Wednesday, April 11, 2012

Rabindranath and Viswa Bharati (contd-3)

Rabindranath did understand the relation between food and physical and mental health of a being.
He always discussed foreign articles in "Sadhana" under the title " Samayik Sarsangraha", "Discussion", published in foreign journals.Subjects discussed include " Demand for Food".
H.W.Nevinson was one of the friends Rabindranath. He wrote an article  in a foreign journal about the deficit of food and nutrition in Germany.In this context Rabindranath discussed the issue in relation to India and remarked that such a deficit causes deterioration of the quality and quantity of work done by a person and this is true in India.
(Henry Woodd Nevinson (1856 – 1941) was a British campaigning journalist. He was known for his reporting on the Second Boer War, and slavery in Angola in 1904-1905.
He was also a suffragist, being one of the founders in 1907 of the Men's League for Women's Suffrage, and a war correspondent of World War I, being wounded at Gallipoli.)
In the article titled "Bidyar Jachai", Rabindranath took an aggressive role about the education system implemented by the British ruler. " Because we have not only learnt to borrow the lesson, but also our intellect with which we can measure our education. That is why we can not judge things properly. The weight box with which we shall measure judgement, has also been borrowed."
Rabindranath tried to make the teachers and the students understand his statement by reading poems written by Foreign poets and that of his own.
The Shraban-issue of "Viswa Bharati-Sangbad" he was teaching Browning and was suggesting to follow the style of Bengali literature.
In reply to a question put by the ex-student Suhrid Kumar Mukhopadhyay Rabindranath replied ;
" After finishing one's education in the house of Guru in ancient  India the disciple used to  collect the " guru dakshina" . So if it is collected to pay " guru Dakhshna", it is ok..........."