If we would only apply our minds to Rabindranath ....
Saturday, 14 May 2011
Nerun Yakub
Rabindranath's 150th birthday, 8th May 2011, has been seized upon as one of the most durable cultural unifiers of the people by the governments of both India and Bangladesh. Celebrations in India, however, were not confined to our BanglaBengali brethren in the neighbouring state alone. And that makes it a great deal more meaningful, provided the essence of the sage informs the decision-makers in both countries, big and small, about the wisdom of building new bridges and strengthening old ones. It was fifty years ago, on the 100th anniversary of this great, mystic philosopher-poet , that sensitive people in this country were inspired to consider breaking free of the religious-cultural parochialism of Pakistan's rulers. Four decades have passed since our liberation, but the sad fact is, save songs and dance and drama ---- which no doubt have great value ---- Rabindranath's essential teachings have largely remained on the shelf. If only we would apply our minds and internalize his thoughts ---- on virtually all aspects of life, cultural, political, personal, inter-personal, national and international ---- humanity at large would have thrived at a far higher level than that currently manifest. His treasury of poems and songs and other aesthetic creations apart, Tagore has given the world not only lofty Upanishadian words of wisdom, but some down- to-earth guidelines as well, even on very mundane aspects of life. Consider what he has to say about 'the rice we eat' on 28 December 1935 (Open Letters, Speeches Tributes): 'When a people's diet takes a vicious path of its own impoverishment, it causes a greater mischief than any act of cruelty inflicted by an alien power. Such has unfortunately been the case in our province. Rice has been our staple food from which we have for generations received a great part of our health, strength, energy and intelligence, But curiously enough, especially among the upper class of our community, a fatal of foolishness has become prevalent which allows this principal foodstuff of ours to be depleted of its precious nourishing element. Rice mills are menacingly spreading fast ........ we not only boil away an essential amount of nutrition ................ but polish off its skin which contains its most vital gift. This is a self-imposed form of famine deliberately welcomed by a people who had already been suffering from the scarcity of milk and that of ghee of a non-poisonous kind. One of the consequent diseases in the form of beri-beri has specially chosen its victims from the Bengalis, who still remain indifferent to its lesson.' What's the situation like in 21st century Bangladesh ? The same epidemic of foolishness is thriving. More 'efficient' rice mills are at work, doing worse harm much faster, destroying the B vitamins that lie close to the husk. This micronutrient has been known long ago to keep the nervous system healthy. Among poor rice eaters, whose meals hardly have enough variety to ward off deficiency diseases, beri-beri can develop within just a month's diet of highly polished rice, and it can be compounded if the consumers prefer to cook rice in lots of water and draining off the excess before it's done. Does the food or health ministry have any policy to raise awareness about the importance of B vitamins, to prevent over-milling of home-grown rice, or to convince people not to throw out the rice water ? For all we know, our esteemed decision-makers have far more important things to do than think about 'bhater mar' ! General awareness about what constitutes a balanced meal is sorely missing even among the 'educated.' A casual survey of what average students at DU are served at their cafeterias, or what they choose to eat, for example would reveal how un-intelligently we go about planning our meals. According to the World Health Organisation, Bangladesh is one of the few countries in the world where children on average have been growing shorter than their parents on account of poor diets. And this has been blamed on successive governments prioritizing two or three rice crops a year at the expense of other essentials like legumes, that traditionally provided vegetable protein, in addition another essential input --- fish. Both have dwindled alarmingly from the average diet. Consider what the bard had to say in his 'Message to the Young' in October 1922 : 'Age after age, in Asia, great souls have heartened the world with showers of grace and immense assurance; Asia is again waiting for such world spirits to come and carry on the work, not of fighting, not of profit-making but of interlinking bonds of human relationship. ...... There was a time when Asia saved the world from barbarism. Then came the night, I do not know how. And when we were aroused from our stupor by the knocking at our gate, we were not prepared to receive Europe; for it came, not to give its best, or to seek for our best; but heartlessly to exploit us for the sake of material gain. And Europe overcame Asia not through our admiration of her message of freedom and her service to humanity, but through her overpowering greed and the racial pride that humiliates. We did Europe injustice because we did not meet her on equal terms. The result was the relationship of the superior and the inferior; and since then we have been imagining that we are destitute. We are suffering from want of self-confidence. We are not aware of our own treasures................. let us free ourselves from the meshes of self-abasement .......... This is your responsibility. Recover from your own homes things that are of undying worth.Then you will be saved and will be able to save all humanity. Some of us in the East think that we should ever imitate the West. I do not believe it. For imitation belongs to the dead mould. Life never imitates, it assimilates........... It is your mission to prove that love for the earth, and for the things of the earth, is possible, without materialism, love without the vulgarity of avarice.' This is the same'deep ecology' that spiritually enlightened environmentalists have been advocating since the 'disease' was identified. But what examples have our so-called leaders been setting ? They have been doing everything far from the recommended path. Myopic mindsets and criminalised politics leave no space for the good and the great. This has indeed become the land of the blind where the one-eyed is killed, not king ! In 1919 Rabindranth writes thus about 'Education in General': 'All educational development must proceed from within outwards. It is really a spiritual process, not merely an intellectual or a mechanical one.' Is there anyone to appreciate and internalise this profound truth ? All around us thrives instead, a devouring 'poverty of understanding,' which encourages only 'exam shops' fit to design courses for job-seekers. Too far removed from the concept of educational development as a spiritual process. .................................................... E-mail : nyew@bol-online.com
Rabindranath's 150th birthday, 8th May 2011, has been seized upon as one of the most durable cultural unifiers of the people by the governments of both India and Bangladesh. Celebrations in India, however, were not confined to our BanglaBengali brethren in the neighbouring state alone. And that makes it a great deal more meaningful, provided the essence of the sage informs the decision-makers in both countries, big and small, about the wisdom of building new bridges and strengthening old ones. It was fifty years ago, on the 100th anniversary of this great, mystic philosopher-poet , that sensitive people in this country were inspired to consider breaking free of the religious-cultural parochialism of Pakistan's rulers. Four decades have passed since our liberation, but the sad fact is, save songs and dance and drama ---- which no doubt have great value ---- Rabindranath's essential teachings have largely remained on the shelf. If only we would apply our minds and internalize his thoughts ---- on virtually all aspects of life, cultural, political, personal, inter-personal, national and international ---- humanity at large would have thrived at a far higher level than that currently manifest. His treasury of poems and songs and other aesthetic creations apart, Tagore has given the world not only lofty Upanishadian words of wisdom, but some down- to-earth guidelines as well, even on very mundane aspects of life. Consider what he has to say about 'the rice we eat' on 28 December 1935 (Open Letters, Speeches Tributes): 'When a people's diet takes a vicious path of its own impoverishment, it causes a greater mischief than any act of cruelty inflicted by an alien power. Such has unfortunately been the case in our province. Rice has been our staple food from which we have for generations received a great part of our health, strength, energy and intelligence, But curiously enough, especially among the upper class of our community, a fatal of foolishness has become prevalent which allows this principal foodstuff of ours to be depleted of its precious nourishing element. Rice mills are menacingly spreading fast ........ we not only boil away an essential amount of nutrition ................ but polish off its skin which contains its most vital gift. This is a self-imposed form of famine deliberately welcomed by a people who had already been suffering from the scarcity of milk and that of ghee of a non-poisonous kind. One of the consequent diseases in the form of beri-beri has specially chosen its victims from the Bengalis, who still remain indifferent to its lesson.' What's the situation like in 21st century Bangladesh ? The same epidemic of foolishness is thriving. More 'efficient' rice mills are at work, doing worse harm much faster, destroying the B vitamins that lie close to the husk. This micronutrient has been known long ago to keep the nervous system healthy. Among poor rice eaters, whose meals hardly have enough variety to ward off deficiency diseases, beri-beri can develop within just a month's diet of highly polished rice, and it can be compounded if the consumers prefer to cook rice in lots of water and draining off the excess before it's done. Does the food or health ministry have any policy to raise awareness about the importance of B vitamins, to prevent over-milling of home-grown rice, or to convince people not to throw out the rice water ? For all we know, our esteemed decision-makers have far more important things to do than think about 'bhater mar' ! General awareness about what constitutes a balanced meal is sorely missing even among the 'educated.' A casual survey of what average students at DU are served at their cafeterias, or what they choose to eat, for example would reveal how un-intelligently we go about planning our meals. According to the World Health Organisation, Bangladesh is one of the few countries in the world where children on average have been growing shorter than their parents on account of poor diets. And this has been blamed on successive governments prioritizing two or three rice crops a year at the expense of other essentials like legumes, that traditionally provided vegetable protein, in addition another essential input --- fish. Both have dwindled alarmingly from the average diet. Consider what the bard had to say in his 'Message to the Young' in October 1922 : 'Age after age, in Asia, great souls have heartened the world with showers of grace and immense assurance; Asia is again waiting for such world spirits to come and carry on the work, not of fighting, not of profit-making but of interlinking bonds of human relationship. ...... There was a time when Asia saved the world from barbarism. Then came the night, I do not know how. And when we were aroused from our stupor by the knocking at our gate, we were not prepared to receive Europe; for it came, not to give its best, or to seek for our best; but heartlessly to exploit us for the sake of material gain. And Europe overcame Asia not through our admiration of her message of freedom and her service to humanity, but through her overpowering greed and the racial pride that humiliates. We did Europe injustice because we did not meet her on equal terms. The result was the relationship of the superior and the inferior; and since then we have been imagining that we are destitute. We are suffering from want of self-confidence. We are not aware of our own treasures................. let us free ourselves from the meshes of self-abasement .......... This is your responsibility. Recover from your own homes things that are of undying worth.Then you will be saved and will be able to save all humanity. Some of us in the East think that we should ever imitate the West. I do not believe it. For imitation belongs to the dead mould. Life never imitates, it assimilates........... It is your mission to prove that love for the earth, and for the things of the earth, is possible, without materialism, love without the vulgarity of avarice.' This is the same'deep ecology' that spiritually enlightened environmentalists have been advocating since the 'disease' was identified. But what examples have our so-called leaders been setting ? They have been doing everything far from the recommended path. Myopic mindsets and criminalised politics leave no space for the good and the great. This has indeed become the land of the blind where the one-eyed is killed, not king ! In 1919 Rabindranth writes thus about 'Education in General': 'All educational development must proceed from within outwards. It is really a spiritual process, not merely an intellectual or a mechanical one.' Is there anyone to appreciate and internalise this profound truth ? All around us thrives instead, a devouring 'poverty of understanding,' which encourages only 'exam shops' fit to design courses for job-seekers. Too far removed from the concept of educational development as a spiritual process. .................................................... E-mail : nyew@bol-online.com