear-rings was
about to say something when he suddenly
realised that the whole vision had vanished.
He saw on all sides of him the fresh sunshine of

dawning day falling through the trees, the dew on

the leaves was not yet dry, the birds were sing-

ing,while in front of him was flowing the very

stream which passed the ashram of his Guru.
For some time Utonka remained motionless
with wonder and astonishment, but at last he
stood up laughing and exclaimed "Ugh! I have
been dreaming again." Then meditatively and
with eyes half closed he went slowly towards
the ashram.
As he approached he saw that many Brahmin
guests were seated in a circle, their faces radiant
with joy, while his Guru Ved was in the centre.

They looked with veneration to the place

all

where the Guru's wife was seated. She was

expressing some anxiety because of Utonka's
delay, "Everyone has come," she was saying;
 SHANTINIKETAN 127

"but why is Utonka so late? Can some acci-

dent have happened to him on the way?" To

this Ved replied at once, "Do not be anxious for

he will be here immediately." Even as he spoke

Utonka appeared from behind a screen of jas-
mine flowers and at the same moment the eyes
of both the Guru and his wife met his own.
All were delighted as Utonka first of all did
obeisance to his Guru and his Guru's wife laying
the precious ear-rings at their feet. Then he
saluted the rest of the company. The woman's
eyes filledwith tears of joy as she took the ear-
rings, then she went towards the house looking
at them as she went.
After receiving the Guru's blessing Utonka
stood quietly at one side of the assembly. Then
he began to speak, saying, "Gurudev, to-day I
have tasted of the limitless energy of the world.
My discipline has borne fruit. Plunging into
the nether regions I have seen the beauty of day
and night, the restless dancing of the six seasons,
128 SHANTINIKETAN
and the imperishable forms of beauty in this
all

world. The god of Fire has set his seal upon me

and the glory of the hidden fire has filled my
mind with wonder. Indra has taken up his
abode on the throne of my heart. My life in the
world will now be successful. Gurudev, I pray
that your blessing may be a constant benediction
and help to me."
Having said this Utonka came and sat at his

Guru's feet and asked for permission to depart.

His Guru Ved gave an affectionate farewell
blessing, saying, "My son, may your mind al-

ways be happy, and may your work in the world

be fruitful. May nobility of purpose, like a
flower, blossom in your heart. May all my
pupils be able, like you, to accomplish their
noble purposes."

m
 CONCLUSION
At our story is finished. Need we say
last

any more about that constant nobility of purpose

which blossomed in the heart of our Utonkar
My prayer is that you also may learn to ap-

preciate the deeper mysteries of this universe,

that you be able to admire the beauty of a
may
pure and noble life and treasure at all times the
blessing of your teachers.
May their blessing, uniting with the clouds,
fall upon you like gentle rain. Mingling with
the sunlight every day at dawn may it manifest
itself to your eyes. Breathing in the wind may
i 3o SHANTINIKETAN
itbring deep peace into your hearts. May your
minds be happy and filled with the joy and
energy of the universe. May your lives in the
—
world be fruitful, may nobility of purpose ever
blossom in your hearts. May you also be strong,
fearless and pure; and may you accomplish
your spiritual destiny by devoting yourselves
to God.

Om, Shanti, Shanti, Shanti. Om, Peace,

Peace, Peace.

» *
•A i

..

.-
The following pages contain advertisements
of Macmillan books by the same author
THE WORKS OF RABINDRANATH TAGORE
Bolpur Edition

The Hungry Stones and Other Stories.

Fruit-Gathering.
Chitra A Play in one
: act.

The Crescent Moon Child Poems. :

The Gardener Love Poems.

:

Gitanjali :
Religious Poems.
The King of the Dark Chamber : A Play.
The Songs of Kabir.
Sadhana : The Realization of Life.

The Post Office : A Play.

Each volume decorated cloth, $1.50; leather, $2.00

This new edition of the works of Rabindranath Tagore

will recommend itself to those who desire to possess the
various poems and plays of the great Hindu writer in the
best possible printing and bindings. Great care has been
taken with the physical appearance of the book. In
addition to the special design that has been made for
the cover, there are special end papers and decorated
title
pages in each book. Altogether this edition promises
to become the standard one of this distinguished poet
and seer.

THE MACMILLAN COMPANY

Publishers 64-66 Fifth \vkm b \k\\ York
SIR RABINDRANATH TAGORE'S NEW BOOK

Stray Birds
FRONTISPIECE AND DECORATIONS BY
WILLY POGANY
$1.50

Written during his present visit to America, this book

may be said to contain the essence of all Tagore's

poetry and philosophy, revealed by many aphorisms
epigrams and sayings.
Here is the kernel of the wisdom and insight of the

great Hindu seer in the form of short extracts. These

sayings are the essence of his Eastern message to the

Western world. The frontispiece and decorations by

Willy Pogany are beautiful in themselves, and enhance

the spiritual significance of this extraordinary book.

THE MACMILLAN COMPANY

Publishers 64-66 Fifth Avenue New York
 RABINDRANATH TAGORE'S NEW POEMS

Fruit Gathering
$1.25

Perhaps of all of Tagore's poetry the most popular

volume is
"Gitanjali." It was on on this work that he
was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature. These facts

lend special interest to the announcement of this book,

which is a sequel to that collection of religious "Song

Offerings." Since the issue of his first book, some four

years ago, Tagore has rapidly grown in popularity in

this country, until now he must be counted among the

most widely read of modern poets. Another volume of

the merit, the originality, the fine spiritual feeling of

"Gitanjali" would even further endear him to his thou-

sands of American admirers.

THE MACMILLAN COMPANY

Publishers 64-66 Fifth Avenue New York
 RABINDRANATH TAGORE'S NEW BOOK

The Hungry Stones and

Other Stories

$1.35

Some of the more notable of Mr. Tagore's short stories

are here presented in translations by the author and with

illustrations by native Indian artists. Ernest Rhvs, in his

biography of Tagore, devotes much space to a considera-

tion of him as a short story writer, advancing the opinion

that this particular form of literature is one of the most

important expressions of Tagore's genius. Now fur the

first time English readers are given the opportunity *of

acquainting themselves with this new Tagore and of

forming their own estimate of him. None of the mate-

rial in this volume has ever appeared before in English.

THE MACMILLAN COMPANY

Publishers 64-66 Fifth Anenue New York
r^
 372.954 P362S c.1
Pearson
Shantiniketan, the Bolpur
in
GO
o
m. $54
P362S
Pearson
Shantiniketan, the Bolpur
School of Rabindranath Tagore

2 \r..^\ f
372.954
P362S
Pearson
Shantiniketan, the Bolpur School of
Rabindranath Tagore

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