A Dream on Better Destiny for Motherland: Idea of Future India in Rabindranath Tagore’s poem ‘Where the Mind is Without Fear’

Skorokhodova Tatiana G. ORCID: 0000-0001-6481-2567 Professor, Penza State University 440046, Russia, g. Penza, ul. Krasnaya, 40, kab. 12-218 skorokhod71@mail.ru Other publications by this author

The epoch of the national-cultural renaissance in India of the XIX – early XX centuries was marked by the appearance in public thought and culture of a number of fundamental ideas related to overcoming the current situation and finding prospects for development in the future. On the one hand, the awareness of the complexity of the situation in which society found itself – at the level of different regions and peoples (Bengal, Maharashtra, North and South of the subcontinent), became an impulse of intellectual work and social reform initiatives and formed the search processes in various spheres of social life, united by the common name "awakening" and "revival" is noteworthy that these terms are used by the participants of intellectual and cultural processes themselves, realizing their time as the beginning of the renaissance. So, in Bengal, these are udbodh?n and j?gara? and English awakening and renaissance – with derivatives, and then they are actively used by the first researchers of this period ^[1-3]. On the other hand, the desire to overcome the crisis of India's traditional society after its meeting with the dynamically developing West in the face of Britain and its institutions assumed not only the search for adequate means to overcome the decline and transition to development, but also some image of the desired future. Therefore, among the key ideas of the epoch is the idea—the idea of the future of India from the position of what is due and good for it; like all others, it is embodied in theoretical reflections. Both in artistic creativity and in the practical initiatives of reformers. The embodiment of this idea looks especially prominent in the philosophical and artistic texts of the Bengali Renaissance.

In 1901, a concentrated expression of the thought of a future awakened India appeared in the 72 poems of the collection "Neubeddo" (Naivedya, beng. "Gifts") — "Where the mind is fearless..." (Citta jetha bhaya?unya) by Rabindranath Tagore (1861-1941). In the Russian tradition, the title of the book is translated as "Gifts" [See: 4, vol. IV]. Nirendronath Rai explains that the original term "Neubeddo", consciously borrowed by the poet from the religious rites of Hinduism, means "a symbolic sacrifice that a person brings to his deity", and the poem is called "Prayer" (Pr?rthana) ^{[5, pp. 110, 111]}, although, apparently, this is a later name, quite S. D. Serebryany reasonably believes that in this poem Tagore "expressed his social ideal" ^{[6, p. 38]}, however, these are only one of the dimensions of this work. V. Ya. Ivbulis rightly characterized it as the embodiment of the poet's dream of a spiritually liberated India ^{[7, p. 161]}; however, its content is broader than just a "negative" enumeration of the conditions of her "freedom from..." in the future. This is the dream of a good future for the motherland after the awakening of its people, which developed in thought and culture before R. Tagore, and clothed in a concise poetic form. The significance of this text for the author and his audience, as well as for everyone who does not speak Bengali, is evidenced by the fact that the author translated it into English and included it in the English version of the collection "Gitanjoli", which won R. Tagore the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1913. This poem, due to its fullness of meanings, requires the application of philosophical hermeneutics for its analysis in the context of the Bengali Renaissance and the prehistory of this dream of a better fate for India. Moreover, in Tagore's work – artistic and philosophical – his reflections on the future of India, and the ways of its development, about the dangers and opportunities occupy a serious place.

The origins of the idea of a future India in Tagore's work come from his formation in the atmosphere of the main spiritual (Brahmo Samaj), cultural (development of Bengali literature) and social (cultural revival of the 1870s-1890s) movements of the era, as he himself recalls in speeches and lectures of later periods of creativity [See: 4, vol. XI, pp. 343-345]. This idea of a favorable perspective, together with an optimistic conviction that it is possible to overcome multiple obstacles, problems and vices in various spheres of life, sprouted in intellectual life in Bengal in the 2nd half of the XIX century. from criticism of the spiritual, social, moral, cultural and economic state of society, burdened at the same time by traditional norms and restrictions and new forms of dependence in colonial conditions. Bhodrolok intellectuals — Brahmoists, then neo—Hindus - intensely comprehended different dimensions of the situation and searched for effective means of overcoming it. However, the idea of an awakened/reborn India, the India of the future, appeared earlier – in the first half of the XIX century. in the form of a goal rationally formulated and justified in the works of the founder of Renaissance processes Rammohan Rai (1772-1833), as well as his younger contemporaries, students of the poet-educator G. V. L. Derozio, united in the group "Young Bengal".

Rammohan Rai's understanding of the current situation in India as a crisis — and an internal one, sadly affecting the spiritual and moral state of people and society — led him to pose problems and try to offer solutions to them in the name of change for the better. Among the problems are ignorance, superstition and adherence to numerous rituals to the detriment of human well—being in the Hindu community, Hindu polytheism, cruel customs, the crown of which for Rammohan was sati (burning of widows), caste restrictions, substitution of high morality and its "golden rule" with the idea of atonement for sin by ritual and others, not to mention various problems social and legal nature. The purpose of the reformer's awakening stems from his compassion for his compatriots and "the sense of duty that one person feels towards another," which prompts him to "do everything in my power to rid them of deception and slavery and promote their comfort and happiness ^{[8, vol. I, p. 5, 116]}. Reflecting on the fate of co-religionists in the "Introduction" to the translation of the Isha Upanishad ^{[9, pp. 366-379]}, Rammohan keenly regrets that for the sake of fictional deities they tend to "trample on all human and social feelings", and regards this state as "moral humiliation of a race ... which ... is capable of better actions, a race whose receptivity, patience and gentleness of character will lead to a better fate worthy of her" ^{[8, vol. I, vol. 74]}. So the dream of a better future for his people appeared already in Rammohan Rai, along with the idea of the possibility of revival: "I'm starting to think that something similar to the European Renaissance can take place here in India," he said in 1830 in an interview with the Scottish missionary A. Duff [Cit. according to: 10, p. 4].

The hope of opening a new perspective with the conviction of the urgent need for active participation in measuring the current situation and reforms distinguishes the Young Bengalis. Krishnomohan Banerjee, in 1939, at the opening of the Society for the Acquisition of Universal Knowledge, expressed it as follows: "We can in no way be satisfied with the existing state of affairs. We wish that we are not surrounded by so unhappy and degraded compatriots, so that we can be proud of wiser and more perfect minds and be inspired by the steadfast national spirit ^{[11, p. 22]}. It is noteworthy that the essence of positive changes, overcoming social evils and decline in society already in the first period of the epoch (1815-1857), Rammohan Rai and the Young Bengalis thought of as an internal transformation of people's consciousness through mental and moral development. Therefore, the core of the image of the future India are the spiritual dimensions of human existence – freedom, knowledge, reason, truth and the like.

In this light, the philosophical hermeneutics applied in the interpretation of R. Tagore's poem "Where the mind is fearless ..." suggests considering it as a kind of peak in the development of the idea of a future India in the thought of intellectuals of Bengal. If we apply the conditional dialectical triad of G. V. F. Hegel "thesis–antithesis–synthesis" to the description of this idea, then R. Tagore's poem will turn out to be its third link – a synthesis of previous reflections.

The first link of the triad, the thesis, is a sonnet by the poet Michael Modhushudon Dotto (1824-1873), where he created an ideal image of England – "Like a sad trapped bird, I often sigh, // Wanting to leave this country – although this is my country" ('Oft like a sad imprinted bird I sigh // To leave this land, though my own land’, 1842) ^{[12, p. 8 (2 pagination)]}. It was one of the early English-language poetic experiences of a seventeen-year-old Hindu college student and poet who inherited the spiritual influence of G. Derosio ^{[13, p. 92]}. At the same time he wrote: "I long for a shelter in Albion, // as if it were my homeland" ^{[12, p. 5 (2 p.)]}. According to M. E. Gibson, the first sonnet repeats the characteristic feeling of "exile" from the land dear to the poet and evokes associations with P. B. Shelley's sonnet "England in 1819" ("Shakespearean" in the form of a sonnet) and the style of W. Wordsworth ^{[14, p. 160]}. I note that P. B. Shelley's sonnet paints a negative image of England, in which a decrepit king reigns, unworthy rulers (who neither see, nor feel, nor know) trample on the law, and the people are exhausted and intimidated. The spiritual situation is no better: religion is a "closed book" for people, there is neither Christ nor God in it (Religion Christless, Godless – a book sealed) ^{[15, pp. 378, 380]}. In M. M. Dotto's sonnet, on the contrary, we are talking about England – a beautiful Other country endowed in the perception of the Bengali poet with the highest qualities – those that, apparently, he does not see at home.

 ...I dream of brighter and freer edges (free),

Where dwells virtue and heavenly-born freedom (liberty)

Makes even the lowest — happy; where is the eye

Does not suffer seeing a person kneeling

Before self—interest; - about the edges where knowledge (science) flourishes,

And the genius is deservedly rewarded;

Where a man lives in his true glory

And the face of Nature is exquisitely fresh:

To these beautiful lands I direct my restless gaze,

Let me live there and die there. [12: p. 8 (2p..)].

Dotto thus has for the first time a dream of Another country in which people are free and virtuous, not humiliated before those in power and full of dignity, where knowledge and creative achievements are valued and the atmosphere itself is full of freedom. The latter is especially important, since the poet uses both meanings of this ontological state, denoted in English in two ways: as freedom – external, including physical freedom, and liberty — internal freedom. This Other country, imaginary and real, for M. M. Dotto is England. It is significant that R. Choudhury first saw in his sonnet "a parallel with the later description of another utopia by Rabindranath Tagore — "Where the mind is fearless" (Where the mind is without fear) in Gitanjoli" ^{[13, pp. 103-104]}. Only with the application of the term "utopia" to the text of R. Tagore – this is how the Indian scientist interpreted both poems – "a highly intelligent vision of an ideal society", respectively, in England and India ^{[13, p. 104]} — it is difficult to agree, because, firstly, he does not describe an ideal society in a meaningful way, but notes quite possible real characteristics of a social life. Secondly, by the very nature of his socio-philosophical thinking, Tagore was a realist and was actually in opposition to utopian constructions – which manifested itself later in his journalism [See: 16].

The dream of another country appears on the very real ground of modern M. M. Dotto Anglophilia — openness to the Other and his benevolent acceptance in the enlightened elites of Calcutta and other Bengali cities [See: 17]. M. M. Dotto himself, in the essay "Anglo–Saxon and Hindu" (1954), Anglophilism is expressed in the idea of the "mission of the Anglo-Saxon" - to revive (regenerate) and renew the Hindu race", which turned out to be in decline ^{[12, pp. 250, 262 (2p.)]}. And the idea of the mission comes from the well-known in 1830-the stereotype of the "kindred" ("maternal"/"paternal") attitude of the British authorities to Indian subjects. The dream of another country as such can be evaluated as one of the intellectual and emotional results of understanding the Other, in whose role the collective West, Europe and its civilization, Britain with its people, culture, and institutions play. Unfolding since the time of R. Rai's works, the understanding of the Other in the thought and culture of Bengal has played an exceptional role in the discovery and understanding of Its Own – India, its history, culture, spiritual traditions, society, its people. Therefore, M. Dotto's England in the sonnet is an image of another country in which an Indian would like to live, despite being born in his own country and having a connection with it. Against the background of Another — England, albeit idealized – the shortcomings and general decline of India, which previously knew glorious times, flourishing culture and many achievements, are quite obvious; and from negative modern impressions, genuine patriotism awakens in almost any Anglophile intellectual. This patriotism has nothing to do with blind quasi-religious worship of one's country, but it fits perfectly into the formulation of P. Ya. Chaadaeva: "More than any of you, I love my country, I wish it glory, I know how to appreciate the high qualities of my people. ... I have not learned to love my homeland with my eyes closed, with my head bowed, with my lips closed. I find that a person can be useful to his country only if he clearly sees it" ^{[18, 149-150]}.

In the case of M. M. Dotto, the transition from Anglophilism and a deep understanding of European culture, through knowledge of languages and literature, to work in the field of native literature and the Bengali language, to a creative rethinking of One's own, is a sign of such a transformation. The poet highly appreciated the beauty of his native Bengali, the heritage of Indian culture and history, but he realized the current state of the country as dramatic. In this sense, another of his poems is indicative, a kind of antagonist of the sonnet about ideal England — the Bengali sonnet "We" ^{[12, p. 365]}, where compatriots are given an unflattering characteristic, vividly reminiscent of Chaadaev's reflections on the people of Russia, which is dominated by serfdom, general lack of freedom and inertia. M. M. Dotto's bitterest feelings of pain and shame are caused by the transformation of the heirs of a majestic ancient civilization into dependent dwarfs immersed in a death-like sleep. Due to inexplicable reasons, compatriots have become "weak, powerless, notorious in the world" creatures – this is a clear denial of the qualities so dear to the poet — freedom in all its dimensions, creativity, active action. "And how soon will you be free again, O India, // Will you shine in the world like a full moon?" (S. Spassky's translation) [Bengali Poetry 1959: 30], M. M. Dotto asks the question, without further trying to describe the India of the future. However, the poet created approaches to the idea of a better fate for India.

The acute experience of modernity in India, marked by many shortcomings, problems and simply vices of social life, persists during the period of cultural nationalism in the 1860s and 1890s, when Bengali intellectuals, on the one hand, seek to comprehend the riches of Indian culture and find in the historical and cultural heritage a support for development in modernity, on the other hand, they are intensely looking for explanations of the state of spiritual and social dependence and passivity in which people are. At the same time, the more advantages are revealed in the history and cultural heritage of India, the more egregious the problems and vices appear, and the plight of the people and the social situation. Among these intellectual critics was the philosopher and public figure, one of the leaders of the neo-Hindu movement Swami Vivekananda (1861-1902, the name before the adoption of monasticism Norendronath Dotto). In speeches, lectures and articles, he substantiates the significance and reveals the richness of India's spiritual and historical, cultural and social heritage and at the same time harshly and uncompromisingly criticizes the state of society. The reasons for this current state of compatriots for Vivekananda are obvious: and the philosopher always puts traditionalism in the first place. It is he who formulates the antithesis — the second link in the triad of the evolution of the idea of a future India — the image of a real India. Describing in the traditional terms of the Bhagavad Gita and Sankhya — sattva (purity), Rajas (activity) and tamas (inertia) – the state and modern needs of Indian society, he calls it "the ocean of tamas, or dark ignorance" in the article "The Problem of Modern India and its solution" (1899, Udbodhan magazine ("Rebirth")). He writes: "Where the dullest wants to hide his stupidity behind a false desire for the highest knowledge, which is above all actions — both physical and mental; where the born and nurtured in lifelong laziness wants to throw a veil of renunciation over his inability to work; where the most diabolical people try to show their cruelty under the guise of asceticism as part of religion; where no one has eyes to see their own worthlessness, but everyone is ready to lay their blame on others; where knowledge consists only in memorizing a few books, genius is in chewing gum from the thoughts of others, and the highest glory is in preserving the name of the ancestors; — do we need another proof to to show that our country is sinking into the depths of tamas day after day?" ^{[20, vol. IV, p. 405]}.

Here, in fact, all the problems that Vivekananda usually raises, condemns and calls for overcoming are given with the utmost laconism — ignorance and neglect of work, the social parasitism of the Brahmin priesthood, imposing strict rules, rituals and cruel customs on society, dogmatism and inertia of traditional scholarship, the lack of self-criticism and independence in thinking among the bulk of the population and The picture of India immersed in the "ocean of tamas" is especially deplorable against the background of India's inherent in ancient times to the eternal good and the developed quality of sattva. However, there are few people with this last quality of purity of mind in modern Vivekananda society: "in order for these people to achieve salvation, should millions and millions of men and women of India be crushed by the wheels of society and religion of our days?" ^{[20, vol. IV, pp. 404-405]}. India needs the quality of rajas, which is almost absent and without which it is impossible to achieve higher spiritual goals: "If we do not suppress and flood our tamas with the opposite wave of rajas, we will never gain any worldly goods and prosperity in this life, and it is also quite clear that we will face many insurmountable obstacles on the way ways of realizing those noble aspirations and ideals associated with our life in the other world" ^{[20, vol. IV, p. 406]}. In other words, the preoccupation with purely spiritual goals, considered by a number of Vivekananda's contemporaries to be the immeasurable dignity of India and its people, is presented by the philosopher as an extreme that encourages neglecting earthly well–being at best, and plunging a person into permanent suffering at worst. Moreover, the philosopher himself, at every opportunity, glorifies the spiritual heritage and deep religiosity of his compatriots.

Vivekananda in this article explains what is hidden under the necessary, but practically absent quality of Sattva among Indians: "We need this energy, love of independence, this spirit of self-confidence, indestructible fortitude, this ability to act, this connection with the unity of purpose, this thirst for improvement" ^{[20, vol. IV, p. 404]}. And it is highly significant that this meaningful content of the Indian term not only resonates with the image of Another country of England in M. M. Dotto, but also reflects the traits that developed in the people of Europe thanks to the Greeks (Javana) – carriers of the quality of Rajas in the interpretation of Vivekananda. He admits that the ancestors of the Indians might not have had this quality at all, and the stronger their need for it: "this intense spirit of activity ... will flow into all our veins from head to toe" ^{[20, vol. IV, p. 404]}. In fact, Vivekananda connected the awakening of India with the activity in overcoming tamas — traditionalism, inertia and ignorance. Thus, from the negative image of reality, the philosopher turns the audience to the optimistic idea of awakening India through the action of its people. And although it is suggested to take an example from Others (Europe, England, etc.), he was convinced that learning from Others was a completely worthy way, which he repeatedly spoke about [See e.g. 20, vol. V, pp. 216, 463], as well as about the means of rebirth – from the expulsion of the priests-retrogrades and overcoming of all forms of dependence and up to universal enlightenment and creation of favorable conditions for the life of the social lower classes ^{[20, vol. V, pp. 10-11]}.

Equally important is the appearance of the dream of an awakened India in Vivekananda's poetic experiences. In the poem "Awakened India" (1898), he called her condition "not death, but sleep", which will bring new life ^{[20, vol. IV, p. 387]}. The latter is thought of as a life face to face with the Truth and in the Truth: "Let the visions disappear, or – if it is impossible not to dream, then – only the Truth, which is Eternal love and Free Service" ^{[20, vol. IV, p. 389]}. The motive of the awakening of the "land of dreams" in truth runs through the entire text.

The image of the future India in the Bengali poem of 1901 synthesized both previous images of Rabindranath Tagore. He is talking about another ("ideal") India, similar to the free and creative country that M. Dotto dreamed of, and a country that will awaken by the will of God:

                             Where the mind is fearless, where the head is held high,

                             Where knowledge is free, where the walls of houses

                             And fences of courtyards day and night

Do not divide the earth into narrow parts,

Where the words from the spring of the heart

They pour out inspiringly, where there is an indefatigable flow of labor

Aspires from edge to edge,

In a thousand forms he constantly attains perfection; —

Where the barren mass of rites

It is not allowed to absorb the flow of thought,

And courage increases a hundredfold, where forever

You, Vladyka, joyfully direct all affairs and thoughts, —

Touching with his just hand, my Father,

Awaken India in this blissful heaven! ^{[21, vol. VIII, p. 56]}.

First, Tagore describes Another India in the categories of negative freedom — freedom of the mind from fear (bhayas?nya), knowledge from restrictions, man from humiliation, society from numerous artificial barriers between groups, as well as from the power of traditions and rituals; then — positive freedom of work, creativity, improvement. This evokes associations with M. M. Dotto's thoughts about another country, where they gain external and internal freedom. Such India will be awakened when all its problems and limitations are overcome, because of which it plunged into sleep - that is, the features of tamas noted by Swami Vivekananda. Tagore offers his own version of awakening. In the real, modern India, he sees neither the circumstances nor the qualities of people who ensure freedom — namely, it is the main content of the idea of a future India. The poet names the key circumstances necessary for awakening — and a convinced realist understands the immeasurable difficulty of embodying them in Indian conditions. Therefore, the awakening acquires a metaphysical dimension in Tagore — it will be an action from above, coming from God — when all the qualities of Indian society and the people united in it, as well as the circumstances will be formed in real India. The reader may be confused by the phrase "In this blissful heaven" (sei svarge), because there is a temptation to consider all this a utopia because of the "heavenly" nature of the awakening and the general unreality of the dream of freedom in a traditional society. However, if we take into account that realist philosophers recognize the relative and partial embodiment of the ideal in reality, then the "blessed heaven" will appear to be a dream come true in earthly life - in fact, the dream of the poet's predecessors and contemporaries.

Awakening can be considered an act of divine salvation of India if the action of God was performed without a prepared basis for this. But the latter in its integrity is assumed rather to be the result of the activities of compatriots, without which it is hardly possible to awaken the country to a better life. Moreover, the general context of the collection "Gifts" speaks of the urgent need for this creative and creative activity, namely the whole group of patriotic poems, meaningfully adjacent to "Where the mind is fearless ..." — in them Tagore criticizes the shortcomings and points to proper behavior in accordance with the truth.

The semantic content of the poem "Where the mind is fearless ..." allows us to concretize quite definitely the content of the dream of a better fate for India – taking into account the possibility of extensive and even endless comments on Tagore's phrases and statements noted by scientists ^{[6, p. 59]}: ^{[22, p. 6]}, not to mention his poetry.

The fearless mind (chitta) is, in fact, a symbol of the entire epoch, whose thinkers, starting with Rammohan Rai, set before their compatriots the goal of awakening and developing independent thinking, limited in traditional society by the rules and framework of traditions and essentially alienated from the majority and protected by the Brahman monopoly on knowledge and education. It is also an adogmatic, unorthodox thinking that fearlessly comprehends all spheres of life, all achievements of the spirit and culture, challenges blind faith and thoughtless behavior and does not stop before criticizing any authority if it sees its flaws from the position of the highest truth. Such an exemplary carrier of fearless reason for Tagore was not only R. Paradise, but also his father Debendronath is a religious reformer who gave the Brahmo Samaj the impetus of a new dynamic development and did not stop before overthrowing the authority of the Vedas in what is contrary to reason in them [See: 23]. Rabindranath used the ambiguous Bengali word chitta, which goes back to the Sankrit term to denote "a set of cognitive, volitional, affective forms of mental activity", synonymous with antahkarana — i.e. the psyche as such ^{[24, p. 847]}. In Bengali chitta — mind, consciousness, soul, heart ^{[25, p. 336]}. S. D. Serebryany suggests translating it into Russian as "spirit" ^{[6, p. 38]}. In the poetic version of N. Stefanovich, he is referred to as "dishi" ^{[4, vol. IV, p. 164]}. This ambiguity allows, in my opinion, to understand by chitta in Tagore a certain unity of spirit and thought, i.e. the "thinking spirit" of a person created by God for continuous search and creativity. Tagore will talk about this already in the late period of his work in the lectures "The Religion of Man". Fearlessness marks freedom of thought, which is not constrained by any religious, social and political restrictions, to a certain extent — the right to freedom of thought, which Rammohan Rai began to defend both from orthodoxy and from colonial power.

"Head held high" (ucca ?ir) is the personification of dignity, determined by the value of a person, regardless of the external circumstances of life – social hierarchies, status, role, origin, race and ethnicity. Here Tagore inherits the universalism and humanism of his predecessors, who acted as heralds of the truth about human equality by virtue of a common nature and spirit and a common correlation with God. Tagore also continues the line of criticism of the caste system and any forms of discrimination humiliating for the dignity of people — this criticism is especially detailed in his journalism of the early twentieth century.

Free knowledge (jnan mukta) is the third significant quality of the future India, a country that has highly valued knowledge and cognition from the very origins of its intellectual history. Originating from the religious philosophy of ancient India (primarily from the early Upanishads and the Vedanta school), Tagore's concept unites not only the traditional content (knowledge is the spiritual goal and path of liberation, the highest reality and the connection (identity) of the soul with Brahman [See: 24, t. 355-366]) — the knowledge of God and the world in the spiritual experience of the individual, but also knowledge in a broad sense, as the content of human existence, the process and result of cognition. If we add to this one more meaning of "gyan" in Bengali — "thought", then the free/liberated comprehension of the world, open to every Indian-the carrier of fearless reason, will become obvious. Implicitly, the intention of enlightenment is also visible here, inherited from several generations of Bengali enlighteners, starting with Rammohan Rai and Ishshorchondro Biddeshagor, who promoted education in Modern India. Let us recall that 1901 is not only the year of the publication of "Gifts", but also the year of the beginning of Tagore's pedagogical experiment — the foundation of the school in Shantiniketon.

Fragmentation and disunity, given in the metaphor of the earth divided by walls and fences into narrow parts, are essential flaws noticed by the Bengali intellectuals of the XIX century and are clearly explicated by R. Tagore in his reflections on India, its history and social life. S. D. Serebryany rightly noted: Tagore saw a well-known internal weakness of India in the fact that it was at the mercy of conquerors, and the problem for him "was not how to get rid of foreigners, but how to overcome this internal weakness, this inferiority, which had crept into Indian culture in ancient times. These weaknesses and inferiority, according to Tagore, consisted in the internal split of Hindu society into closed castes and religious groups (...), in the isolation of Indians (primarily Hindus) from the rest of humanity, in their religious fanaticism and traditionalism, in resistance to the natural process of development" ^{[6, p. 37]}. The theme of disunity and because of this potential conflict was encountered in Tagore's poetry until 1901; but it is in the "Gifts" in a number of poems that he puts it in an acute critical form - and, of course, in Awakened India there should be no barriers and boundaries between people within between communities and more broadly — between India and the whole world.

Free speech and free action (work) are symbols of inspired creativity, to which people in all areas of life are called. In his later decades, Tagore specifically justified the idea of the presence of a special "excess" in a person (Beng. ‘atirikta', English surplus) ^{[26, p. 30, 36-41]}. In the interpreted poem, it is present in a collapsed symbolic form, resonating with the reflections of Debendronath Tagore about the creative ability given to man by his Creator ^{[27, pp. 10-11]}. Rabindranath brings into this thought the idea of continuous improvement of both works and achievements of thought and action.

The idea of overcoming the omnipotence of the tradition, called tuccha aqarer morub?luri — "a barren mass of rituals" ("empty customs dead sand" ^{[6, p. 38]}), stopping thought (and more broadly — discussion (vic?r) of anything), is a fundamental anti—traditionalist idea not only for the Brahmo Samaj and its founder Rammohan Paradise, a staunch opponent of ritualism, ritualism, blind faith and irrational behavior of believers. This is the key idea of the Bengali Renaissance, the core of religious humanism, bringing to the fore the spirit of religion (sadhana in traditional practices), criticizing dependence on socio-religious forms and institutions and encouraging conscious faith. Discussion, comprehension, and understanding appear to Tagore as the most important contents of the religious life of the spirit in the future India — and in fact it is a reproduction of Rammohan Rai's dream of a high "universal" religion that resides at the core of any religion ^{[9, pp. 386-389]}. It is obvious to Tagore that such a life of the spirit is hardly conceivable without courage — the most important human quality, which in turn is unthinkable for dependent people and unfree communities.

Finally, in the lines "where forever // You, Vladyka, joyfully direct all deeds and thoughts" the idea is expressed about the "metaphysical" and "existential" correlation of each person's life with Eternity, Truth, God, which is embodied in everything — from everyday practices to high ups of creativity. On the one hand, Tagore has this sublime ideal inherited from the thought of the previous era and the atmosphere itself, and on the other hand, the reality of his personal spiritual experience, the sense of God's presence in life, which he repeatedly spoke about both in poetic language and in prose. Therefore, the ideal connection — the relationship with the Deity – is thought here to be important and necessary for all people.

By and large, all the features of India, which Tagore dreams of, are quite applicable to any country that is struggling to free itself from the power of traditions and trying one way or another to find a way into modernity — that is, universal. All the specifics and all possible interpretations and contexts are given by the phrase "awaken India". Therefore, the poem paints a picture of a desirable better fate for Tagore's homeland. But, apparently, the poet felt the universal, "universal" content of his Bengali creation, retold it in English and included it in Gitanjali (No. 35). Amartya Sen believes that perhaps nothing expresses the value of R. Tagore as clearly as this poem ^{[28, p. 98]}.

                              Where the mind is fearless and the head is held high,

                              Where knowledge is free,

                              Where the world is not divided into parts by narrow man-made walls,

Where words come from the depths of truth,

Where the indefatigable stream stretches out its arms to perfection;

Where the clear stream of reason has not lost its way

In the gloomy desert of dead customs,

Where do You direct the mind to constantly growing thoughts and deeds, –

In this heaven of freedom, my Father, awaken my country!

^{[29, p. 16]}.

Compared to the Bengali version, the meaning here is presented more concisely, and India is replaced by "my country" — so if you do not know that the author is an Indian, this image of a better future can be successfully applied to any society experiencing similar difficulties.

"For Tagore, it is extremely important that people should live and think freely. His attitude to politics and culture, nationalism and internationalism, to tradition and modernity – everything can be considered in the light of this belief," Amartya Sen noted, linking the poet's "passion for freedom" with his "firm opposition to non–reasoning traditionalism, which makes everyone a prisoner of his past" ^{[28, p. 98]}. Indeed, the Bengali svarg ("heaven"), which went back to the Sanskrit svarga — heaven, identified with the highest good and eternal heavenly bliss ^{[24, pp. 539, 349]}, in the English version is rendered as "heaven of freedom", which can be regarded as a free translation of the meaning of svarg for the world audience, and as a clarification that we are talking about human external freedom (freedom) and freedom — a state of society that is respected both for the poet's native country and for the peoples of any continent who are close to thinking about the better fate of their land.

The poem "Where the mind is fearless" is an application to the perspective of the future of India of the social ideal of a free society with its most important semantic qualities -projections of freedom. There are no utopian features here, if only because the future in reality is unpredictable and variable, and the real problems of the country are difficult to overcome, which Tagore points out with the phrase "in this heaven of freedom." That is, some positive potentiality has been erected in front of compatriots, and it depends on their efforts on the real embodiment of the poet's dream in life.

In the context of the history of thought and culture of the Bengali Renaissance, Tagore's poem about the future of India can be defined as a poetic embodiment of a number of cross–cutting ideas of the era - the renewal of spiritual life and overcoming frozen institutions, rethinking in the light of reason and common sense all spheres of society, freeing a person from traditional forms of dependence, gaining dignity and opening new ways of development. Expressed by his predecessors and contemporaries, these ideas took the form of philosophizing in poetic symbols from Tagore and were synthesized in the general idea of a better fate for India. The poet called freedom the unifying meaning for the future of the country and the very possibility of its onset: in the Bengali version, it appears in two dimensions – "freedom from" hardships, restrictions and barriers, and "freedom for" feelings, thoughts and actions; in the English author's translation, freedom is the first and final symbol of the future of India. Freedom is both the result of liberation, and the process of vital activity and the highest condition of awakening. The universal philosophical, anthropological and social meaning of the poem lies in the statement by the Indian poet of the universal problems of freedom, its key conditions for realization in the life of peoples and the need for continuous efforts in its restoration and maintenance.